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| Terms and Conditions |
| The following booking conditions together
with the general information contained in
this brochure form the basis of your contract
with Acorn Venture Ltd trading as Acorn
Ski. Please read them carefully
as they set out our respective rights and
obligations.
In these booking conditions, "you" and "your"
means all persons named on the booking
including anyone who is added or substituted
at a later date. "We, "us" and "our" means
Acorn Venture Ltd.
1. Making your Booking
To make a booking, you must complete our
booking form. This must be signed by the
first named person on the booking ("the party
leader"). The party leader must be at least
21 years of age and must be authorised
to make the booking on the basis of these
booking conditions by all persons named on
the booking. By signing the booking form,
the party leader confirms that he/she is so
authorised and that all party members agree
to be bound by these booking conditions.
The party leader is responsible for making
all payments due to us.
The completed and signed booking form
must then be sent to us together with the
payments referred to in clause 2 below. Once
we have received your booking form and
all appropriate payments, we will, subject
to availability, confirm your holiday by issuing
a confirmation invoice.
This notice will be sent to the party leader.
Please check this invoice immediately.
If any information which appears on the
confirmation or any other document appears
to be incorrect or incomplete you must
inform us as it may not be possible to make
changes later. We regret that we cannot
accept any liability if we are not notified of
any inaccuracies in any document within
ten days of our sending it out (or five days
for tickets).
2. Payment
In order to confirm your chosen holiday,
a deposit of £150 per booking form (or
full payment if booking within eight weeks
of departure) must be paid at the time of
booking.
The balance of the holiday cost must be
received by us not less than 10 weeks before
departure. This date will be shown on the
confirmation invoice. Reminders are not sent.
If we do not receive all payments due in full
and on time, we reserve the right to treat
your booking as cancelled by you. In this
case the cancellation charges set out in
Clause 6 below will be payable.
3. Your Contract
A binding contract between us comes into
existence when we despatch our
Confirmation Invoice. This contract and all
matters arising out of it are governed by
English law. We both agree that any dispute,
claim or other matter, which arises out of or in
connection with this contract or your holiday,
will be dealt with under the ABTA Arbitration
Scheme (See Clause 13) or by the Courts
of England and Wales only.
Changes to these booking conditions or the
general information shown in our brochure
will only be valid if confirmed in writing.
4. The Cost of Your Holiday
The prices shown in our brochure were
calculated on 01 November 2005 on the
basis of then known costs and exchange
rates of £1 to1.45 Euro as shown in the
Financial Times Guide to World Currencies
on that day.
We reserve the right to increase or decrease
the prices of unsold holidays at any time. The
price of your chosen holiday will be confirmed
at the time of booking.
Once the price of your chosen holiday has
been confirmed at the time of booking then,
subject to the correction of errors, we will
only increase the price in the following
circumstances.
Price increases after booking will be passed
on by way of a surcharge. A surcharge will
be payable if transportation costs and/or
dues, taxes or fees payable for services
such as landing taxes or embarkation or
disembarkation fees at ports or airports
increase or our costs increase as a result
of any adverse changes in the exchange
rates which have been used to calculate
the cost of your holiday.
Even in the above cases, we will absorb
increased costs up to a total amount
equivalent to 2% of the cost of your
confirmed holiday excluding insurance
premiums and any amendment charges,
you will be entitled to cancel your booking
and receive a full refund or all monies paid
to us except for insurance premiums and
amendment charges. You have 14 days from
the issue date printed on the surcharge notice
to tell us if you want to cancel for this reason.
If you do not tell us that you wish to cancel
within this period of time, we are entitled to
assume that you do not wish to cancel and
will pay the surcharges. Any surcharge must
be paid with the balance of the cost of the
holiday or within 14 days of the issue date
printed on the surcharge invoice, whichever
is the later.
We promise not to levy a surcharge within
30 days of departure. Any reduction in costs
calculated on the same basis as set out
above will be passed on to the party leader.
We reserve the right to correct errors in both
advertised and confirmed prices. We will do
so as soon as we become aware of the error.
Please note that changes and errors
occasionally occur.
You must check the price of your chosen
holiday at the time of booking.
5. Changes by You
Should you wish to make any changes to
your confirmed holiday, you must notify us
in writing as soon as possible. Whilst we will
endeavour to assist, we cannot guarantee
we will be able to meet any such requests.
Where we can, an amendment fee of £25
per person/per booking will be payable
together with any costs incurred by ourselves
and any costs or charges incurred or imposed
by any of our suppliers.
6. Cancellation by You
Should you, or any member of your party,
need to cancel your chosen holiday once it
has been confirmed, the party leader must
immediately advise us in writing.
Your notice of cancellation will only be
effective when it is received in writing by us
at our offices. As we incur costs from the
time we confirm your booking and may be
unable to re-sell your holiday, the following
cancellation charges will be payable.
Where the cancellation charge is shown as
a percentage, this is calculated on the basis
of the total cost payable by the person(s)
cancelling excluding insurance premiums
and amendment charges.
Period before departure cancellation within
which written charge per notification of
cancellation person cancelling is received
by us
70 days or more deposit
22 to 69 days 50% of total cost
0 to 21 days 100% of total cost
Depending on the reason for cancellation,
you may be able to reclaim these cancellation
charges, less any applicable excess, under
the terms of your insurance policy. Claims
must be made direct to the insurance
company.
If any member of your party is prevented from
travelling, that person may transfer their place
to someone else providing we are notified not
less than two weeks before departure.
Where a transfer to a person of your choice
can be made, all costs and charges incurred
by us and/or incurred or imposed by any of
our suppliers as a result must be paid before
the transfer can be effected. For flight
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 flight.
7. Insurance
Details of the policy included in your holiday
will be issued with your final information.
Please read the details carefully. It is your
responsibility to ensure that the insurance
cover is adequate for your needs.
8. Changes and Cancellation by Us
We start planning the holidays we offer many
months in advance. Occasionally, we have
to make changes to and correct errors in
brochure and other details both before and
after bookings have been confirmed and
cancel confirmed bookings. Whilst we will
always endeavour to avoid charges and
cancellations, we must reserve the right to
do so. However, we promise we will only
cancel your confirmed booking 8 weeks or
less before departure where you have failed
to comply with any requirement of these
booking conditions entitling us to cancel
(such as not paying on time) or where we are
forced to do so as a result of circumstances
beyond our control ie "force majeure" as
defined in Clause 9 below.
We will not cancel after this date for any
other reason. Most changes are minor.
Occasionally, we have to make a "significant
change". "Significant changes" include
the following changes when made before
departure, a change of accommodation
to that of a lower official classification or
standard for the whole or a major part of
the time you are away, a change of
accommodation area for the whole or a
major part of the time you are away, a
change of outward departure time or overall
length of time you are away of twelve or
more hours, a change of UK departure point
to one which is more inconvenient to you.
If we make a significant change or cancel,
we will tell you as soon as possible. If there is
time to do so before departure, we will offer
you the choice of the following options:-
a) For significant changes accepting the
changed arrangements or
b) Accepting an alternative holiday from us,
of a similar standard to that originally booked
if available. If the chosen alternative is less
expensive than your original one, we will
refund the difference.
c) Cancelling or accepting the cancellation in
which case you will receive a full and quick
refund of all monies you have paid us.
Please note that the above options are not
available where any change made is a minor
one. If we have to make a significant change
or cancel 8 weeks or less before departure,
we will pay you compensation subject to the
following exceptions.
Compensation will not be payable and no
liability beyond offering the above mentioned
choices can be accepted and where 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. No
compensation will be payable if we cancel
as a result of your failure to comply with
any requirement of these booking conditions
entitling us to cancel, such as paying on time.
Period before departure Compensation a
significant change or per person cancellation
is notified to you
70 days or more £10
22 to 69 days £20
0 to 21 days £30
In all cases, our liability for significant changes
and cancellations is limited to offering you
the above mentioned options and, where
applicable, compensation payments. We
regret we cannot pay any expenses, costs
or losses incurred by you as a result of any
change or cancellation.
No compensation is payable for minor
changes or where we make a significant
change or cancel more than 8 weeks before
departure. Very rarely, we may be forced by
"force majeure" (see Clause 9) to change or
terminate your holiday after departure but
before the scheduled end of your time away.
This is extremely unlikely but if this situation
does occur, we regret we will be unable to
make any refunds unless we obtain refunds
from our suppliers, nor can we pay any
compensation or meet any costs or expenses
you incur as a result.
9. Force Majeure
Except where otherwise expressly stated
in these booking conditions, we regret
we cannot accept liability or pay any
compensation where the performance
or prompt performance of our contractual
obligations is prevented or affected by or you
otherwise suffer any damage or loss (as more
fully described in Clause 10 (1) below) as a
result of "force majeure". In these booking
conditions, "force majeure" means any event
which we or the supplier of the service(s) in
question could not, even with all due care,
foresee or avoid. Such events may include
war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, terrorist
activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear
disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire
and all similar events outside our control.
10. Our Liability to You
(1) We promise to make sure that all parts
of the holiday we have agreed to arrange
as part of our contract are provided to a
reasonable standard and in accordance with
that contract. We also accept responsibility
for what our employees, agents and suppliers
do or do not do. We will not, however, be
responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss
(for example, loss of enjoyment), damage,
expense, cost or other sum or claim of any
description whatsoever which results from any
of the following:
a) the fault of the person(s) affected or any
member(s) of their party or
b) the fault of a third party not connected with
the provision of your holiday which we could
not have predicted or avoided or
c) an event or circumstance which we or the
supplier of the service(s) in question, could
not have predicted or avoided even after
taking all reasonable care (see Clause 9).
d) the fault of anyone who was not carrying
out work for us generally or in particular at
the time.
In addition, we will not be responsible where
you do not enjoy your holiday or suffer any
problems because of a reason you did not tell
us about when you booked your holiday or
where any problems you suffer did not result
from any breach of our contract or other fault
of ourselves or, where we were responsible
for them, our suppliers or agents or where
any losses, expenses, costs or other sum you
have suffered relate to any business.
Please note, we cannot accept responsibility
for any services which do not form part of
our contract. This includes, for example, any
additional services or facilities which your
hotel or any other supplier agrees to provide
for you where the services or facilities are not
advertised in our brochure and we have not
agreed to arrange them.
(2) The promises we made to you about
the services we have agreed to provide or
arrange as part of your contract, and the laws
and regulations of the country in which your
claim or complaint occurred, will be used as
the basis for deciding whether the services
in question had been properly provided. This
will be the case even if the services did not
comply with the laws and regulations of the
UK which would have applied had those
services been provided in the UK.
(3) We limit the maximum amount we may
have to pay you for any and all claims or parts
of claims which do not involve personal injury,
illness or death. Except where the loss of
and/or damage to luggage or personal
possessions is concerned or a lower limitation
of liability applies to your claim, the maximum
amount we will have to pay you for such non
personal injury claims if we are found liable to
you on any basis is twice the price excluding
insurance premiums and amendment charges
paid by or on behalf of the person(s) affected
in total. This maximum amount will only be
payable where everything has gone wrong
and you have not received any benefit at all
from your holiday.
(4) Where any claim or part of a claim
concerns or is based on any travel
arrangements (including the process of
getting on and off the transport concerned)
provided by any air, sea, rail or road carrier or
any stay in a hotel, the maximum amount of
compensation we will have to pay you will be
limited. The most we will have to pay you for
that claim or that part of a claim if we are
found liable to you on any basis is the most
the carrier or hotel keeper concerned would
have to pay under the international convention
which applies to the travel arrangements
or hotel stay in question. When making
any payment, we are entitled to deduct
any money which you have received or are
entitled to receive from the transport provider
or hotelier for the complaint or claim in
question.
(5) You must provide ourselves and our
insurers with all assistance we may
reasonably require. You must also tell us and
the supplier concerned about your claim or
complaint as set out in Clause 12 below.
If asked to do so, you must transfer to us
or our insurers any rights you have against
the supplier or whoever else is responsible
for your claim or complaint (if the person
concerned is under 18, their parent or
guardian must do so). You must also agree
to cooperate fully with us and our insurers if
we or our insurers want to enforce any rights
which are transferred.
11. Injury, Illness or Death not Resulting
from the Holiday Arrangements
If you or any member of your party suffers
illness, injury or death, through misadventure,
as a result of an activity which does not form
part of your contracted holiday arrangements,
we will provide you with all reasonable
assistance. This assistance may include our
making a contribution towards your initial legal
costs in taking action against the person(s)
responsible providing you request this within
90 days of the incident in question.
All assistance (financial or otherwise) is
subject to our reasonable discretion and a
maximum total cost to ourselves of £5,000
per booking form. If you are entitled to have
any costs and expenses arising from such an
incident met by or from any insurance policy
or if you obtain a costs order against anyone
in relation to the incident, you must repay to
us the costs and expenses we spend in
assisting you.
12. Complaints and Problems
In the unlikely event that you have any
reason to complain or experience any
problems with your holiday whilst away, you
must immediately inform our representative
and the supplier of the service(s) in question.
Any verbal notification must be put in writing
and given to our representative and the
supplier as soon as possible. Until we know
about a problem or complaint, we cannot
begin to resolve it. Most problems can be
dealt with quickly, if you remain dissatisfied,
however, you must write to us within 28 days
of your return to the UK giving your booking
reference and full details of your complaint.
For all complaints and claims which do not
involve death, personal injury or illness, we
regret we cannot accept liability if you fail
to notify the complaint or claim entirely in
accordance with this clause.
13. Arbitration
If you have a complaint which cannot be
resolved to your satisfaction, you may decide
to have the dispute dealt with by arbitration
under a special ABTA Arbitration Scheme.
Although arranged by ABTA, this Scheme
is administered quite independently by the
Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. The
Scheme (details of which can be supplied to
you on request) provides for a simple and
inexpensive method of arbitration with the
case being decided on the basis of written
statements and documents only. Your liability
to pay any costs is also restricted. The
maximum amount you can claim is £1,500
per person up to a maximum of £7,500 per
booking form. You cannot use the scheme
if your claim is solely or mainly for personal
injury or illness or the consequence of such
injury or illness. If you wish to use the
scheme, you must request this in writing
within 9 months of the scheduled end of
your holiday.
14. Behaviour
When you book with us, you accept
responsibility for any damage or loss
caused by you or any member of your party.
Full payment for any such damage or loss
must be paid direct at the time to the
accommodation owner or manager or other
supplier. If you fail to do so, you will be
responsible for meeting any claims
subsequently made against us (together
with your own and the other party's legal
costs) as a result of your actions.
We expect our clients to have consideration
for other people. If, in our reasonable opinion,
or in the opinion of any other person in
authority, you or any member of your party
behaves in such a way as to cause or be
likely to cause danger, upset or distress to
any third party or damage to property, we are
entitled, without your prior notice, to terminate
the holiday of the person(s) concerned. In
this situation, the person(s) concerned will
be required to leave the accommodation or
other service.
We will have no further responsibility toward
such person(s) including any return travel
arrangements. No refunds will be made and
we will not pay any expenses or costs
incurred as a result of the termination.
15. Conditions of Suppliers
Many of the services which make up your
holiday are provided by independent suppliers.
Those suppliers provide these services in
accordance with their own terms and
conditions. Some of these terms and
conditions may limit or exclude the supplier's
liability to you, usually in accordance with
applicable International Conventions (see
Clause 10 (4). Copies of the relevant parts
of these terms and conditions are available
on request from ourselves or the supplier
concerned.
16. Special Requests and Medical
Problems
If you have any special request, you must
advise us at the time of booking and clearly
note it on your booking form. Although we
will endeavour to pass any reasonable
requests on to the relevant supplier, we
regret we cannot guarantee any request will
be complied with unless we have confirmed
this in writing.
Confirmation that a special request has been
noted or passed on to the supplier or the
inclusion of the special request on your
confirmation or any other documentation is
not confirmation that the request will be met
unless and until specifically confirmed. All
special requests are subject to availability. If
you or any member of your party has any
medical problem or disability which may affect
your holiday, please tell us before you confirm
your booking so that we can advise as to the
suitability of the chosen arrangements. In any
event, 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 concerned,
we must reserve the right to decline their
reservation or, if full details are not given at
the time of booking, cancel when we become
aware of these details.
17. Passports, Visas and Health
Requirements
It is your responsibility to ensure that you are
in possession of all necessary travel and
health documents before departure. For
European holidays, you should obtain a
completed and issued form E111 (details
in leaflet T6 'Health Advice for Travellers')
available from your local Department of
Health Office and most Post Offices,
prior to departure. If travelling abroad it is
advised you seek travel advice. Go to
www.fco.gov.uk/knowbeforeyougo or call the
ABTA Information Line on 0901 201 5050
(calls are charged at 50p per minute)
18. Financial Security
We are a member of the Association of
British Travel Agents (ABTA V3629).We also
hold an Air Travel Organiser's Licence issued
by the Civil Aviation Authority (ATL 5525).This
means your money will be refunded or you
will be brought back to the UK (where your
contracted holiday arrangements included
return travel to the UK) if already abroad in
the unlikely event that your holiday cannot
be provided due to our insolvency.
19. Prices and Brochure Accuracy
Please note, the information and prices
shown in this brochure may have changed
by the time you come to book your holiday.
Whilst every effort is made to ensure the
accuracy of the brochure and prices at
the time of printing, regrettably errors do
occasionally occur. You must therefore ensure
you check all details of your chosen holiday
(including the price) with us at the time
of booking. This brochure is our sole
responsibility.
It is not issued on behalf of and does not
commit any independent organisation/carriers
whose services are featured in it.
20. Delay
In the event of a delay on air or coach
holidays of over 3 hours, we will endeavour
to provide light refreshments and, in the
case of a delay of over 6 hours, a main
meal. Delays of over 12 hours are covered
by the inclusive insurance.
21. Safety Standards
Please note, it is the requirements and
standards of the country in which any
services which make up your holiday are
provided which apply to those services and
not those of the UK. As a general rule, these
requirements and standards will not be the
same as the UK and may sometimes
be lower.
22. Flights
The flight timings given on booking are for
general guidance only and are subject to
change. However, the actual flight times will
be those shown on your tickets which will be
dispatched to you approximately two weeks
before departure. You must accordingly check
your tickets very carefully immediately on
receipt to ensure that you have the correct
flight times. It is possible that flight times
may be changed even after tickets have
been dispatched - we will contact you as
soon as possible if this occurs.
We are not always in a position to confirm the
airline, aircraft type and airport of destination
which will be used in connection with any
flight included in your holiday.
When this information is provided at the time
of booking or subsequently, it is subject to
change. Any such change will not entitle you
to cancel or change to other arrangements
without paying our normal charges.
23. Consumer Protection
The air holidays and flights in this brochure
are ATOL protected, since we hold an Air
Travel Organiser's Licence granted by the
Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number
is ATOL 5525. In the unlikely event of our
insolvency, the CAA 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.
24. Data Protection
Please be assured that we have measures
in place to protect the personal booking
information held by us.
This information will be passed on to the
principal and to the relevant suppliers of
your travel arrangements.
The information may also be provided to
public authorities such as customs or
immigration if required by them, or as
required by law. Certain information may
also be passed to security or credit checking
companies. We will only pass your information
on to persons responsible for your travel
arrangements. This applies to any sensitive
information that you give us such as details
of any disabilities or dietary/religious
requirements. If we cannot pass this
information to the relevant suppliers we
maybe unable to provide your booking. In
making this booking you consent to this
information being passed on to the relevant
persons. Full details of our data protection
policy are available upon request.
Acorn Venture Ltd. October 2006. |
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