The holidays featured on this site are operated by Travelplan Ski Limited (referred to as 'Travelplan Ski', 'the Company' and 'we') of East House, 109 South Worple Way, London, SW14 8TN, which is registered in England under company number 6342230. The following conditions, together with the relevant information set out on our website www.travelplanski.co.uk, will form part of your contract with the Company. Please read them carefully before you book.
1. CONTRACT AND FINANCIAL PROTECTION
1.1 The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 require us to provide security for the monies that you pay for the package holidays booked from this site and for your repatriation in the event of our insolvency. We provide this security by way of a bond held by the Civil Aviation Authority under ATOL licence No. 9678. As such your money is protected and will be refunded in the unlikely event of insolvency.
1.2 A contract exists on your payment of a non-refundable deposit, and your receipt of a confirmation invoice issued electronically by Travelplan Ski. When making a booking you guarantee that you accept these booking conditions, and have the authority to do so on the behalf of yourself and all members of your party. A booking form must be completed, signed and returned to us. You are responsible for ensuring all details on the confirmation invoice are correct and must notify us immediately of any errors.
1.3 If you had not seen these terms and conditions when you made your booking and you are not happy to proceed with the booking now that you have seen them, please return all documentation to us or to your travel agent, within 7 days of receiving these booking conditions. Your booking will be cancelled and your monies will be returned in full, provided you have not commenced your travel. This clause does not apply if your booking was made within 10 weeks of travel. As party leader you are also responsible for ensuring all adult members of the party have read the important information pages on www.travelplanski.co.uk and ensuring information regarding children is noted.
2. PAYMENT
2.1 To confirm your holiday a non-refundable deposit of £250 is required at the time of booking. Higher deposits are sometimes required by hotels and airlines to confirm booking, and you will be notified of this prior to booking. Balance of payment is required at least 10 weeks prior to departure. If a booking is made within 10 weeks of departure full payment is due at the time of booking. Payments made with credit cards will attract a 2% fee to cover merchant fees. All payments should be made in the currency of the invoice and include any bank charges levied.
2.2 If the balance remains unpaid within 10 weeks of departure we reserve the right to withhold travel documents and apply cancellation fees as scheduled below. Final documentation will be sent out 2 weeks prior to departure unless otherwise specified.
3. PRICES
3.1 We reserve the right to alter the prices of any of the holidays shown on our site. You will be advised of the current price of the holiday that you wish to book before your contract is confirmed.
3.2 All prices shown on this site are based on airfares and projected currency exchange rates as of June 30 2007 and are subject to change without notice for any reason whatsoever. The Company is under no obligation to give a breakdown of the costs involved in a holiday. The Company reserves the right to notify you of an increase in the brochure or advertised price before accepting your booking.
3.3 Fuel prices are volatile and many airlines are charging fuel supplements, often at short notice. The price of your travel arrangements can be varied due to changes in transportation costs including the cost of fuel, dues, taxes, fees chargeable for services such as landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports and airports, exchange rates, scheduled airfares and any other airline costs changes which are part of the contract between airlines (and their agents) and the tour operators, meaning that the price of your travel arrangements may change after you have booked. Government actions such as changes in VAT or any other government imposed changes and currency changes in relation to an exchange rate variation may also vary the price after you have booked. In the case of any small variation, an amount equivalent to 2% of the price of your travel arrangements, which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges, will be absorbed or retained. For larger variations this 2% will still be absorbed for increases but not retained from refunds. In either case there will be an administrative charge of £1 per person together with an amount to cover agents' commission. This means that if you have to pay an increase of more than 10% of the price of your travel arrangements, you may cancel your travel arrangements and receive a full refund of all monies paid, except for any amendment charges. We will consider an appropriate refund of insurance premiums paid if you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy. Should you decide to cancel for this reason, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the issue date printed on your final invoice. Alternatively you may accept an offer of alternative travel arrangements from the Company, if we are able to offer a suitable alternative and transfer payment made in respect of the original holiday to the alternative holiday. If the cost of the alternative holiday is less than the original the difference in price will be refunded.
3.4 If a surcharge would increase the total holiday price shown on your original Confirmation Invoice by 10% or more, you may cancel your booking within 14 days of the date of issue of the revised Invoice and obtain a full refund of all payments made to the Company and any amendment charges previously incurred.
3.5 Optionally, you may choose to pay for your holiday in full at the time of booking, in which case your holiday price will be fixed at the cost quoted by the Company at that time. To qualify for this benefit you should return the Confirmation Invoice to the Company with full payment to reach the Company within 7 days of the date when the Confirmation Invoice was first posted to you.
3.6 Prices do not include local, airline, customs or departure taxes, insurance, gratuities or any other costs not detailed in final invoices or itinerary. Additional costs caused by weather, failure of transportation services or other circumstances beyond our or our principals control are not included or recoverable. Costs are subject to change until Travelplan receives full payment based on the current rate of exchange in its offices. Once full payment, including any quoted surcharge has been received prices are guaranteed.
3.7 Should the price of your holiday go down due to the changes mentioned above, by more than 2% of your holiday cost, then any refund due will be paid to you. However, please note that travel arrangements are not always purchased in local currency and some apparent changes have no impact on the price of your travel due to contractual and other protection in place.
4. COMMUNICATION
4.1 If booking directly with us all communication will be with the party leader via the postal address or email address printed on the booking form. If booking via a travel agent all communications will be sent via the travel agent.
5. AMENDMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS BY YOU
5.1 Should you need to alter your booking in any way after confirmation has been issued we will do our best to assist you but cannot guarantee this will be possible. Any request for changes to be made must be in writing from the person who made the booking or your travel agent on your behalf. If alterations can be made all costs and charges imposed by suppliers will be charged to you. You will also be asked to pay an administration fee of £35 per person which must be paid before changes can be enacted. You should be aware that these costs could increase the closer to the department that changes are made and you should contact us as soon as possible.
5.2 Note: Certain travel arrangements (e.g. Apex Tickets) may not be changeable after a reservation has been made and any alteration request could incur a cancellation charge of up to 100% of that part of the arrangements. In most cases once airline tickets have been issued it is not possible to change names and it is likely a change of name will incur a charge of the full fare cost.
5.3 Please note if one or more of your party cancels your travel arrangement at any time, this may result in the original accommodation booked becoming under-occupied, in which scenario the remaining members of the party will incur an under-occupancy supplement.
5.4 We reserve the right to treat an amendment made within 10 weeks of departure as a cancellation and apply cancellation charges as below.
5.5 If you or any member of your party wish to cancel at any time, the cancellation must be submitted in writing from the person who made the booking or your travel agent on your behalf. Since we incur costs in cancelling your travel arrangement, the following cancellation charges will apply:
70+ days prior to departure Loss of deposit
50 – 69 days prior to departure 50% charge
31 – 49 days prior to departure 70% charge
30 days or less prior to departure 100% charge
5.6 If your reason for cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges. Travelplan recommends DOGTAG insurance www.dogtag.co.uk.
6. AMENDMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS BY US
Amendments prior to departure
6.1 It is unlikely that we will have to make any changes to your travel arrangements, but we do plan the arrangements many months in advance. Occasionally, we may have to make changes and we reserve the right to do so at any time. Most of these changes will be minor and we will advise you or your travel agent of them at the earliest possible date, but are not obliged to do so.
6.2 Occasionally we may be forced to make a major change such as a change of flight time by more than 12 hours, change of destination or change of accommodation. In this situation we will offer you a choice of 1) accepting the change, 2) arranging an alternative holiday with us of comparable standard if available (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value) or 3) cancelling your holiday and receiving a full refund of all monies paid. Regardless of your choice the following compensation will be paid unless the major change is due to reasons of "force majeure", or where cancellation is due to an infringement by you of our booking conditions, such as failure to pay on time.
Days before departure Compensation per person
56 days or more Nil
42 – 55 days £20
29 – 41 days £30
15 – 28 days £40
14 days or less £50
6.3 Force majeure means unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond the Company's control or the control of our suppliers, the consequence of which neither the Company nor its suppliers could avoid even with all due care, including, but not limited to, war, threat of war, riot, civil strife, hostilities, political unrest, government action, terrorist activity, (actual or threatened), industrial dispute, unavoidable technical problems with transport, machinery or equipment, power failure, changes imposed by rescheduling or cancellation of flights by an airline, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, flood, avalanche, drought, adverse weather conditions, airport closures, epidemics or outbreaks of illness and level of water in rivers and all similar events and their consequences.
Cancellations by us
6.4 In very rare circumstances we may be obliged to cancel your holiday. We also reserve the right in any circumstances to cancel your travel arrangements. For example, if the minimum number of clients required for a particular travel arrangement is not reached, we may have to cancel it. However, we will not cancel your travel arrangements less than 10 weeks before your departure date, except for reasons of force majeure or failure by you to pay the final balance. If we are unable to provide the booked travel arrangements, you can either have a refund of all monies paid or accept an offer of alternative travel arrangements of comparable standard from us, if available (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value). If it is necessary to cancel your travel arrangements, we will pay to you compensation as set out in this clause.
Changes during your holiday
6.5 If we are unable to provide significant items booked whilst on your holiday, suitable alternatives will be arranged by us and provided to you at no extra cost. Alternatively we will return you to your original point of departure and a pro-rata refund will be given. This does no apply in the case of minor changes to accommodation, transportation or itinerary.
7. OTHER SUPPLIERS
7.1 Our suppliers (such as accommodation or transport provides, ski schools or providers of lift passes) have their own booking conditions or conditions of carriage, and these conditions are binding between you and the supplier. Some of these conditions may limit or remove the relevant transport provider's or other supplier's liability to you. You can get copies of such conditions from our offices, or the offices of the relevant supplier.
8. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE COMPANY
8.1 The Company applies all reasonable checks to ensure that those involved in the preparation and provision of your holiday maintain the appropriate standards.
8.2 The descriptions, information and opinions given on this site by the Company in respect of the airlines, hotels and other suppliers whose services are used are given in good faith, based on the latest information available at the time of printing. The Company accepts liability for any loss you may suffer if due to fault on our part, or that of our agents or suppliers, any part of the holiday arrangements you book with the Company before your departure is not as described in our brochure or itinerary or not of a reasonable standard. The Company limits its liability in respect of these claims to a maximum of three times the holiday cost. The Company also accepts liability if you or any member of your party suffers death or personal injury as a direct result of these holiday arrangements failing to be as described and of a reasonable standard. However, these acceptances of liability do not apply if there has been no fault on the part of the Company or its servants, agents, or suppliers and the loss, death or personal injury suffered is attributable to your own acts or omissions or to the acts or omissions of a third party not involved in providing the services which make up your holiday, or to unusual or unforeseeable circumstances or events which could not have been anticipated or avoided by the Company or its servants, agents or suppliers even with the exercise of all due care. They are also conditional upon you following the procedures for notification of complaints set out in paragraph [11] and upon you assigning to the Company any right you may have against any other person whose acts or omissions have given rise to the Company's liability.
8.3 The Company's liability to compensate you and the amount of such compensation is subject to the following limitations. First, in the case of damage other than death, illness or personal injury, compensation is restricted to a reasonable amount having regard to such factors as, inter alia, the holiday cost and the extent to which the enjoyment of your holiday can be said to have been affected. Second, if any failure in your holiday arrangements relates to, or if you or any member in your party is killed, injured or becomes ill during or as a result of, carriage by aircraft, ship, train or coach forming part of the holiday arrangements booked with us before your departure from the UK, our liability to pay compensation and/or the amount of compensation we will pay is limited in accordance with the liability of the carrier under any international convention which governs such services. International Conventions which may apply include: in respect of carriage by air, the Montreal Convention 1999 or the Warsaw Convention 1929 (including as amended by the Hague Protocol of 1955 and by any of the Montreal Additional Protocol of 1975); in respect of carriage by sea, the Athens Convention 1974; in respect of rail carriage, the Berne Convention 1961; and in respect of carriage by road the Geneva Convention 1973. The terms of these conventions are incorporated into and form part of your contract with us. In respect of death or personal injury, the liability of an air carrier under the Montreal Convention and the Warsaw Convention is limited to damage sustained in the case of death or bodily injury caused by an accident which takes place onboard the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking. You can get copies of the relevant conventions if you ask us for them. You should also note that these conventions may limit or remove the carrier's liability to you and the amount which the carrier has to pay you. You should also know that the carrier will rely upon its 'conditions of carriage' which may limit or remove the carrier's liability to you and limit compensation under international conventions.
8.4 If we make any payment to you or any member of your party for death, personal injury or illness, you must co-operate fully with us in seeking recovery of any payment we make.
8.5 Operational decisions may be taken by air carriers and airports resulting in delays, diversions or rescheduling. Travelplan Ski has no control over such decisions, and is therefore unable to accept responsibility for them. Where, as a result of circumstances beyond our control we are obliged to change or end your holiday after departure, but before the end of your holiday, we will not pay compensation or reimburse you for expenses incurred. You must have adequate travel insurance for your holiday and should claim via your insurance company for any loss or damage to luggage and/or personal possessions. In the event that any claim is made directly with us, our liability to pay compensation and/or the amount of compensation will be limited in accordance with the conventions referred to in clause 8.3 above.
8.6 If you suffer death, injury or illness during your holiday arising out of an activity which does not form part of the inclusive arrangements booked with the Company, the Company will offer assistance where appropriate and in its sole discretion. This assistance must be requested within 90 days of your misadventure and will be limited to general advice and/or assistance with legal fees up to £5,000 per Booking Form, such contributions to be repaid to the Company out of any judgment or insurance payment you subsequently obtain.
9. YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
9.1 Before making a booking, we advise you to check advice issued by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office on your preferred destination by accessing the website:www.fco.gov.uk/travelor by calling the Foreign Office Travel Advice Unit on 0845 850 2829 . If the Foreign Office advises that people should not visit a particular country, we will act on this advice. US residents who are planning a holiday with us should be aware that the US State Department issues a travel warning when, based on all relevant information, it determines that Americans should avoid travel to or within a certain nation. The State Department maintains a list of nations under a travel warning on its website at:http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html. American travellers are advised to check this before making a booking.
9.2 It is important that you check the details on your Confirmation Invoice when you receive it. In the event of any discrepancy, you should contact the company or your travel agent.
9.3 General information concerning passport, visa and health requirements applicable to UK Citizens is set out in the brochures. However, such requirements are subject to change and you must check current requirements before departure. You will need a full 10 year passport to travel which is valid for six months after the date of your return. Some destinations also require visas and you should contact the Embassy or Consulate of the country which you are planning to visit in good time before you travel. You should also contact your medical advisor or a specialist vaccination centre for details of the measures you will need to take prior to departure. All children should travel on full passports. It is your responsibility to obtain all documents required for your holiday, including passports, visas, heath certificates and international driving licenses, to ensure that these are in proper order and to take them with you. We will not be liable to make any refund or pay compensation if you or any member of your party is unable to proceed with the holiday as planned because of incorrect or missing personal documents.
9.4 Approximately 14 days before departure you will receive your flights tickets together with other information concerning your holiday. Please ensure that you check the names and flight timings on your tickets carefully and contact us immediately if you have any queries. The correct timings, using the 24 hour clock system, may have been adjusted since you received your Confirmation Invoice.
9.5 You are responsible for checking-in for flights at the correct time and for presenting yourself to take up all pre-booked components of your holiday. The Company cannot accept responsibility for clients missing flights as a result of late check-ins and no credit or refunds will be given if you fail to take up any component of your holiday. No credit or refunds will be given for lost, mislaid or destroyed travel documents.
9.6 Most people go on holiday for rest and relaxation, so if in our reasonable opinion or that of any airline pilot, hotel manager, tour leader or other person in authority, your behaviour is causing danger, damage to property or persistently affecting the enjoyment of others, we reserve the right to terminate your holiday. Should this happen no refund or compensation would be paid.
9.7 If you lose any personal items whilst on holiday, please obtain a written report from the police, to help with any insurance claim upon your return.
10. INSURANCE
10.1 It is a condition of booking that you and all members of your party have comprehensive travel insurance cover and that it is adequate for your needs. We recommend Dogtag Travel Insurance and can advise on the most suitable cover level for your holiday. For detailed information or pre-existing medical relations, we will direct you to Dogtag. Your policy of insurance should provide cover for personal injury, death, medical and repatriation costs in the countries which you intend to visit, together with cover for loss of baggage and valuables, personal liability, delay, cancellation, curtailment, missed departure and legal expenses. If you suffer from a disability or medical condition you should disclose this to insurers. For those who participate in sports and activities whilst on holiday that have been organised and arranged independently of us, it should be understood that participation is at the individual's own risk and it is your responsibility to obtain the relevant insurance. Note that special insurance may be required if you intend to undertake any dangerous activities. Please keep your insurance details with you whilst on holiday.
11. IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT
11.1 If you have a problem during your holiday, please inform the relevant supplier (e.g. your hotelier) and our resort representative or head office immediately who will endeavour to put things right. If your complaint is not resolved locally, please follow this up within 28 days of your return home by writing to our Customer Services Department at customers@travelplanski.co.uk or Castle Hill House, 12 Castle Hill, Windsor, Berks, SL4 1PD giving your booking reference and all other relevant information. Please keep your letter concise and to the point. This will assist us to quickly identify your concerns and speed up our response to you.
11.2 It is strongly recommended that you communicate any complaint to the supplier of the services in question as well as to our representative without delay and complete a report form whilst in resort.
11.3 If you fail to follow this simple procedure we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were in resort and this may affect your rights under this contract.
11.4 Under EU law (Regulation 261/2004) you have rights in some circumstances to refunds and/or compensation from your airline in cases of denied boarding, cancellation or delay to flights. Full details of these rights will be publicised at EU airports and will also be available from airlines. However reimbursement in such cases will not automatically entitled you to a refund of your holiday cost from us. Your right to a refund and/or compensation from us is set out in clause [6]. If any payments to you are due from us, any payment made to you by the airline will be deducted from this amount. If your airline does not comply with these rules you should complain to the Air Transport Users' Council on 020 7240 6061 www.auc.org.uk.
12. SPECIAL REQUESTS
12.1 As a tailor-made specialist, we will endeavour to provide any special requests such as airline seating, diets, room requirements and other services. However as in most cases provision of these services is at the discretion of the relevant supplier, we can only do so on a ‘goodwill’ basis and as such cannot guarantee availability or be held responsible if they are not provided.
13. EXCURSIONS
13.1 Please note that when you book an excursion locally you contract with the local company providing that excursion and not the Company. The Company has no legal liability for anything that goes wrong on such an excursion and any claim which you might have arising out of the excursion will be against the relevant local company and subject to the local company's terms and conditions. The Company will, at its discretion offer advice, guidance and assistance if you or any member of your party suffer death, illness or injury arising out of an activity which does not form part of your holiday with the Company, or an excursion arranged locally. Where legal action is contemplated and you want the Company's assistance, you must obtain the Company's written consent prior to commencement of proceedings. The Company's consent will be given subject to you undertaking to assign any costs, or benefits received and any relevant insurance policy to the Company. We limit the cost of the Company's assistance to you or any member of your party to £5,000.
14. DATA PROTECTION ACT
14.1 In order to process your booking and to ensure that your travel arrangements run smoothly and meet your requirements, we need to use the information you provide such as your name and address, any special needs/dietary requirements etc. We take full responsibility for ensuring that proper security measures are in place to protect your information. We must pass the information on to the relevant suppliers of your travel arrangements such as airlines, hotels, transport companies and so on. The information may also be provided to security or credit checking companies, public authorities such as customs and immigration if required by them, or as required by law. Additionally, where your holiday is outside the European Economic Area (EEA), controls on data protection in your destination may not be as strong as the legal requirements in this country. We will not however, pass any information on to any person not responsible for part of your travel arrangements. This applies to any sensitive information that you give to us such as details of any disabilities, or dietary/religious requirements. If, however, we cannot pass this information to the relevant suppliers, whether in the EEA or not, we cannot accept your booking. In making a booking, you consent to this information being passed on to the relevant persons. Please note that where information is also held by your travel agent, this is subject to your agents own data protection policy. You are entitled to a copy of your information held by us. If you would like to see this please contact the Company during normal working hours. (We make a small charge for providing this to you).
15. ILLNESS AND DISABILITY
15.1 If you or any member of your party suffer from a disability or other medical condition please tell us before you book. Travelplan Ski is happy to give you advice and to try to assist you in choosing a holiday that will meet your requirements. In order to assist you we must be provided prior to booking with full written details regarding your medical condition and any special requirements which result from this. An appropriate medical form will be sent to you for this purpose.
15.2 Air travel can cause problems for some people with circulatory or bronchial problems, such as deep vein thrombosis. It is inadvisable for anyone with high blood pressure or respiratory problems to visit high altitudes. You should consult your doctor for advice before you book and in good time before your departure.
16. GOVERNING LAW
16.1 This contract and any matters arising from it are governed by the laws of England and Wales and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales.