Once we have issued our confirmation of booking a contract exists between you, the party organiser on behalf of all of your party and Gower Tours Limited, a fully-bonded member of ABTA, and holder of an Air Tour-Organisers’ Licence issued by the Civil Aviation Authority.

CONSUMER PROTECTION

Air holidays are ATOL protected. Our ATOL number is 3288. 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.caa.co.uk

Our ABTA Bond protects  all holidays ex-UK that do not include a flight and all holidays that begin in countries outside the UK (even where flights are included in your tour). Under this bond ABTA will ensure that in the unlikely event of our insolvency you will not be stranded abroad and will arrange for refunds for any money you have paid to us for an advance booking. Our ABTA number is V4320. For further information, visit the www.abta.co.uk

This contract is made on the terms of these booking conditions, which are governed by English law and both parties will submit to the jurisdiction of English Courts at all times.

PAYMENTS

Deposit Schedule:-

£75.00 for coach tours and £135.00 for air tours  with  booking  form  and

£100.00 for coach tours and £135.00 for air tours 2 months after 1st deposit

The full balance is due 10 weeks before departure.

If you experience delay in meeting the payment dates, please contact us to discuss.   In the event of the balance due not being paid by the due date, 10 weeks before departure, we reserve the right to either forward a supplementary invoice to the sum of £1.00 per paying passenger for each week or part thereof that your payments are overdue and/or cancel the tour: in which case the scale of cancellation charges as stated below under the paragraph “cancellation or changes in arrangements” will apply.

PRICES

The price of your holiday is subject to surcharges for increases due to the following items: governmental action, currency, aircraft fuel, over-flying charges, airport charges and increases in scheduled air fares.  Even in these cases, we will absorb an amount equivalent to 2% of the holiday price, which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges (see “cancellation or changes in arrangements” below).  Only amounts in excess of this 2% will be surcharged and we will not surcharge for any reason within 30 days of the departure date. Should the price of your holiday go down 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 protections in place.

Because the exchange rates vary, the actual exchange rate that your tour will be costed on will be found in the Contract that Gower Tours Ltd. provides to you prior to booking.

If surcharges levied involve paying more than 10% on the holiday price, you will be entitled to cancel the tour and receive a full refund less insurance premiums and amendment charges providing you notify us in writing of your intent to cancel within 14 days of the date on the surcharge invoice.

CANCELLATION/CHANGES IN ARRANGEMENTS

If you cancel, the following scale of charges will apply:                

Cancellation on departure date or thereafter must be notified in writing to our office within two weeks of return or insurance claims will be invalidated.

It is unlikely that we will have to make any changes in your holiday, but we do plan the arrangements many months in advance.  Occasionally changes may be made, and we reserve the right to do so at any time.  Most of these changes are minor, and we will advise you at the earliest possible date.  Ferry and flight timings are subject to availability and details are given for guidance only.  Final details will be shown on your final itinerary and tickets.

In the unlikely event of us having to cancel or materially alter your holiday, before payment of the balance due, you will be offered a comparable alternative or a full refund.

A “material alteration” to your holiday can include: change of resort or hotel (where the accommodation stay is greater than one night), alteration of departure date or return date.  If we make such alterations, you must let us know as soon as possible if you wish to accept the changes or cancel the holiday.

In addition compensation will be offered on the following scale:

After payment of balance due, but more than 14 days before departure:  £5 per full paying person.

Within 14 days of departure:  £8.50 per full fare-paying person.

In the event of our having to cancel your holiday a full refund will be offered.

Note:  Compensation is excluded in respect of cancellation or material changes caused by reason of war or threat of war, riots, civil strife, terrorist activity, industrial disputes, natural and nuclear disasters, fire, closure or congestion to ports, and similar events beyond our control.

If you wish to change your booking in some way after we have issued our Booking Confirmation. e.g change of dates, alternative ferry routing, etc., we will do our best to comply with your wishes.  However, we cannot guarantee that this will be possible and in any event, reserve the right to make a charge up to a maximum of £50.00 per amendment made, to cover our administration costs.  Any change which you wish to make must be notified to us in writing by the person who signed the Booking Form and no changes are considered after payment of your balance due.

Please note that certain travel arrangements (e.g. Apex air tickets) cannot be changed after a reservation has been made and any alteration request will incur a 100% cancellation charge.

CHANGES IN PARTY

For those travelling by coach, deposits and further payments of any person cancelling may be transferred to a replacement up to 6 weeks prior to departure without charge. 

The varying restrictions imposed by airlines may mean that tours which include air travel will be less flexible with regard to cancellation and name changes.  We will, however, endeavour to advise you of any conditions or charges that may be imposed by the airline for alterations made by the party.

COMPLAINTS

If you have a problem during your holiday, please inform the relevant supplier (e.g. hotel) immediately who will endeavour to put things right.  If your complaint cannot be completely resolved locally, please contact our 24 hour emergency service number which will be supplied with your final documents, and we will do our best to rectify the matter at once.  We would also ask you to complete a full report which should reach our office within 28 days of your return.

It is therefore a condition of this contract that you communicate any problem immediately to the supplier of the services in question and to our head office via our emergency back-up service.  If you fail to follow this procedure we cannot accept responsibility as we would have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify the problem.

ARBITRATION

It is unlikely that you will have a complaint that cannot be settled amicably.  However, disputes arising out of, or in connection with this contract which cannot be amicably settled, may (if you wish) be referred to Arbitration.  The scheme, though devised by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) is administered independently by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.  The scheme provides for a simple and inexpensive method of arbitration on documents alone with restricted liability on the customer in respect of costs.  Further details are available from ABTA’s Consumer Affairs Department, 68 - 71 Newman Street, London, W1P 4AH.

The scheme neither applies  to claims greater than £1500 per person or £7500 per booking form, nor to claims which are solely or mainly in respect of physical injury or illness, or to the consequences of such injury or illness.

If you elect to seek redress under this scheme, written notice requesting Arbitration must be made within 9 months after the scheduled return from holiday.

LIABILITY

Gower Tours Limited is pleased to accept full responsibility for ensuring that all component parts of the inclusive holiday which you book with us are supplied to you to a reasonable standard.  If any part is not provided as promised, we will pay you appropriate compensation if this has affected the enjoyment of your holiday.  We accept responsibility for the acts and/or omissions of our employees, agents and suppliers except where they lead to death, injury or illness.  Our liability in all cases shall be limited to a maximum of three times the value of the holiday.

Whilst we have no direct control over the providers of services and facilities, we do accept responsibility for any personal illness, injury or death which results from negligent (as the word is understood in English Law) acts or omissions of Gower Tours Limited’s employees as well as any servant or agent or any supplier, contracted working on our behalf in the provision of services or facilities to our clients and whilst acting within the scope of their employment.  We will accordingly pay to our clients such damages as might have been awarded in such circumstances under English Law.

It is however part of this agreement that you will assign to the Company, by way of subrogation, any rights which you may have to claim against any supplier or other party and co-operate fully with us if we wish to enforce those rights.

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 (copies of these are available on request).

Should you or any member of your party have the misfortune to suffer illness, injury or death during the period of the holiday, arising out of any activity which does not form part of the arrangements made by us, we shall, where appropriate and subject to our discretion, give you every help that we can by way of assistance, provided we are advised of the incident within 90 days of the occurrence.  Where legal action is contemplated our authority must be obtained prior to commencement of proceedings and be subject to your undertaking to assign any costs recovered or any benefits received under an appropriate insurance policy to ourselves.  Our costs in respect to the above on behalf of you and your party shall not exceed £5000.

At certain times of the year or in certain types of weather facilities may close down or become temporarily unavailable.  Often these things can happen without our prior knowledge and because we do not own or operate the majority of resort and accommodation facilities, we are unable to accept responsibility if they are withdrawn.  However, as part of our commitment to quality customer service, should we become aware of any long term or permanent changes in the resorts which it is considered would have an effect upon your enjoyment of the holiday, we will do our utmost to advise you in advance.

Flight tours:  At the time of publication we are unable to specify the exact destination airport, aircraft type or operator (airline) for the flight tours featured. 

CONCERTS

Our obligation to you – We agree, if requested, to undertake the arrangements of your concert performances.  Your concert may take place outdoors.  In the case of bad weather outdoor concerts may need to be cancelled.  We will supply you with ideas for contingent visits and excursions.

We will confirm any requests for chairs, pianos, electricity points, organs, etc., with our concert contacts.  If any of your requests cannot be met you will be informed before departure.

Whilst we will ensure that the venue we arrange is suitable for you to give your concert, we cannot guarantee that the size of the stage or performance area will conform exactly to your stage plan and ask you to be prepared to be flexible in this matter.

Your obligation to us – It is a condition of your booking that you undertake to perform the concert we have arranged for you unless circumstances beyond your control  prevent you from doing so.  In the event that a hire fee has been paid to a third-party organisation and you are subsequently unable to perform the engagement, we reserve the right not to refund any fee that has been paid for this purpose.

INSURANCE

It is a condition of booking that you have adequate insurance, therefore Personal and Medical insurance is included in the cost of the tour. Gower Tours Limited has arranged a special policy for our groups with MPI Brokers, West House, West Street, Haslemere, Surrey GU27 2AB,  underwritten by Optimum Underwriting Ltd, Bales Court, Barrington Road, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 3EJ on behalf of Groupama Insurances, 24-26 Minories, London, EC3N 1DE.

The cover is available for:

• European Residents at the date the policy is issued

• Conventional Holidays

• Round-trips commencing in and returning to E.U.

Full details of the cover are provided with your booking confirmation, but as a guide, the cover provides:

   SECTION                                                SUM INSURED

Sections 1,3,5,6 and 7 are subject to a policy excess of £50 (£20 for loss of deposit under section 3 only).

Claims will be dealt with by C.I.L. (Claims International Ltd.) to whom all correspondence relating to claims should be addressed.

INSTRUMENT INSURANCE

We regret that we are currently unable to offer instrument insurance for groups touring.

DELAY

On very rare occasions, due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, there may be delays to your travelling arrangements or to the completion of your itinerary.  In the event of considerable delay you are urged to utilise Gower's 24-hour emergency number and every effort will be made to provide, where appropriate, alternative meals and accommodation.

ABOUT YOUR HEALTH

Please answer these questions about yourself

 In the last 6 months

 Have you been to A&E (Accident and Emergency in hospital)

 Has your doctor referred you to a consultant for any medical condition

 If you are on medication; has the dosage changed and or have you been given additional medication due to a deterioration of a medical condition?

 Also

Are you on a waiting list for hospital treatment?

Have you received a terminal prognosis?

Are you aware of any of the above affecting a close relative as defined in the policy, page 4. (only aware, you do not have to ask them)?

If you answer YES to any of the above you have two choices

 1.         Keep this insurance open but the medical condition(s) is excluded,

 or

 2.         Phone 0845 180 0062 to ask if your medical condition(s) could be included

 There are 3 possible answers to point 2, which are

 1.         Yes, the condition(s) is covered

or

2.         Yes, the condition(s) is covered but with an additional premium,

or

3.         No, we regret Underwriters will not cover your condition(s).

If No you can still keep this insurance open (with medical condition(s) excluded) or you may wish to obtain terms from an alternative specialist insurance so please call MPI on 0870 411 2201

RESPONSIBILITIES OF PARTY ORGANISERS AND LEADERS

The party organiser is responsible for the completion of passport formalities and any other personal arrangements which may be necessary  such as visa, currency and medical requirements.

The party organiser is also responsible for ensuring that the party reaches the starting point of the tour at the correct time.

School and Youth Parties

Your final itinerary will include the telephone number of your accommodation.

It is the responsibility of the party leader to supply this information to all parents prior to your departure so that they can contact their children in the case of an emergency.

PASSPORTS

Passport and visa advice can be found at

Youth Groups (UK groups only)

On request a copy of the UK Passport Agency’s notes for guidance relating to United Kingdom Collective Passports will be sent to you with your booking confirmation.

Students and staff who are not British Nationals will require full passports and may require visas/transit visas for which the individual is responsible  and must apply.  We recommend that applications are made at least 3 months prior to departure to the relevant embassies in this country.

The collective passport is NOT valid for tours to Poland.  For tours to this destination all children will require a passport valid for six months after the date of return.

Adult groups

All adult parties travelling outside the UK will require a 10 year passport, valid for at least six months AFTER THE DATE OF RETURN.

As with youth groups, non-British citizens may require visas/transit visas, depending on nationality and destination.

HEALTH MATTERS

We strongly advise all party leaders to refer to the Department of Health leaflet before undertaking your tour.  Current information can be found on

www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Healthadvicefortravellers/index.htm

and 

www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4123441

This will give pertinent information concerning vaccination, insurance, emergency treatment abroad and how to obtain an European Health Insurance Card (E.H.I.C.).

If you have any specific questions please consult your doctor before travelling.

TRAVEL ADVICE 

 Please refer to

www.fco.gov.uk

for any information regarding your destination of travel.