All
bookings are made with Five Star Bridge Tours.
Your signature, or that of
your authorised agent, on the booking form will be taken as your and your
party's acceptance of the following conditions. The expression "the
client" may be used in these conditions not only to apply to you, but to
all other members of your party on whose behalf you have signed:
1.
BOOKING
A deposit of £125 for all holidays plus an insurance premium (or evidence
that insurance giving at least equal cover has been taken elsewhere) must be
paid for each person. including each child, on making your booking. No contract
with Five Star Bridge Tours will exist until we have received these amounts and
the booking form duly signed. and we have issued our confirmation invoice
confirming your booking except in the case of bookings made within six weeks of
departure, when our Late Booking procedures shall apply. Should you later cancel,
cancellation charges will become payable in accordance with paragraph 4. We
reserve the right to refuse a booking, without giving any reason.
2.
PAYMENT OF THE BALANCE
The balance must be paid at least ten weeks prior to departure. If the balance
is not received by us. we shall be entitled to cancel your booking. retain your
deposit. and apply the cancellation charges set out in paragraph 4 below. For
bookings made within ten weeks of the departure date, you will be required to pay
the full cost of your holiday at the time of booking.
3.
LATE BOOKINGS
Late bookings are those made within six weeks of departure. Once details have
been confirmed to you over the telephone. a verbal contract shall be deemed to
exist between you and Five Star Bridge Tours and all booking conditions,
including cancellation charges, shall apply. Full payment will be due
immediately.
4.
CANCELLATION BY YOU
It is agreed between us that should you wish to cancel all, or any part, of your
booking, or that the booking be cancelled by us due to non-payment, then we
shall be entitled to the following percentages of the holiday cost. (NB
insurance premiums are NOT refundable).
Cancellation
must be received in writing by us, signed by the person who signed the booking
form or the duly authorized agent and quoting the holiday reference number. Any
cancellation charges which then apply will be calculated from the date upon
which we receive your written notice of cancellation. It is therefore in your
interests to let us know as soon as possible of your intention to cancel.
Period
before scheduled departure within which written instructions are received by us
56
days, or over . . . . . . . . . . . . .Loss of deposit
55 to 29 days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50%
28 to 15 days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75%
14 days, or under . . . . . . . . . . . .100%
Charges
(% of total holiday costs, less insurance premium)
In
addition to the above charges. it may be necessary to add under-occupancy or
single room supplements to other members of a party where member(s) of that
party cancel. Cancellation charges of 100% will apply on scheduled service
tickets if you have to cancel or amend your flights once the tickets have been
issued. Tickets are valid only for the flight issued and cannot be changed after
issue. If the reasons for cancellation fall under the terms of your Travel
Insurance Policy you may be able to reclaim the cost from the insurers.
5.
ALTERATION BY YOU
In the event of you wishing to alter the details of a confirmed booking there
will be an amendment fee of £15 per person listed on the booking form (maximum
£45 per booking) in addition to the increase, if any, in the cost of the
revised arrangements.
Amendments made to flight or accommodation 56 days or less before departure will
be treated as a cancellation of the original booking, and you will be liable to
pay the relevant charge us shown in paragraph 4. All amendments must be
confirmed to us in writing.
6.
ALTERATION BY US
We plan your holiday arrangements many months in advance and though it is
unlikely that we will have to make any changes to confirmed arrangements,
occasionally changes may be made. We reserve the right to do so at any time.
Most changes are of a very minor nature and we will advise you at the earliest
possible date.
Flight
timings are always subject to change. The scheduling of departure times may he
varied by Airport Authorities or other factors beyond our control after our
brochure is printed, and the details given are for your guidance only. We will
advise you immediately any such change is known to us which involves a flight
time alteration exceeding two hours, but please check your tickets as soon as
you receive them.
If
a major change occurs. we will inform you as soon as is reasonably possible if
there is time before your departure. A major change is one that includes
changing your airports) (except between Gatwick and Heathrow or between
alternative airports within the same overseas city), time of departure or return
by more than twelve hours, or offering accommodation of a lower standard. In
such cases you have the choice of either accepting the renewed arrangements as
notified to you, or cancelling your holiday with full refund of money paid.
For
all of these alternatives we will pay compensation on the scale shown below
(plus a full refund of all money paid if you choose to cancel):
More
than 56 days Nil
43 - 56 days £10
29 - 42 days £15
15 - 28 days £25
0 - 14 days £30
Infants
are not eligible for compensation payments.
Important Note: Compensation payments do not apply to any changes caused
by aspects of your holiday affected by matters over which we have no control.
These include war or threats of war, riots and civil strife, terrorist activity,
natural or nuclear disaster, weather conditions, fire, flood, drought,
industrial disputes, government action, airport regulations and closures, or
technical transportation problems which may affect the service of hotels or the
scheduling of aircraft or other transport or other circumstances amounting to
Force Majeure.
7.
CANCELLATION BY US
We
will not cancel your holiday within 8 weeks of your departure,
unless caused by events beyond our control (as set out under “Important
Note” in Clause 6 above), or
unless you have not paid the final balance. Given that the holidays we run are
all Bridge holidays, it may be that there will be occasions when the number of
persons booked is insufficient to that required for the proper organisation of a
duplicate bridge tournament. Should this be the case, we reserve the right to
cancel the holiday, and return all monies paid.
It will usually be the case that we would not cancel a holiday for this
reason unless the number of persons booked was below 20. Cancellation for this
reason would be no later than eight weeks prior to departure.
8.
GENERAL CONDITIONS
Special
Requests regarding car hire, hotel accommodation (complimentary sea views, rooms
near to other specified members of the party, rooms on, above, or below a
certain floor, etc.) wheelchair provision at airports, and/or hotel, or any
other aspects of your holiday, should be made in the relevant section of the
booking form. Such requests will be noted on your invoice, but confirmation
cannot be guaranteed. Even when a supplier advises that a request is accepted,
we regret that we cannot accept liability for subsequent failure on their part
to comply with such requests. For this reason we regret that we do not accept
conditional bookings.
9.
OUR PRICE GUARANTEE
Once you have booked and paid the deposit for your holiday, we guarantee the
price.
The only exception would arise in the event of Government action such as the
increase in existing or addition of new taxes, such as VAT or airport tax. Even
in these cases we would automatically absorb any additional cost which would
result in a price increase below 2% of your total holiday cost. Rises in price
of this kind which lie above 2% and below 10% of the total holiday cost will he
chargeable to you. In the unlikely event that the resultant increase was greater
than 10% of the overall holiday price, you would be entitled to cancel your
holiday and obtain, with the exception of any insurance premiums, a full refund.
This cancellation option must he exercised within 14 days of issue of the
revised invoice. No price increase will be made less than 30 days before
departure.
10.
YOUR SECURITY
Five
Star Bridge Tours has been organising Bridge holidays to many
European countries, and the Caribbean, for the past nineteen years.
Our expertise and experience in this area has earned our reputation as
one of the leading bridge holiday organisers. During those years. we have worked
with many of the leading tour operators such as Amathus Holidays, The Magic of
Italy, and Kuoni Travel. Five Star Bridge Tours is now licensed as Air Travel
Organisers by the Civil Aviation Authority (ATOL No. 3850), and have lodged a
substantial bond to protect your holiday.
11. GENERAL INFORMATION
Requirements for passports and/or visas vary from country to country to be
visited. Our holiday details will include information as to the type of passport
required, and as to the necessity or otherwise of a visa. Regulations can change
and so, if in doubt, please check with the relevant embassy
Health
while abroad:
Clients should check with their own G.P. whether any inoculations are required
for a particular destination
Descriptions
of holiday destination:
All information contained in our holiday details concerning the resort to be
visited and the hotel(s) to be used has been
compiled as accurately as possible, and has, been checked, and re-checked
at the lime of going to press. However there may be times when certain amenities
are temporarily unavailable and it is possible that a facility we have described
may be either modified or temporarily unavailable. Such situations may be
dictated by local circumstances, unsuitable weather conditions, necessity for
maintenance or redecoration, local licensing regulations or government fuel
saving legislation. Five Star Bridge Tours cannot accept responsibility for any
such problems which are outside our control.
Hotel
categories: The
Tourist Authorities of each country classify all hotels and we have printed
these official ratings within the details for each holiday.
Baths
and showers:
Where the hotel description states that the rooms our group will use have either
private shower or bath, we regret that it may not be possible to specify which
will be allocated to you. If a
preference is indicated on the booking form we will pass this on to the hotel
who will endeavour to comply with the request but this cannot be confirmed.
12.
CONSUMER PROTECTION
The
air holidays and flights in this, brochure are ATOL protected since we hold an
Air Travel Organiser's License granted by
the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is ATOL 3850. 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 www.atol.org.uk
13.
TRAVEL INSURANCE
We
are happy to recommend to you the following insurance that has been arranged for
us by Global Travel Insurance Ltd. and which is underwritten by Travel and
Personal Underwriters Ltd. on behalf of a panel of insurers including Royal
& Sun Alliance, members of the British Insurers and the insurance Ombudsman
Bureau.
Five
Star Bridge Tours act as an Appointed Agent of Global Travel Insurance who are
members of the General Insurance Standards Council. If you have any questions
regarding this insurance you should contact Global Travel Insurance for advice
and assistance
The
premium and tax must he paid with your deposit. A full policy wording will be sent to you with your
confirmation of booking. Full
details are also available upon request. If you do not wish to be included in
this insurance you must provide us with details of your alternative insurance.
This insurance is only available to persons who are permanently resident and
domiciled in the U.K. Separate arrangements are available from Global Travel
Insurance for Non U.K. Residents.
SUMMARY OF COVER
(Main
policy limits only, please see the policy document for other limits that may
apply)