As a member of the Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT), an Association approved by the Department of Trade and Industry, Equitour has provided a Bond to meet the requirements of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992. This Bond provides security for money paid over by customers and for the repatriation of customers in the event of Equitour's insolvency..
1. Your Contract
When you make your booking you must complete a booking form. In signing the booking form, you warrant that you have the authority to accept, and are accepting on behalf of all of your party, the terms of these booking conditions. A contract will exist as soon as Equitour issues the confirmation invoice. This contract is made on the terms of these booking conditions which are governed by English law and both parties agree to submit to the jurisdiction of English courts at all times. The contract is deemed to have been made at our office in
Minstead, Hants.
It is a condition of the contract that you must be insured against medical and personal accident risks, as well as cancellation charges and loss of deposits. Details of insurance must be provided before the contract can be confirmed.
2. Payment
You must pay a deposit of £300 at the time you make the booking. For some holidays, as in the case of tours to USA and Canada, a higher deposit is required.
The balance must be received by us 10 weeks (70 days) prior to departure. In the event that the full cost is not paid within the time specified we reserve the right to treat this as a cancellation and apply the appropriate cancellation charge. If a booking is made fewer than ten weeks before departure, it must be accompanied by full payment of the cost of the tour.
3. Surcharge Policy
We reserve the right to raise the tour price if there are exceptional cost increases due to exchange rate fluctuations or government action. Even in this case, we will absorb an amount equivalent to 2% of the holiday price excluding any amendment charges. Only amounts in excess of this 2% will be surcharged. If this means paying more than 10% on the holiday price, you will be entitled to cancel your holiday with a full refund of all money paid except for any amendment charges.
Trips are budgeted for a full or nearly full sign-up of between 4-6 paying passengers to enable us to offer tours at the lowest possible cost. Before cancelling a tour, we would advise you of the tier price on lower numbers than this which is calculated on the number of full revenue passengers. Clients will have an option of a full refund of their monies should they not wish to pay the amended price through lack of numbers participating on the tour. Such a decision with regard to lack of sales will be made prior to the balance due date. Should you decide to cancel because of this, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the issue date printed on the invoice.
Prices quoted on the final invoice are based on foreign exchange rates in effect at the time of invoicing.
4. Cancellation By Equitour Holidays
Equitour may cancel the booking at any time prior to the balance of the cost of the booking becoming due, or if a tour does not reach a minimum number of 4-6 participants excluding Tour Leaders.
Equitour may cancel the booking after the balance due date for reasons of force majeure. Examples of force majeure are war, threat of war, riot, civil strife, industrial dispute, government action, terrorist activity, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions or other circumstances constituting force majeure.
5. Your Rights If We Cancel
In the event of cancellation by Equitour for any reason, we will so inform the client without delay and offer the client the choice of an alternative holiday of at least comparable standard, if available, or a prompt and full refund of all monies paid within ten days of the client being informed of the cancellation. If Equitour cancels the holiday within the balance due date, Equitour will return any monies paid and, in addition, except in circumstances where the cancellation is due to circumstances amounting to force majeure, pay compensation per person as set out in section 6.
6. Amendments and Material Alterations
We do our best to provide the holiday as booked, but our tours are planned many months in advance, and many of them are in remote places where Western European standards and procedures do not apply. There is always a risk that accommodation, schedules, itineraries and other parts of the holiday will be subject to alterations beyond our control and sometimes at short notice. Most of these changes are minor. We are not obliged to notify you for the minor changes, nor are we obliged to pay compensation for the minor changes. However, we will try to notify you of any changes at the earliest possible date.
All service and accommodation arrangements and the charges for them may be altered by Equitour at any time prior to confirmation of the booking. We reserve the right to substitute any named leader or other escort with an alternative qualified person.
If, after confirmation of booking, a major change becomes necessary such as a change of resort or a reduction in the standard of accommodation), we will inform you as soon as reasonably possible, if there is time before departure. In this case you will have the choice of either accepting the change of arrangements, taking another available holiday from us, or cancelling your holiday and receiving a full refund. In addition we will pay compensation per person as follows:-
70-56 days before departure £20
55-15 days before departure £30
14-8 days before departure £50
7 days or less before departure £80
Important Note : In all cases our liability to pay compensation is limited to the amounts set out above. Compensation will not be payable if we are forced to cancel or in any way change your holiday due to war, threat of war, riot, civil strife, government action, industrial dispute, terrorist activity, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions or other circumstances amounting to force majeure.
7. Cancellation By You
A cancellation by the client must be in writing, signed by the person who signed the booking form, and must be sent to Equitour,
Petershold Farm, Minstead, Lyndhurst, Hants. SO43 7JG. The fees payable or, as the case may be, not refundable on cancellation, are as follows:
more than 70 days before departure deposit
70-56 days before departure 30% of holiday cost
55-29 days before departure 45% of holiday cost
28-15 days before departure 60% of holiday cost
14 days or less before departure 100% of holiday cost
8. If you change your booking
If, after our confirmation has been issued, you wish to change your travel arrangements, e.g. your departure date or accommodation, we will do our utmost to make these changes, but it may not always be possible. You will be asked to pay an administration charge of £20, and any further cost we incur in making this alteration. These costs could increase the closer to the departure date that changes are made and you should contact us as soon as possible.
9. Conditions of Carriage
All arrangements made by or through Equitour in connection with the booking are subject to conditions of carriage of the relevant carrier. Some of these conditions limit liability. The conditions of carriage of that carrier are incorporated into this contract. You may ask for copies of the relevant conditions of carriage from our offices. In respect of carriage by air, sea and rail and the provision of accommodation, our liability in all cases will be limited in the manner provided by the relevant International convention. You can ask for copies of these International conventions from our office.
10. Complaints and Disputes
If you have a problem during your holiday, you must inform our tour leader or representative and the relevant supplier (e.g. hotel) immediately. They will endeavour to put things right. If your complaint cannot be completely resolved locally, you must complete a written report giving all relevant information and hand over one copy to the supplier of the service(s) in question. You should submit a second copy of your report to Equitour within 28 days of your return home. If you fail to follow this simple procedure we may not be able to accept responsibility as we have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify the problem.
11. Our Responsibility To You
We accept responsibility (on the terms of these booking conditions) for ensuring that the holiday which you book with us is supplied as described in our brochure. We further accept responsibility for acts or omissions of Employees, Agents, Sub-Contractors and Suppliers.
We also accept responsibility should the services which we, the Operator, contractually provide, prove deficient or are not of reasonable standards. Claims of this nature shall be subject to English law in respect of any question of liability or quantum and all proceedings shall be within the exclusive domain of the English Law Courts. Under Package Travel Regulations we are entitled to limit compensation and we do limit compensation to twice the value of the original cost - the limit does not apply in any way to injury illness and death.
Every assistance shall be afforded to a client who through misadventure suffers illness, personal injury or death during the period of the tour arising out of an activity which does not form part of the foreign inclusive tour arrangement or an excursion offered. Such assistance shall take the form of advice, guidance and initial financial assistance where appropriate up to a limit of £5,000.00 per booking form, to be repaid from any insurance claim.
We accept liability for death, bodily injury or illness caused to any person named on the Booking Form by the proven negligence of our Employees, Agents, Sub-Contractors and Suppliers. Our liability in respect of the same shall be limited in the manner provided by relevant international conventions in respect of air, sea and land carriage.
12. Consumer Protection
As a member of the Association of Bonded Travel Organiser Trust Ltd (ABTOT), an Association approved by the Department of Trade and Industry, Equitour has provided a Bond to meet the requirements of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tour Regulations 1992. This Bond provides security for money paid over by customers and the repatriation of customers in the event of Equitour's insolvency.
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