Martin Lewis reveals his ‘golden rule’ for booking any holiday

He says his advice is one all travellers must follow

Founder of Money Saving Expert, Martin Lewis, has reminded holidaymakers of his “golden” travel rules, which he says everybody needs to follow.

During a recent special edition of the Money Show Live on April 28, the “most important” tip is to take out travel insurance “as soon as you book”, Lewis said.

This is a principle that he shortens to four letters: “ASAB”.

“If you're booking a single-trip policy, then you get the insurance as soon as you book to cover a specific future date”, Lewis said as he outlined his rule.

“You pay for that and, once you've paid for it, you have the travel insurance. If anything happens from that point onwards, you're covered, no problem.”

Travellers should look at securing insurance the moment they book their holiday, safeguarding themselves should any problems arise in the lead-up to their travels, rather than waiting for something to go wrong, Lewis revealed.

As the Express reports, Martin's reason for getting protected straight away - even if your trip is several weeks or more than a year down the line - is that cover kicks in immediately.

“The reason you do that is that half of the coverage you're paying for is in case something happens that stops you from going before the trip”, he said.

“If you don't have travel insurance, you've got no cover. So you might as well have it in place. At this time of year, when many people have already booked, I have a slight adaptation. If you've booked and you don't have it yet, just get it now.”

Lewis warned anyone booking a summer holiday that they would not receive a refund if their flight was cancelled and they were unable to reach their hotel.

This only applied if they had booked in a particular way, however, and there is a means of safeguarding yourself should the worst come to pass.

An audience member asked the money expert: “If my flight's cancelled due to no jet fuel will you definitely receive all your money back, even for your hotel booking as well.”

Travellers would lose their hotel booking money if it had been booked separately from their flights, Lewis confirmed, as they would not be protected under consumer rules.

He said: “No. And I think this is what people need to be very aware of.”

“If you booked a package holiday where you booked everything in one, then under the package holiday regulations and rules and protections generally, if your flight went, you would get everything back.”

“At the moment, package holidays give you a certain level of extra security that you wouldn't get if you did a DIY booking where you bought your hotel and flight separately”, he added.