This is where you’ll find our latest travel update so please check for any updates that might relate to your upcoming challenges with us. Please note that if you're registered for a challenge affected by any travel updates, we will email you directly using your registered email address to advise you on this.
A statement on coronavirus (COVID-19)
Last updated 16th November 2020 - still current 16th November 2020
The safety and health of our Dream Challenges participants is always our top priority and we are monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation carefully and continuously.
All tour operators and holiday insurance providers take their guidance from Foreign & Commonwealth Office advice.
A message from the CEO, Jackie Willis
To all our valued customers
In these challenging times for each of us individually and for the travel industry, I wanted to set out our position with regard to your challenge bookings for the remainder of the year and 2021-22.
As a medium-sized events and travel company, we are dealing with the continuing impact of the COVID-19 situation on hundreds of tour and challenge departures and thousands of customers. It will take time to do this, and we need to be sure that we are following the latest UK Government advice at all times. As such, we are working through our tours and challenges strictly in date order, please be assured that we will be in contact with you, but I would respectfully ask for your patience so that we can we can deal with the most urgent matters first.
From a personal perspective, I’ve been in the travel industry for 40 years and I have never experienced a situation like this. It is genuinely unprecedented, and changing all the time. We are doing everything we can to prioritise the health and wellbeing of our travellers, and to offer you the most convenient alternative arrangements if COVID-19 results in the cancellation of your tour. Please bear with us and we will be in touch with you as soon as possible.
Thank you again for your custom, and best wishes from Dream Challenges.
Jackie Willis CEO,
Specialist Journeys
If you are booked on a challenge due to depart in 2020
We continue to monitor our challenges on a case by case basis and, thanks to our industry-leading COVID-19 action plan, it has been possible to operate several departures in recent weeks within our group, and we anticipate operating further trips in 2020.
However, many of our remaining 2020 departures will need to be cancelled due to the following:
- UK Government advice or local restrictions in your destination
- Our suppliers are not yet in a position to put our COVID-19 14-point plan fully in place to our satisfaction
- Many guests are voluntarily transferring to 2021, now making these challenges unviable
If you haven’t yet received confirmation that your challenge is cancelled but you are certain you do not want to travel, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss your options.
The following conditions apply to these challenges:
- We will make the decision on whether to cancel these challenges based on the above three governing factors.
- If it does become necessary to cancel your challenge, there will be no charge to transfer to the new travel dates and we will match your 2020 price for the same itinerary*. Alternatively, you may choose to transfer to any other 2021 or 2022 challenge (with no admin fee to pay). Any difference in price would be payable or, if in your favour, refundable. See all our challenges here.
- If you wish to transfer to a different 2021 challenge before we contact you, you will need to pay a £50pp admin fee and the 2021 price will be payable.
- If you wish to cancel now, normal booking conditions would apply.
- We have reduced our balance payment deadline from 12 weeks to 6 weeks before departure. However, should it still be uncertain whether your challenge can go ahead at 6 weeks prior to departure, we will not take any further payment until FCO advice and our own COVID-19 14-point safety plan makes it viable.
- If your challenge is viable and we contact you to collect your balance, this balance would still be payable, and not to do so would result in the cancellation of your booking and retention of your deposit.
Please note: there is no risk in paying your balance – your challenge booking/monies will be fully protected as part of our ATOL/ABTOT accreditation.
- We reserve the right to cancel your challenge within 12 weeks before departure if the number of late customer cancellations makes the challenge commercially unviable.
*We reserve the right to withdraw this price-match offer at any time.
If you are booked on a challenge departing in 2021 or 2022
- If we have not already contacted you to advise cancellation, we are currently operating on the assumption that your challenge will go ahead as planned.
- Should any of the three key points above make your challenge unviable, we will contact you as quickly as we can.
- Balances will be due at 12 weeks before your departure date.
- If you are registered on a 2021 challenge, you can transfer at anytime free of charge to a later 2021 or 2022 challenge.
- If you are registered on a 2022 challenge, you can transfer to a 2021 challenge free of charge.
- If you are registered on a 2022 challenge, our usual £50 per person transfer fee will need to be paid to transfer to any other challenge in 2022 or later.
- If you wish to cancel now, normal booking conditions apply.
- We reserve the right to cancel your challenge within 12 weeks before departure if the number of late customer cancellations makes the challenge commercially unviable.
