You are usually thinking about the stay when buying a hotel gift voucher. You imagine the couple will be using it for a weekend getaway and choose the amount for that. Then you send it their way, but you may not have seen the expiry date written in the small print.
The couple could keep the voucher in their drawer for a few weeks before taking a closer look. The couple may not know the free travel has an expiry date. By the time they start looking at hotels, the holiday may have ended, and the expiry date may be very close, making it hard to book anything now.
It takes only a few minutes to check the expiry date when you buy the voucher, but it is intentionally written in small print so people buying the gift miss it.
An expiry date can sit in different places, or nowhere at all
Some vouchers list the expiry date near the price, while others put it in the terms and conditions in the email. You could easily miss the email or ignore it when you have already given the gift.
You may also find a voucher for a hotel stay where the date is unreadable. Many people think that, as the expiry date is not mentioned on the front, the voucher doesn’t have an expiry. Only a few people know they need to check the issuer’s terms and conditions to see what applies.
Some vouchers count the expiry from the purchase date, while others use the issue date. You should check it on the voucher’s terms and conditions to see which one applies.
The time between receiving the gift and booking the trip can be quite long if the couple have not yet planned a trip. If you give someone a voucher in December, they may not look at a trip until spring.
The United Kingdom sets no floor, but the Netherlands sets two years
There is no statutory minimum expiry period for gift vouchers in the UK. The issuer sets the period according to the consumer rules that apply to the terms. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires those terms to be transparent and fair. Hotelgiftcard’s UK hotel vouchers have a validity of 2 years.
UK law does not require an issuer to offer two years, but the rules are different in the Netherlands. Dutch law has set a two-year minimum for gift vouchers since 1 January 2022, and an issuer there can’t make a voucher for a period shorter than that.
In the UK, advice recommends a two-year minimum validity, and UK government guidance and the UK Gift Card and Voucher Association support it. But it is not a legal requirement.
Many consumers have complained about short expiry periods on gift vouchers in the UK. But the issue isn’t limited to hotel stays, as there is no law setting a minimum expiry period for other types of gift vouchers either.
What to check before buying matters more than brand
The couple you give the hotel voucher to can choose where to stay. You don’t need to worry about how long they have until the voucher expires, as you are not the one choosing when to go.
You may not know which hotel chain your friend likes, either. A voucher covering a wide range of accommodation takes that guess out of your hands. You only need to check the amount, the expiry date and the terms before you buy it.
You could give someone a voucher in December and find it sits untouched while they deal with everything else going on. If you buy a hotel voucher one day at the York Christmas Market, it may still not be used by New Year’s.
You should tell the couple the expiry date when you give them the voucher, as they could forget the email or think they have more time than they do.
The better question is how long a voucher stays valid
A £100 voucher could sound like the right gift when you buy, but the question is, “Will the voucher be valid when the couple is finally ready to book the hotel?”
If you buy the voucher in December but don’t find a date that works until March, you may find the voucher has already expired. You lose the opportunity to use the free stay.
UK law does not require two years, so the period comes from the issuer’s own terms. Hotelgiftcard gives its hotel voucher two years of validity.
Check the expiry first when you compare hotel vouchers before buying them. You already know how much you want to spend, but you also should know how long your recipient has to use it.
