The UK government is to handle bookings for hotel quarantine through an online portal managed by Corporate Travel Management (CTM).
The portal has been available intermittently since it was announced by the government but currently shows the following message: “We’ll be back soon! Sorry for the inconvenience but we’re performing some maintenance at the moment.”
The government said in its statement, “Due to a minor technical issue, the link to the booking portal in this guidance will not be available until later today. Please return to this page later if you wish to make a booking.”
Under new rules coming into force on Monday, anyone coming to the UK from a country on the red list must enter a government-approved quarantine hotel for a minimum of ten days. Arrivals must pay a fee of £1,750 which will cover transport to the hotel, the room, meals and two mandatory Covid tests: one taken two days or sooner after arrival and another eight days or later after arrival. The government says the fee will be reviewed in March.
It also added that arrivals who have not arranged a quarantine package prior to their arrival in England will face a penalty of up to £4,000 and will still have to pay for your quarantine package on arrival.
CTM is a supplier to the UK government under the Public Sector Travel and Venue Solutions framework which was awarded in 2018. The TMC was successful under lot 4 of the tender which provides for an online booking system and an offline booking service for booking business travel and supporting services in a deal that lasts until 2022. The government has also been working with CTM and Calder Conferences since last April on securing exclusive-use hotels for NHS trusts, ministers, rough sleepers and asylum seekers during the Covid pandemic.
The government has also announced a very limited list of exemptions from hotel quarantine: hauliers travelling from Portugal, defence personnel, visiting forces and government contractors, UK officials and contractors with border security duties, international escorts undertaking extradition work, Crown servants or government contractors, diplomats and those working for international organisations and representatives of a foreign country or territory or British overseas territories.