Booking Terms and Conditions
Please read carefully: Explore Worldwide Ltd (‘the Company’, “we”, “us” and “our”) accepts bookings subject to the following conditions. Except where expressly stated, these conditions only apply to tour arrangements booked by you with us and which we agree to make, provide or perform (as applicable) as part of our contract with you. All references in these conditions to “tour”, “booking”, “contract” or “arrangements” mean such tour arrangements unless otherwise stated. Please note: the information appearing in the section headed “Information About Our Tours” in our brochure or in these or any comparable sections and any other relevant information on our website also form part of your contract with us. References in these conditions to such sections include the comparable sections or information on our website.
1. Your tour contract
The contract is between the Company and you (“Explore Worldwide” and “you” in these conditions), being any person travelling or intending to travel on a tour operated by us including any person who is added or substituted after booking. We both agree that English law (and no other) will apply to your contract and to any dispute, claim or other matter of any description which arises between us (except as set out below). We both also agree that any dispute, claim or other matter of any description (and whether or not involving any personal injury) which arises between us must be dealt with by the Courts of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Island only. No employee of the Company other than a director has authority to vary or omit any of these terms. No promise of a discount or refund will be binding on us unless confi rmed by us in writing.
2. To Secure your booking (Please refer to Clause 17 “Late Bookings”)
To secure a booking, we or our authorised travel agent must receive payment of the minimum deposit of 10% of the total tour price, per person, (or full payment if booking within 60 days of the start of your tour or at an earlier stage for some tours). A higher deposit will be payable if any supplier(s) requires additional payment at the time of booking / prior to balance due date. On occasions, full payment for a service such as your fl ights may be required at the time of booking. The applicable deposit will be confi rmed at the time of booking. See also “How to Book” section. All clients (including anyone who is added or substituted at a later date), whether booking in person, by telephone, via our website, by e-mail or facsimile or by any other means, will be deemed to have agreed to the following four conditions:
a) they have read and accepted our Booking Conditions and general information pages contained in our brochure and/or on our website.
b) they appreciate and accept the risks involved in adventure travel.
c) they do not suffer from any pre-existing medical condition or disability which may prevent them from actively participating in the tour. If any person suffers from any medical condition or disability which will or may affect their tour arrangements, please contact us before making your booking to discuss your requirements.
d) the person making the booking confi rms that he/she is at least 18 years old and has full authority to enter into a contract on the basis of these conditions on behalf of all persons named on the booking and confi rms that all such persons are fully aware of and accept these conditions.
With the exception of self-guided tours (see below), a booking is accepted and becomes defi nite only from the date when we issue a confi rmation invoice to you or your authorised travel agent. It is at this point that a contract between us comes into existence.
If you book online, any acknowledgement of your booking request we send to you in the meantime is not a confi rmation of your booking. Before your booking is confi rmed and a contract comes into force, we reserve the right to increase or decrease holiday prices. Where our allocation of air seats has been fully utilised or where it is not possible to offer an air seat from an allocation, we reserve the right to pass on any extra costs incurred. We reserve the right to decline any booking at our discretion.
We will communicate with you by e-mail. You must therefore check your e-mails on a regular basis. We may also contact you by telephone and/or post if we cannot, for whatever reason, contact you by e-mail. Certain documents may need to be sent by post. References in these conditions to “send” and “in writing” or similar include communication by e-mail. You should contact us by e-mail if you need to do so for any of the reasons mentioned in these booking conditions (for example, to request an amendment).
Self-guided trips: We may not be in a position to confi rm the costs for all services forming part of your self-guided holiday at the time of booking until your services are confi rmed. Where any costs cannot be confi rmed, we will provide you with an estimated price for your holiday which will be based on anticipated rates and costs. If you wish to proceed with the booking and we are in a position to do so, we collect the necessary deposit on the basis that the price you have agreed to pay will be the one applicable to your holiday after confi rmation of all costs. Once we have confi rmation of all applicable costs, we will issue a confi rmation which will show the confi rmed price. This price may be higher or lower than
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the estimated price. It is at this point that our price guarantee will take effect. Any such difference will not be a surcharge and, if an increase, will be payable in full. If, however, any increase between the estimated price and the confi rmed price shown on your revised invoice is greater than 10% of the estimated price, you may cancel your holiday and receive a full refund of all monies you have paid us other than any insurance premiums and amendment fees / charges providing you notify us in writing of your wish to do so within 7 days. No compensation will be payable in this situation.
3. Payment for your tour
The balance of all monies due must be received by us or our authorised travel agent not later than 60 days before the start of your tour. For certain tours, full payment must be received sooner. We will tell you at the time of booking when this is the case. If you don’t pay your balance by the due date, we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled and cancellation charges will apply. Any monies paid by you to an authorised travel agent for tours operated by us are held by the agent on our behalf. You can pay by cheque, credit or debit card. We accept Visa and Mastercard. A credit card fee of 1.52% is payable (£1.52 per £100) for all payments paid to Explore by credit card. We reserve the right to increase this charge if the card issuer’s charges to us increase. We will advise you if this happens before taking any payment by credit card. This fee does not apply if payment is made by debit card.
4. If you change your booking a) An administration fee of £25 per booking plus any additional costs or charges incurred by us or incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers will be charged if a confi rmed booking is changed or transferred to a different departure date or tour, up to 60 days prior to departure. Thereafter all changes will be treated as cancellations and subject to the charges below. Changes are subject to availability and are limited to one transfer during the lifetime of your booking. It is not possible to rebook onto the original departure once you have either transferred or cancelled your booking. For an administration fee of £25 per booking, you can request a credit voucher for the amount paid in respect of any cancelled booking, less any non-refundable charges incurred by us or imposed by our suppliers. This must be redeemed within 3 months of issue against a new booking. No further credit vouchers can be requested against the new booking. The voucher is not transferable, can only be redeemed against one booking and cannot be exchanged for cash. No refund or further credit voucher will be provided if the cost of the new booking is less than the value of the credit voucher.
b) If you are unable to travel, in circumstances which we consider reasonable, the booking or your place on the booking may be transferred to another suitable person (introduced by you). However the tour arrangements must remain the same as originally booked. If a transfer can be made, an administration charge of £40 per person transferring his/her place if the Company is advised up to your balance due date, or £100 per person if advised after your balance due date, together with any costs or charges incurred by us or incurred or imposed by any supplier(s) in making the transfer must be paid before the transfer can be made. Any overdue balance payment must also be paid. For fl ight inclusive bookings, you must pay the charges levied by the airline concerned. As most airlines do not permit name changes after tickets have been issued for any reason, these charges are likely to be the full cost of the fl ight / an alternative fl ight.
5. If you cancel your booking
Should you wish to cancel, cancellation charges will be imposed. These are calculated from the day written or verbal notifi cation is received by us or our authorised travel agent as a percentage of the total tour price per person cancelling, excluding any amendment charges and insurance premiums. The cancellation charges shown below are those which will apply to most tours. However, some suppliers have conditions which require the payment of higher or different charges (including the imposition of 100% cancellation charges well in advance of the normal balance due date) which you will have to pay in the event of cancellation. You will be advised at the time of booking if this is the case for your tour.
a) 60 and more days before tour start date – loss of deposit
b) 42-59 days before tour start date – 30% or loss of deposit if higher
c) 28-41 days before tour start date – 60% d) 14-27 days before tour start date – 90% e) Less than 14 days before tour start date – 100%
The air holidays in this brochure are ATOL Protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is 2595.
No. 5207
Amendment charges and insurance premiums are not refundable if you cancel your booking. We strongly recommend that comprehensive travel insurance is taken out which includes cover against cancellation charges. Depending on the reason for the cancellation, you may be able to reclaim the cancellation charges (less any applicable excess) under the terms of your insurance policy. In the event of the cancellation of a booking where you are liable to pay to us cancellation charges in excess of the amount already paid to us at the time of cancellation, you cannot transfer or add these charges to another booking or use any amounts paid to us in relation to the cancelled booking by way of part payment for another booking. Part cancellation of a booking may result in additional costs being payable by the remaining members of your party. Please also see clause 4b.
6. If you have a complaint
If you have a complaint about any of your tour arrangements, you must tell both the relevant supplier and our representative at the time. It is only if we and the supplier know about problems that there will be the opportunity to put things right. If you don’t complain on the spot this may affect your ability to claim compensation. If your complaint cannot be resolved on tour you should notify us in writing within 28 days of the end of your tour. If we are unable to mutually resolve your complaint you may call upon the low cost AITO Independent Dispute Settlement Service (details on request). Claims which exceed £2,500 per person or £10,000 per booking or claims which apply principally or exclusively in respect of (or as a consequence of) illness or physical injury are not admissible for settlement under the service. Alternately you can refer your complaint for arbitration under the ABTOT Travel Industry Arbitration Service. An Independent Arbitrator will review the documents relating to any complaint and deliver a binding decision to bring the matter to a close. Details of this scheme are available from The Travel Industry Arbitration Service, administered by Dispute Settlement Services Ltd at 9 Savill Road, Lindfi eld, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 2NY or from ABTOT, Tower 42, Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1 HG. This scheme cannot however decide in cases where the sums claimed exceed £1,500 per person or £7,500 per booking, or for claims which are solely or mainly in respect of physical injury or illness or the consequence thereof. Please also see clause 1: Your Tour Contract.
7. Passports, visas and vaccinations You are responsible for arranging, and must have, a valid, acceptable passport and any visas and vaccination certifi cates required for your entire journey and tour. Any information we give about these matters or related items (climate, clothing, baggage, personal gear etc) is given in good faith but without responsibility on our part. We regret we cannot accept any liability if you are refused entry onto any transport or into any country due to failure on your part to carry all required documentation. If your failure to have any necessary travel or other documents results in fi nes, surcharges or other fi nancial penalty being imposed on us, you will be responsible for reimbursing us accordingly.
8. Travel and cancellation insurance You must have travel insurance when you travel with us. You and your belongings are at all times solely at your own risk. You are wholly responsible for arranging your own insurance. You must ensure that you have personal travel insurance with protection for the full duration of the tour in respect of at least medical expenses, injury, death, repatriation, cancellation and curtailment, with adequate and appropriate cover including medical emergency helicopter repatriation. If you make your own arrangements you should ensure that there are no exclusion clauses limiting or excluding protection for the type of activities included in your tour. You must ensure that all travel insurance purchased meets your particular requirements and you should arrange supplementary insurance if need be.
9. Consumer protection We hold an Air Travel Organiser’s License issued by the Civil Aviation Authority (ATOL number 2595). When you buy an ATOL protected fl ight or fl ight inclusive holiday* from us, you will receive an ATOL Certifi cate. This lists the fl ight, accommodation, car hire and/or other services that are fi nancially protected, where you can get information on what this means for you and who to contact if things go wrong. We, or the suppliers identifi ed on your ATOL certifi cate, will provide you with the services listed on the ATOL Certifi cate (or a suitable alternative). In some cases, where neither we nor the supplier are able to do so for reasons of insolvency, an alternative ATOL holder may provide you with services you have bought or a suitable alternative (at no extra cost to you). You agree to accept that in those circumstances the
For our latest dates, prices and more details visit
www.explore.co.uk
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