Hoodtravel Avis 

So far I have been appalled by the service I have experienced through hood travel. No-one picks up the phone, my claim was sent to an incorrect email that was provided by the company, there appears to be no emergency or urgency for them to be a support and help whilst you are travelling abroad. They should be embarrassed by their service.

Absolutley useless, the telephone 0330 159 0405 on their website is down as if it doesn't exist, the live chat is a joke, all you get is you are next but next never arrives. How the RAC can licience their branding to such a shabby outfit shows how low they hold their name too.

I purchased a Silver Plus Travel Insurance with RAC travel insurance, underwritten by Great Lakes insurance uk ltd. In October ‘25 we had the bad luck of having a flight between Tanzania and Kenya cancelled with no prior notice and rescheduled for the following day. That would have resulted in missing our BA Kenya to London flight and an extra night accommodation. We decided that the easiest and less costly way was to book a new flight. We were under the impression that a travel insurance would offer basic flight protection and financially safeguard from events such as delays, cancellations or missed departure that were not of our own fault. Well, ours apparently does NOT. Here is the response from the claims team:
“On noting the circumstances surrounding your claim, we can confirm that there is no section of the policy that covers the costs of a new flight due to a flight cancellation.
We regret to inform you in view of the above your claim falls outside the policy coverage, we are unable to consider settlement on this occasion.” Ref GLU82247. Insurance that you can trust? Hardly!! I have scanned the 74 pages T&Cs and there is no specific mention that I’m not covered for one of the most basic reasons we purchase travel insurance. I can’t imagine the Regulator is doing a good job at regulating this industry and customers are being let down.

I took out RAC Travel Insurance for a holiday to Turkey, and attempted—well before departure—to update the policy to include a minor doctor visit. I contacted them by both email and phone but received no response.

Despite my clear efforts to communicate, I received an email after we had arrived in Turkey stating that the policy had been voided. I immediately replied and provided my phone number and a specific time to call. They never responded or attempted to contact me.

This left us—aged 73 and 76—without cover while abroad, with no support and no way to resolve the issue. It was an extremely distressing situation, made worse by the silence from RAC.

We paid £160 for peace of mind, and instead were effectively uninsured throughout our trip due to RAC’s failure to engage with us. I’ve since requested a refund and eventually received a letter stating they need 8 weeks to investigate!

I strongly urge others to be cautious. If this is how claims or updates are handled, I would not feel safe relying on this cover when it really counts.

Deeply disappointed with the RAC Travel Insurance, administered by Hood Travel Limited and underwritten by Great Lakes Insurance Limited. RAC has an excellent reputation in breakdown insurance, so I took out the most expensive Black Travel Insurance Policy for my recent trip to Las Vegas.

Due to no fault of my own, the airline I flew with missed two connections on two consecutive days. It took 3 days to get to Las Vegas, and after losing 3 days of our 7-day holiday, we wanted to extend our stay to make it worthwhile. We could only return on 7th Jan, when the airline was due to fly back out.

I emailed on 2nd Jan to explain my situation and offered to pay an increased premium for the extra days. I got a reply the following day saying that my request would need to be referred to the underwriters as I was out of the UK and needed to call a number for assistance.

I emailed initially as calling was already proving difficult due to the 8-hour time difference, and the opening hours were Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, no weekends.

I called the number and was told that my situation would need to be referred to the underwriters, and it usually takes three working days for them to respond. I was told I wouldn't know the answer to whether I was insured until I returned home - pointless.

What was more irritating was that my Dad took out an insurance policy with a different provider, which Great Lakes Insurance Limited also underwrote. He was immediately referred to the underwriters over the phone, and his extension was granted.

This left me in a terrible situation. I couldn't take out a new insurance policy for the extended days as my starting destination was not in the UK, and I had no idea whether I was covered on my existing policy, which cost £50.

Around the time I arrived home, I was expecting a courtesy email or call from RAC Travel Insurance to let me know what the underwriters had said and whether I was insured for the remainder of my trip.

I didn't receive anything, and it wouldn't surprise me if the entire policy were void as I arrived home on a different date than initially planned.

RAC Travel Insurance completely abandoned me, and I'm incredibly lucky that I made it home safely, on time and with all my checked baggage. I was so anxious about not being covered and being far away from home. I will never use RAC Travel Insurance again; they let me down and left me feeling vulnerable.