Martin Lewis reveals 'golden rule' to follow when booking a summer holiday
16 May 2025, 13:00
- Martin Lewis's one "golden rule" could save travellers from suffering an "expensive mistake"
- The Money Saving Expert shared his helpful tip as millions of Brits prepare to jet off on holiday
- Read more: Martin Lewis family: Money Saving Expert's wife, children and mother's tragic death
Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis has urged travellers to follow his 'golden rule' when booking a holiday – or suffer an 'expensive mistake'.
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Martin Lewis has revealed his one "golden rule" for travellers booking any type of holiday, both in the UK and abroad.
The finance guru took to social media to share his advice about travel insurance and insisted people should act on it as soon as possible to swerve an "expensive mistake".
For anyone jetting off on a family or solo trip this summer, the Money Saving Expert founder explained exactly when tourists should purchase the holiday add-on to avoid unnecessary charges.
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Rather than waiting until nearer the date of their upcoming getaway, holidaymakers should purchase travel insurance immediately after booking their initial break.
The famous money master explained on his helpful Instagram page: "Summer is coming. My travel insurance golden rule... get it ASAB (As Soon As you Book).
"Booked a holiday and not got it yet? Don't wait, do it NOW.
"Half of what you pay for is protection in case illness or other issues before you travel mean you can't go."
Martin highlighted the reality of not booking travel insurance sooner by sharing a devastating story from a fan named Bev, whose parents lost almost all of their money in an unpredictable turn of events.
Bev explained that her mother received a shock cancer diagnosis which forced the family to cancel their trip, making them lose 90% of the cash they had ploughed into the holiday due to a lack of insurance.
She told Martin: "My parents made the mistake of waiting until closer to the [holiday] date & mum got diagnosed with cancer and had no choice but to cancel as she needed life-saving surgery. They only got 10% back. An expensive mistake."
Mr Lewis commented on the post with additional advice, adding: "On the back of this 'get it ASAB tip' many people ask about what counts as having insurance in place. So put simply...
"Single trip policies. You pay for insurance to cover a specific trip away (eg 10-17 August), and once you've paid for that insurance, the cover is in place, if something happens before then to stop you going away you're covered."
He continued: "Annual policies: If you don't have any other cover, you need the start date to be the time you book the holiday (or as soon after as possible) not the date you are going on holiday. Otherwise, if something happens before the start date you won't be covered.
"If you've already got annual cover, but your holiday is after the cover ends, get another policy to start as soon as it finishes (most policies, will cover you if something happens to a booked holiday which is after your renewal date, as long as the policy is still live - but a few don't, so check)."
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