Date
of issue 11 February 2009.
BOOKING
CONDITIONS: ACCOMMODATION ONLY
1.
Contract
Please read these booking conditions carefully as they, together with
the specific
information about your confirmed accommodation, form the basis of your
contract
with H.I.S. Europe Ltd trading as H.I.S. Travel.
2.
Prices
We reserve the right to alter any of our advertised accommodation prices.
You will
be advised of the current price of the accommodation that you wish
to book before
your contract is confirmed.
3.
Making a booking and payment
When you have chosen your accommodation and you make a request to us
to book
it, you must pay the full cost of the booking upon confirmation of
your reservations. Your booking is confirmed and a contract between
us exists when we issue our
confirmation invoice/ email.
Please
check your confirmation carefully and report any incorrect
or incomplete
information to us immediately. Please ensure that names are exactly
as stated in
the relevant passport.
Payments by credit card will attract a credit card charge of 2%.
The
cost of your accommodation does not include any extra chargeable
services
that you may use whilst at the accommodation. These are payable direct
to the
hotel.
4.
Your responsibility for your booking
When you make a booking you guarantee that you have the authority to
accept and
do accept on behalf of your party the terms of these booking conditions.
This means
that you are responsible for making all payments due, notifying us
if any changes or
cancellations are required and for receiving the confirmation and keeping
your party
informed.
5.
Insurance
It is your responsibility to ensure that you are adequately insured.
We strongly
recommend that you take out insurance, which should include cover against
the
cost of cancellation by you and assistance (including repatriation)
in the event of
accident or illness.
6.
If you want to change your booking
After our confirmation has been issued, any requests for changes must
be sent to
us in writing, by email, fax or post, by the person that made the booking.
We cannot
guarantee that we will be able to accommodate your request but we will
try to do so.
You will be asked to pay an administration fee of £25 plus any charge
made by the
accommodation supplier. These are likely to be higher the closer you
get to your
arrival date, so contact us as soon as you can.
If
you change the number in your party, the accommodation
price will be recalculated.
If the party size is reduced, this is likely to mean the remaining
members
paying more due to under-occupancy.
7.
If you want to cancel your booking
The person that made the booking must put this in writing to us, by
email, fax or
post. Because we incur costs in cancelling confirmed bookings, particularly
if
cancellations occur close to arrival date, you will be charged a cancellation
fee.
If
you cancel (this is the date on which we receive your written
notice of cancellation
during the hours of 9.30 am to 5.30pm : Monday to Friday
Cancellation
fees:
After
full payment and 5 or more days before your arrival date:
£45 per booking per hotel.
Between
4 and 0 days: 100% of amount paid
Some
resort hotels have stringent cancellation conditions and
may charge up to 100% of the amount paid when cancelled
within 31 days of arrival, please ask you consultant for
the cancellation fees of any resort hotel reservations.
Charges
are shown as a percentage of your accommodation cost (excluding
amendment fees, if any, which are non-refundable in the event of a
cancellation).
8.
If we change or cancel your booking
We reserve the right to change or cancel your booking.
Subject
to the note below, if we make a change and you don’t want
to accept it, you
can take any alternative accommodation we are able to offer you (you
will pay the
increase in cost if the replacement is advertised at a higher price
than your original
booking, or receive a refund of the difference if it is less expensive)
or a refund of
the money you’ve paid to us. This does not apply where the change is
not material.
Examples
of non-material changes include, but are not limited to,
temporary
withdrawal of facilities or seasonal unavailability of amenities.
Subject
to the note below, if we have to cancel, again we may be
able to offer you
an alternative. If you accept it, you would pay the difference if it
was advertised at a
higher price than your original accommodation, or receive a refund
of the difference
if it was advertised at a lower price. Or we will refund the monies
you have paid us
for your accommodation.
We
will not be responsible to pay any compensation following
a change or a
cancellation by us. Any amendment or cancellation fees you incur in
terms of other
arrangements you have made with other providers under separate contracts
are not
claimable from us.
Note:
If a change or cancellation occurs because of circumstances
beyond our
control, for example war, riot, industrial dispute, actual or threatened
terrorist activity
and its consequences, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather
conditions,
flood, epidemic or pandemic illness and all similar situations we will
have no liability
to you. No compensation, costs, expenses or any other sums, including
the cost of
securing alternative accommodation will be paid by us.
9.
Our responsibility for your booking
We have a duty to select the accommodation providers with reasonable
skill and
care. We have no liability to you for the actual provision of the accommodation,
except in cases where it is proved that we have breached that duty
and damage to
you has been caused. Therefore, providing we have selected the provider
with
reasonable care and skill, we will have no liability to you for anything
that happens
at the accommodation or any acts or omissions of the provider or others.
We
also have no liability in the following situations:
(ii)
where the accommodation cannot be provided as booked due to
circumstances beyond our control (see the Note in clause 8).
(iii)
where you incur any loss or damage that could not have been foreseen
at
the time of your booking, based on the information provided by you.
(iv)
where you incur any loss or damage that relates to any business activity.
(v)
where any loss or damage relates to any services which do not form
part
of our contract with you.
If we are found liable to you on any basis, we limit the amount we
have to pay you
to a maximum of three times the cost of your accommodation. This limit
does not
apply to cases involving death or injury.
10.Behaviour
When you book accommodation through us, you accept responsibility for
the proper
conduct of all members of your party during your stay. We reserve the
right at any
time to terminate the stay of any party member(s) whose behaviour is
such, in the
reasonable opinion of the accommodation provider or us, as to cause
or to be likely
to
cause danger, upset or distress to anyone else or damage
to property. Full
cancellation charges will then apply and no refund will be given.
Furthermore,
we shall be under no obligation whatsoever to pay compensation
or
meet any costs or expenses (including but not limited to alternative
accommodation) you may occur as a result of your stay being terminated.
If
you cause damage to the accommodation in which you are
staying, you must fully
reimburse the accommodation provider concerned for the cost of the
damage
before the end of your stay if the cost has been established by then
or as soon as it
has been established if later. You must also indemnify us for the full
amount of any
claim (including all legal costs) made against us by the accommodation
provider or
any third party as a result.
11.Check-in
and check-out
Check-in is normally after 3pm. If you check-in after midnight, your
accommodation
has been reserved for you from the previous day and this counts as
the first night of
your stay. Check-out is normally at 10am.
12.Complaints
If you have a problem during your stay, please inform the accommodation
provider
immediately, who will endeavour to put things right.
You should also try to find a solution whilst you're there. 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 [insert address] giving your
booking
reference and all other relevant information. Please keep your letter
concise and to
the point. This will assist us to identify your concerns quickly and
speed up our
response to you.
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.
Please
bear in mind that we are only liable to compensate you
in line with these
booking conditions - in particular clause 9 above makes clear that
our obligation is
to choose the accommodation provider with reasonable skill and care.
Any
dispute or claim arising out of this contract that can't
be settled between us can
be referred by you to ABTA arbitration (see clause 14) or court. We
agree that the
courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction and English law applies
(unless you
live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, in which case you can bring proceedings
in
your local court under Scots or Northern Irish law, as applicable.)
13.Financial
protection
If applicable the monies you pay to us for your accommodation are protected
by
means of a bond held by ABTA. This means that, if in the unlikely event
of our insolvency your accommodation can't be provided, you will receive
your money back or, if your stay has started, arrangements will be
made for you to be able to continue as planned.
14.ABTA
We are a Member of ABTA, membership number J0629. We are obliged to
maintain
a high standard of service to you by ABTA’s Code of Conduct. We can
also offer
you an arbitration scheme for the resolution of disputes arising out
of, or in
connection with this contract. Further information on the Code and
arbitration can
be found on ABTA’s website www.abta.com
The
arbitration scheme is arranged by ABTA and administered
independently by
IDRS, part of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. It provides for
a simple and
inexpensive method of arbitration on documents alone with restricted
liability on you
in respect of costs. Full details will be provided on request or can
be obtained from
www.abta.com
The
scheme does not apply to claims for an amount greater than
£5,000 per
person. There is also a limit of £25,000 per booking form. Neither
does it apply to
claims which are solely in respect of physical injury or illness or
their consequences.
The scheme can however deal with compensation claims which include
an element
of minor injury or illness subject to a limit of £1,000 on the amount
the arbitrator can
award per person in respect of this element.
The
application for arbitration and Statement of Claim must
be received by IDRS
within nine months of the date of your return from holiday.