Terms & Conditions
All holidays are organised by Heatherlea (Scotland) Ltd. Heatherlea (Scotland) Ltd is a limited company incorporated in Scotland under the Companies Act 1985, as Company No 214912. Registered office: The Mountview Hotel, Nethy Bridge, Inverness-shire, PH25 3EB.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BOOKING, HEATHERLEA UK AND OVERSEAS ADVENTURES
These are the terms and conditions of your holiday contract. Please read them carefully as you are bound by them.
1. Reservation and deposit
When you make a booking you guarantee that you have the authority to accept and do accept on behalf of all members of your party, the terms of these booking conditions. You must be at least 18. The person signing the booking form warrants that he/she has full authority to do so on behalf of all persons whose names appear on the booking form, and confirms that all such persons are fully aware of and accept these conditions. However, for the avoidance of doubt, that person's signature confirms his or her responsibility for all payment due in respect of all persons within the party. Provisional reservations may be made by telephone, but must be confirmed in writing within seven days. A confirmed reservation is made once a full deposit has been received from you and confirmed in writing by us. Once the booking has been confirmed, any deposits paid will not be refunded under any circumstances, unless Heatherlea cancel the holiday in which case deposits will be repaid to you in full. Scottish Law will apply to our agreement and to any dispute or claim which arises between us out of it. Any such dispute or claim must be dealt with by the Courts of Scotland. You may, however, choose the law and jurisdiction of England and Wales or Northern Ireland if you wish to do so, by informing us of this in writing at the time of booking.
2. Balance payment
Balance payment for non-UK holidays must be made at least 12 weeks prior to the date the holiday begins, and at least 10 weeks prior to the date the holiday begins in the case of holidays based entirely within the UK. We will advise you of the due date for balance payment with your confirmation of booking. Should this final payment fail to reach us by the date specified on your invoice, we reserve the right to cancel your booking without any refund. Please note that for non-UK holidays, photocopy of passport and insurance documents must be provided to Heatherlea with balance payment. When we send a confirmation invoice to you a valid contract comes into existence. It is your responsibility to check the confirmation/final invoice together with all tickets and documents carefully when you receive them and contact us immediately if you think that any details are incorrect.
3. Pricing and surcharges
Whilst we endeavour to ensure that all the information and prices are accurate both on our website and in our itineraries and quotations, you must understand that occasionally minor alterations arise. The prices and information on our website or brochures may have changed by the time you come to book the tour. Whilst we endeavour to ensure their accuracy, you must ensure to check all details and prices of the tour in question with us at the time of booking. We reserve the right to amend the advertised prices of arrangements at any time. We also reserve the right to correct errors in both advertised and confirmed prices. Please note: Changes and errors sometimes occur. You must check the price of your chosen arrangements at the time of booking. Once you have paid a deposit, your holiday price is fixed subject to the following qualifications: We reserve the right to impose surcharges to cover increases in, but not limited to, the following: government action, currency exchange rates, transportation costs (including the cost of fuel), overflying charges, airport charges, local taxes and increase in scheduled air fares. In all cases we will absorb an amount equivalent to a maximum of 2% of the invoice price (excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges). Only amounts in excess of 2% will be passed to you and should this figure exceed 10% of the invoice price (excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges) you will be entitled to cancel the booking and receive a full refund of all monies paid (excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges). If you choose to cancel in these circumstances, you must do so within 14 days of the issue date on the surcharge invoice. We will not impose any surcharge within 14 days of departure. We will not levy an additional charge nor make a refund within 30 days of departure. 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 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. Changes by you before departure
Any changes to the original booking (for example, hotel, passenger names but not departure dates (see below) must be confirmed in writing by the person signing the booking form and must be accompanied by an administration fee of £40 per booking in addition to any further costs that we may incur. Whilst every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate changes and additional requests, their availability cannot be guaranteed. A change of departure date must be requested
in writing by the person signing the booking form and must be accompanied by an administration fee of £40, unless the request is within 60 days of departure in which case cancellation fees will be applied as detailed in clause 5 (below).
As we incur costs from the time we confirm your booking, and for alterations within the periods set out below in clause 5, we will levy the following cancellation charges. Please note: Certain travel arrangements 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.
5. Cancellation by you
You may cancel the booking at any time provided that the cancellation is communicated to us in writing. Cancellation charges will be applied as shown below, calculated from the day when written notice is received by us.
Period before departure Cancellation charge
90 days or more Forfeit of all deposit monies paid
89 - 30 days 90% of total cost
29 days or less 100% of total cost
However, in addition to the charges shown above many air tickets have no refund value whatsoever and, therefore, airlines may impose 100% cancellation charges and the cost of a new ticket, and you will also be liable for these additional charges. In certain cases a variation in our cancellation charges may be required, if we have to incur high costs at an early stage in the arrangement of your tour. We reserve the right to amend our cancellation charges in such cases, and you will be notified of this at the time of booking.
6. Changes or cancellation by us
We reserve the right at any time to make changes and correct errors in holiday details and arrangements (including flights, accommodation, transport or services) both before and after bookings have been confirmed. These changes are usually minor and we will endeavour to inform you of any such changes before departure. Flight timings and carriers are subject to change due to airline procedures, and details given on your invoice or itinerary are for guidance only. Even details given on your tickets may be subject to change locally.
We must also reserve the right to cancel confirmed bookings. However, we promise we will only cancel your confirmed booking 8 weeks or less before departure where you have failed to make full payment on time or as a result of circumstances outside our control/“force majeure” as defined in clause 7 below. Most changes are minor but occasionally we may have to make a 'significant change' - a significant change is a change made before departure such as a change of accommodation to that of a lower official classification or standard to the whole or a major part of the itinerary, a major change of the ground itinerary, a change of outward departure date (usually more than 24hours), or a change of UK departure airport to one which is less convenient to you. If we have to make a significant change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible and if there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of the following options:
i. (for significant changes) accepting the changed arrangements or
ii. purchasing alternative arrangements from us, of a similar standard to those originally booked if available (if the chosen alternative is less expensive than your original one, we will refund the difference but if it is more expensive, we will ask you to pay the difference) or
iii. cancelling the booking and obtaining a full and prompt refund of all the money paid– as long as you have given us written notification of cancellation within 7 days of the date on which you were notified of the alterations. If a change to an airline schedule causes a potential significant change to the holiday, we may choose to amend flight routings at no additional cost to you in order to allow us to fulfill our obligations to you. In such circumstances, if you decide to cancel, normal penalties will apply. Insurance premiums will not be refunded. If we have to make a significant change or cancel 8 weeks or less before departure, subject to the exceptions below, we will pay you the following compensation:
Period before scheduled departure date within which a significant change is made known to the client.
Compensation
More than 55 days Nil
55-43 days £10
42-29 days £20
15-28 days £30
0-14 days £40
An amendment which affects a stay in a hotel, where the hotel stay is not the focus of the tour, is not treated as a significant change. If we have to make a significant change or cancel, you will be compensated as set out above subject to the following exceptions:- We will not pay you compensation where we make a significant change or cancel more than
8 weeks before departure or in the event that (1) we are forced to make a change or cancel as a result of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which we could not have avoided even with all due care (2) we have to cancel because the minimum number of bookings necessary for us to operate your holiday has not been reached - in this case we will notify you by the deadline specified in the details of the holiday in question. We will not pay you compensation and the above options will not be available if we make a minor change or cancel as a result of your failure to make full payment on time. We regret we cannot pay any expenses, costs or losses incurred by you as a result of any change or cancellation. Very rarely, we may be forced by "force majeure" (see clause 7) to change or terminate your arrangements after departure. If this situation does occur, we regret we will be unable to make any refunds (unless we obtain any from our suppliers), pay you compensation or meet any costs or expenses you incur as a result.
7. Force majeure
We will not accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our contractual obligations is prevented or affected, or you otherwise suffer any loss or damage due to circumstances that come under the definition of 'force majeure'. In these booking conditions 'force majeure' means any event that we or the supplier of the services in question could not foresee or avoid even with all due care. Such events include but are not limited to war, the threat of war, insurrection, riots, strikes, civil action decisions by governments or governing authorities, natural disaster, bad weather, technical or maintenance problems with the transport, changes of schedules or operational decisions of air carriers, or similar circumstances beyond our control.
8. Transfer of bookings
If you are prevented from travelling you may have the right to transfer your booking to another person. Preference will in the first instance be given to anyone on our waiting list for the same tour. All costs associated with transfer of bookings to another name must be paid by the transferring client. These are most likely to relate to flight and insurance penalties. Reasonable notice must be given to Heatherlea about such a transfer. No transfer may be made within 28 days of departure. Please also note that airlines may impose 100% cancellation charges and the cost of a new ticket.
9. Accommodation
We use accommodation with en-suite facilities, carefully selected by Heatherlea. In some areas we may have to use accommodation that is below this standard. Should such accommodation be chosen you will be informed in advance. Hotel classifications published on the website and in itineraries and quotations are for guidance only. These classifications are not based on any national or international system. Classifications are subjective as they are often based on the opinions of our staff or local agents. When we make reservations, we have to use the room classification that the hotel adopts (occasionally this can be misleading), and therefore we are not able to take responsibility for the veracity of hotels' classification of rooms.
10. Single rooms
Single room supplements are detailed in your Booking Confirmation and Invoice. We try to accommodate clients who request single rooms, however this is not always possible, and clients may occasionally be asked to share. For holidays based at The Mountview Hotel there is no single room supplement and guests are never asked to share.
11. Insurance
It is a condition of joining any Heatherlea Overseas Adventure that you must be adequately insured for the duration of your trip, and that it is adequate for your needs and the type of activity you will be undertaking as part of your holiday. We do not check insurance policies; however we reserve the right to request written details (insurer’s name, policy number and emergency contact number) of your policy. Heatherlea reserve the right to refuse admittance to the holiday if you do not provide evidence of insurance if requested. You are responsible for indemnifying us in full in the event that we incur any losses or expenses arising out of your failure to take out adequate insurance cover. Clients should also ensure that there are no exclusion clauses limiting protection for the type of activities in their tour.
12. Our liability to you
(a) Subject to Clauses 12 (b) and (c) below, we accept responsibility for ensuring that your travel arrangements, which you book with us, are supplied as described on our website or in our brochures. If, after departure, any part of your travel arrangements are not provided as promised, due to the fault of our employees, agents or suppliers, we will pay you appropriate compensation, if this has affected the enjoyment of your travel arrangements. However, our liability in all cases shall be limited to a maximum of twice the value of the element not supplied excluding flights. The level of such compensation will take into account all relevant factors including the invoice price of the tour, any steps it was reasonable for the client to take to minimise the inconvenience/damage suffered and the extent to which the deficiency or improper performance can have affected your enjoyment of the package.
(b) Please note that we will not be liable for any injury, illness, or death or consequent losses suffered by you or any member of your party, unless you are able to prove that such injury or illness was caused by lack of reasonable care and skill on the part of ourselves or our suppliers in the performance of our obligations under our contract with you. It is a
condition of the payment of compensation that you notify us of any complaint or claim strictly in accordance with clause 15 and, further, assign to us any rights you may have against any third party in connection with your claim. You must co-operate with us and our insurers in this regard. If you suffer a personal injury, death or serious difficulties as the result of an activity which does not form part of the tour you booked with us - including for example any additional services or facilities provided to you by a hotel or any other supplier which was not included as part of your original contract with us - we will not be liable to pay you any compensation but will offer you such advice and guidance as is reasonable in all the circumstances provided we are advised of the incident within 90 days of the occurrence. We will not be responsible where you do not enjoy the tour or suffer any other problems because of a reason which you did not make us aware of when the tour was booked.
(c) In all claims of whatever nature we will not be liable where the alleged loss or damage results from any of the following:
i. the fault of the person(s) affected or any members(s) of their party or
ii. the fault of a third party not connected with the provision of your holiday which we could not have predicted or avoided or
iii. an event or circumstances which we or the supplier of the service(s) in question could not have predicted or avoided even after taking all reasonable care or
iv. the fault of anyone who was not carrying out work for us (generally or in particular) at the time.
(d) Important notice in respect of limits on liability
In respect of international travel by air, sea and rail, the extent of our liability will in all cases be limited as if we were carriers under the appropriate Conventions, which include The Warsaw/Montreal Convention (international travel by air); The Athens Convention (with respect to sea travel); The Berne/Cotif Convention (with respect to rail travel) and The Paris Convention (with respect to accommodation arrangements). You can ask for copies of these Conventions from our offices, please contact us. Please note that there may be an administrative charge. In addition, you agree that the operating carrier or transport company's own 'Conditions of Carriage' will apply to you on that journey. When arranging transportation for you, we rely on the terms and conditions contained within these international conventions and those 'Conditions of Carriage'. You acknowledge that all of the terms and conditions contained in those 'Conditions of Carriage' form part of your contract with us, as well as with the transport company and that those 'Conditions of Carriage' shall be deemed to be included by reference into this contract.
(e) The services and facilities included in your holiday will be deemed to be provided with reasonable skill and care if they comply with any local regulations which apply, or, if there are no applicable local regulations, if they are reasonable when compared to the local standards and customs.
(f) This clause 12 is intended to set out our obligations to you as an organiser under the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992. We will not accept any further or different liability than these Regulations impose. In addition, regardless of any contrary representations made by us, we only promise to use reasonable skill and care as set out above and we do not have any further or different liability to you.
13. Disabilities and medical conditions
If you or any member of your party has any medical problem or disability which may affect your chosen holiday arrangements, you must give us full details in writing at the time of booking. If we reasonably feel unable to properly accommodate the particular needs of the person(s) concerned, we will not confirm the booking or, if full details are not given at the time of booking, cancel when we become aware of these details.
14. Behaviour
Every Heatherlea Tour Leader has full authority whilst on tour, and all participants must accept this authority. We reserve the right to dismiss persons unwilling or unable to conduct themselves in a manner compatible with the satisfactory operation of the tour and any such participants will be liable to reimburse Heatherlea for any expenses whatsoever we incur as a result of such behaviour.
15. Complaints
In the unlikely event that you have a complaint, please inform the relevant supplier or your tour leader immediately so that the matter can be put right. In the event that a complaint cannot be resolved at the time, you must write to Heatherlea within 28 days of return from the tour quoting the original booking reference and giving all relevant information. PLEASE NOTE: - Failure to take these steps will affect our ability to resolve the problem and/or investigate it fully and in consequence, your rights under the contract may be affected.
16. Curtailment
If you cut short your holiday and return home early in circumstances where you have no reasonable cause for complaint about the standard of accommodation and services provided, we will not offer you any refund for that part of your holiday not completed, or assist with any associated costs you may incur. Depending on the circumstances, your travel insurance may offer cover for curtailment and we suggest that any claim is made directly with them.
17. Flights
Please note that a flight described as "direct" will not necessarily be non-stop. All departure/arrival times are provided by the airlines concerned and are estimates only. They may change due to air traffic control restrictions, weather conditions, operational/maintenance requirements and the requirement for passengers to check in on time. We are not liable if there is any change to a departure/ arrival time previously given to the client or shown on your ticket. It is for this reason that all clients are required to reconfirm their flights with the airline, 72 hours prior to departure. We are unable to make any special arrangements if your flight is delayed; these matters are at the sole discretion of the airline concerned.
Please note the existence of a “Community list” (available for inspection at http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/air/safety/flywell_en.htm) detailing air carriers that are subject to an operating ban with the EU Community. Under EU Law, you have rights in some circumstances to refunds and/or compensation from the 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. Reimbursement in such cases is the responsibility of the airline and will not automatically entitle you to a refund of the price of your arrangements from us.
18. Passports, visas and health requirements
You are responsible for making yourself aware of all passport and visa requirements and should allow adequate time to obtain them. Please note that many countries require that a passport is valid for six months beyond the period of proposed stay. Requirements can change and it is your responsibility to ensure that you comply with applicable passport, visa and health requirements and take all necessary documents in order to gain access to any country or region to which travel arrangements are made. If you fail to do so, you will be solely responsible for any cost, loss or damage which we incur as a result of your failure. We will not be responsible if you or any of your party are refused entry onto any transport or into any country due to your failure to carry the correct documentation. For regular updates on visa requirements or any safety advice for British Citizens planning to travel overseas, see the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) website: www.fco-gov.uk or call 0870 606 0290. You should contact the (FCO) before making a final decision regarding your destination.
19. Special Requests
If you have any special requests, you should inform us at the time of booking. This specifically includes dietary and health requests. We will pass on your requests to the relevant suppliers, but these do not form part of the contract, and cannot be guaranteed. If we confirm that a special request has been noted or passed to the supplier or we refer to it on the confirmation invoice or elsewhere, this is not a guarantee to meet it. You will not be specifically notified if a special request cannot be met. We do not accept bookings which are conditional on the fulfilment of any special request.
20. Financial security and bonding
Heatherlea (Scotland) Ltd is the holder of Air Travel Organiser's Licence number 6113. In the unlikely event of our insolvency, the Civil Aviation Authority will ensure that you are not stranded abroad and will arrange to refund any money you have paid to us for an advance booking. For further information, visit the ATOL website at www.atol.org.uk.
21. Data Protection
For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998 we are a data controller. In order to process your booking and to ensure that your travel arrangements run smoothly and meet your requirements we need to collect certain personal details from you. These will include, where applicable, the names and addresses of party's members, credit/debit card or other payment details and special requirements such as those relating to any disability or medical condition which may affect the chosen holiday arrangements and any dietary restrictions which may disclose your religious beliefs. If we need any other personal details, we will tell you before we obtain them from you. We must pass on your personal details to the companies and organizations who need to know them so that your holiday can be provided (for example your airline, hotels, transport companies, credit/debit company or bank). The information may also be provided to security or credit checking companies, public authorities such as customs/immigration if required by them, or as required by law.
We have appropriate security measures in place to protect the personal details you give us. Where your travel arrangements are to take place 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 company and/or organisation not responsible for providing any part of your travel arrangements. Where you provide us with personal details relating to any special requirements such as those mentioned above, you consent to this information being passed onto any organisation or companies responsible for any part of your travel arrangements
whether in the EEA or not. If we cannot pass this information to the relevant suppliers, we cannot provide your travel arrangements.
We are entitled to assume you do not object to our doing any of the things mentioned above unless you tell us otherwise in writing. You are generally entitled to ask us (by letter or e-mail) what details of yours are being held or processed, for what purpose and to whom they may be or have been disclosed. We will charge a fee to respond to such a request. In limited circumstances we are entitled to refuse your request. Except where expressly permitted by the Data Protection Act 1998, we will only deal with the personal details you give us as set out above unless you agree otherwise. For example, if we wish to use any of your personal details for marketing purposes, we will tell you this when we ask for your details and give you the opportunity to say no if you do not want us to do so.
22. Governing Law
The contract (incorporating these booking conditions) and all matters arising from it are subject to Scottish Law and the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish Courts, subject to the qualification contained in clause 1.
September 2015