The following Booking Conditions together with the General Information contained on our website form the basis of your contract with Erna Low Consultants Limited (“we” and/or “us”) trading as Erna Low, registered office – 9 Reece Mews, London SW7 3HE, Company Registration number –
2374247 & the owners of the properties featured on our website. Please read them carefully as they set out each parties respective rights and obligations.
SPECIAL NOTE: We act as agents for the owners of the holiday properties we feature (“the property owners”). When making your holiday arrangements, we do so as agents for the property owners with whom you will have a contract. However if you book a package holiday through us, once your package holiday has been confirmed we will accept responsibility for it in accordance with these Booking Conditions as an “organiser” under the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992. A “package holiday” is a combination of at least two out of (a)transport, (b)accommodation or (c)other tourist services (not ancillary to any transport or accommodation and forming a significant part of the arrangements) where booked through us at the same time, for which payment is made to us and which last at least 24 hours or include overnight accommodation. If you do not book a package holiday through us, (for example your booking is for accommodation only), conditions 1- 15 below will apply to your booking (but
not clauses 16-26). If you book a package holiday, all clauses except clauses 2a and 11 will apply. References to your “holiday” mean the property, travel and other services, as applicable, booked and paid for in the
1) HOW TO BOOK
Once you have chosen the holiday you wish to book please contact us by phone or email. Our staff will be delighted to answer any questions you may have.We will then check the price and availability of that holiday. PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO READ THE BOOKING CONDITIONS before making a booking. By making a booking for you we presume that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by the booking conditions. If you have any additional requirements (such as
special dietary requests) please let us know at the time of booking. If you do not advise us at the time of booking, it may not be possible for these to be provided if you request these at a later stage. Please also refer to the price
details of the property in question. When making a booking with us, the party leader guarantees that he/she has the authority to accept our booking conditions on behalf of his/her party members.
2) PAYMENT
(a) In order to confirm your chosen holiday, a deposit of 25% of the total holiday cost per person (or full payment if booking within ten weeks of departure) must be paid at the time of booking. If you wish to purchase the insurance policy we offer, all applicable premiums must also be paid at the time of booking (you must be insured – see clause 14 below). The balance of the holiday cost must be received by us not less than 10 weeks prior to departure. This date will be shown on the confirmation invoice. Reminders are not sent. If we do not receive all payments due (including any surcharge where applicable) in full and on time, we and/or the property owners reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled by you. In this case the cancellation charges set out in clause 6 will be payable. Please note:We do not send out receipts for cheques unless specifically asked to do so. Payment can be made by any of the following methods.Visa, Mastercard (NB. a 1.5% administrative fee will be charged to you if you pay by credit card), Switch or
Delta. If you wish to pay by credit card or debit card, please give your card number, expiry date, issue number and full name as it appears on the card and the card billing address. Should you wish to pay by cheque, please also provide us (at the time of booking) with valid credit or debit card details. If we do not receive your cheque within 4 days of the booking being made we reserve the right to debit the card according to the payment conditions above. A charge of £10 will be payable by you if we have to represent any dishonoured cheques to the bank. Once we have received your booking and all appropriate payments, we shall subject to availability, confirm your holiday by issuing a confirmation invoice. Contact us immediately if any information which appears on the confirmation or any other document
appears to be incorrect or incomplete as it may not be possible to make changes later. We regret 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. (b) Except where otherwise advised or stated in the booking conditions of the supplier concerned, all monies you pay to us for arrangements will be held on behalf of the supplier(s) concerned.
3) YOUR CONTRACT
Please note: For all bookings made within 8 weeks of departure a contract shall come into existence once you have given us your booking details, we have confirmed your booking to you verbally or by email and you have authorised us to take payment using your credit or debit card details. (NB We will not accept any bookings by post within 8 weeks of departure.) For all bookings made more than 8 weeks before departure, a contract shall come into existence when we dispatch our confirmation invoice to the party leader or your travel agent. This contract and all matters arising out of it is governed by English law and is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. 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 AITO arbitration Scheme – see clause 13
below or by the Courts of
4) BROCHURE ACCURACY
We have done our best to ensure that all descriptions, information and prices
contained in this brochure are correct and accurate in accordance with the latest information available at the time of publication. Regrettably however errors do occur and we reserve the right to correct these errors.You must therefore ensure you check all details of your chosen holiday (including the price) with us or your travel agent at the time of booking.We will notify you of any changes when you make your booking however we regret that we cannot inform you of changes in subsequent brochure editions once your booking has been made. The photographs, and descriptions featured may not always show the individual accommodation which we reserve for our clients – they are there to give a general impression. Room descriptions are given as examples of what is available. They do not necessarily represent the type of accommodation which will be allocated to you on arrival as many rooms are individually built with slightly differing characteristics. Description of spa programmes are for an indication only. Specific treatments may vary, although every effort has been made to describe them as accurately as possible, there may be changes in the type and number of treatments which occur and which are beyond our control. Where we are aware of these changes we will endeavour to inform you. There may be occasions, especially in low season, when facilities, may be withdrawn (e.g. certain restaurants closed, watersports unavailable etc) or reduced by the individual accommodation owners or resorts. Where we become aware of this and where we believe any withdrawal may have a significant affect on your holiday, we ill let you know of the withdrawal as soon as is reasonably possible.
5) BOOKING ALTERATIONS
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 the property owner or any other suppliers. (It should be noted that once booked, any change to any travel arrangements you may have made (e.g. flights, trains, ferries, Eurotunnel, etc.), could make you liable to pay 100% of the cost of those arrangements again for any change made. If you should lose your tickets (and you have purchased these arrangements from us) we will contact the individual supplier and the relevant costs will be payable by you.
6) CANCELLATION
Should you have to cancel, the party leader should immediately inform us in writing. Your notice of cancellation will only be effective when it is received in writing by us at our offices.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. Insurance premiums and amendment charges are not refundable in the event of the person(s) to whom they apply cancelling.
|
Period before scheduled departure date within which notification is received by Erna Low |
Cancellation charge per person cancelling |
|
More than 56 days |
Deposit and insurance premiums |
|
42-56 days |
40% |
|
29-41 days |
50% |
|
15-28 days |
70% |
|
0-14 |
100% |
|
Departure date/no show |
100% |
Depending on the reason for your cancellation, cancellation charges can normally be claimed back through your insurance policy.
7) 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 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, actual or threatened terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire and all similar events outside our control.
8) SPECIAL REQUESTS
Please let us know any special requests you may have at the time of booking. Although we will endeavour to pass any reasonable requests on to the relevant supplier or property owner concerned, we regret we cannot guarantee any request will be met. Failure to meet a special request will not constitute a breach of your contract.
9) PASSPORTS, VISAS AND HEALTH REQUIREMENTS
British citizens require a full ten year British passport valid for at least six months after the end date of the holiday. All travellers to
10) SWIMMING POOLS
The ‘Direction departementale action sanitaire et sociale’ in
11) LIABILITY FOR NON-PACKAGE HOLIDAYS
We shall have no liability for any death or personal injury unless this results from our negligence or our employees’ negligence (providing they were at the time acting in the course of their employment with us).You must take all necessary steps to safeguard your personal property. No liability is accepted by us in respect of damage to, or loss of, such personal property except where it results from our negligence or our employee’s negligence (providing they were at the time acting in the course of their employment with us.
As we act only as agent for the property owner(s) we cannot accept any liability for any act(s) or omission(s) of the property owner(s) or anyone representing, or employed by, the property owner. Further,we cannot accept any liability for any shortcomings or defects with or in any property as all properties are within the sole control of the property owners. Please also see clause 7 (Force Majeure) above. If the property owner cancels your contract for the accommodation at any time after confirmation, we will try to find a suitable similar property to offer you however we are not contractually obliged to do so (see above). If we are unable or unwilling to do so, or if you would prefer, you are entitled to cancel the contract and receive a full refund of all monies you have paid (excluding amendment charges and insurance premiums.)
12) YOUR LIABILITY TO US
When you book with us, you accept full 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 property 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 our own and the other party’s full legal costs) as a result of your actions. You undertake to behave with propriety and in such a manner as in no way to cause distress, damage, danger or injury to other clients, property, our employees and/or any third party. The contract of any client in breach of this clause shall be terminated forthwith and we, nor the property owner or other supplier concerned shall have no further contractual obligations to you. No refunds will be made and we, nor the property owner or other supplier will not pay any expenses or costs incurred as a result of the termination.
13)
We are always very interested in hearing your comments on your holiday. We will be sending you a questionnaire and would greatly appreciate it if you would fill it in on your return. The accommodation and services we feature are provided by the individual property owners who are responsible for the properties. Clients’ complaints, which fortunately are very rare, will be forwarded to the individual supplier and dealt with according to their instructions. In the event of acomplaint concerning your holiday, you should immediately report it to the Erna Low London office as well as to the relevant supplier. If the matter cannot be resolved on the spot and you wish to take it up on your return, we must be notified in writing within 28 days of your return holiday date. Should it prove not to be possible to settle the dispute in an amicable way, AITO’s low-cost Independent Dispute Settlement Service may be called upon by either side to bring the matter to a speedy and acceptable conclusion.
14) TRAVEL INSURANCE
We strongly recommend that you take out travel insurance, with a minimum cover to reimburse you for the cost of the holiday if you have to cancel before you have taken the holiday, as well as to cover medical emergencies should they occur while you are abroad. Please read your policy details carefully. It is your responsibility to ensure that the insurance cover you purchase is adequate for your particular needs. We do not check insurance policies. The Body & Soul Reservations Team is able to purchase Travel Insurance on your behalf from a reputable supplier – if you would like details and costs of this insurance, please request these before booking your spa holiday.
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 16(4)below). Copies of the relevant parts of these terms and conditions are available on request from ourselves or the supplier concerned. Please note that the following clauses only apply to bookings of Package Holidays as defined at the beginning of these Booking Conditions.
16) OUR LIABILITY TO YOU FOR PACKAGE HOLIDAYS
The accommodation featured in this brochure belong to & are managed by
independent property owners & suppliers. We act as agents for these property owners and suppliers. Once your holiday is confirmed however, as an “organiser” under the Package Travel, Package Holidays & Package Tours Regulations 1992 & subject to these Booking Conditions, we will accept responsibility in the following manner:
(1) We promise to make sure that all parts of the holiday we have agreed to arrange, perform or provide as part of our contract with you are performed or provided with reasonable skill and care. When we talk about “fault” below, this means failure by ourselves or our agents or suppliers (as applicable) to use reasonable skill and care in performing or providing the service in question. Please note it is your responsibility to show that reasonable skill and care has not been used if you wish to make a claim. We will not 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 7 above) (d) the fault of anyone who is 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 make to you about the services we have agreed to provide or arrange as part of our 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. If the particular services which gave rise to the claim or complaint complied with local laws and regulations applicable to those services at the time, the services will be treated as having been properly provided. This will be the case even if the services did not comply with the laws and regulations of the
(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 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 cost of your holiday. This maximumamount will only be payable where everything has gone wrong and you have not received any benefit at all from your holiday.Where we are found liable for loss of and/or damage to any luggage or personal possessions (including money), the maximum amount we will have to pay you is £35 per person affected as you are assumed to have taken out adequate insurance at the time of booking. Please also see subclause (4) below. Please also see clause 16(4) below.
(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 Convention as amended for international travel by air and/or for airlines with an operating licence granted by an EU country, the EU Regulation on Air Carrier Liability for national and international travel by air, the
for international travel by sea). 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. 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.
(6) It is a condition precedent of our acceptance of liability that you follow the procedures for the notification of complaints set out in clause 13 above.
17) SERVICES IN RESORT
Local services such as resort shuttle buses are run by local companies which are unconnected with us or the providers of the accommodation we feature and as such we have no control over them. Please also see clause 16 above.
18) EXCURSIONS AND LOCAL ACTIVITIES
Please note that if you make your own arrangements for an excursion or activity, the contract for the prevision of an excursion or activity will be between you and the supplier, and not between you and us. Therefore, when you purchase an excursion and activity locally, your contract is with the local company providing it and we have no liability whatsoever for anything that may go wrong with the excursion or activity. Please also see clause 16 above.
19) PROTECTION OF YOUR MONEY
We are bonded with The Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO number 1089).The air holidays in this brochure are ATOL protected, since we hold an Air Travel Organiser’s Licence issued by the Civil Aviation Authority (ATOL number 4179). 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 If your holiday does not include travel by plane but by train or car travel booked through Erna Low AITO will financially protect your money in the same way.
20) PIPELINE MONIES
Except for flight inclusive bookings, all monies you pay to one of our authorised travel agents for your holiday with us will be held by the agent on your behalf until we issue our confirmation invoice. After that point, your agent will hold the monies on our behalf. For flight inclusive bookings, all monies paid to such agents for your holiday with us will be held on our behalf until they are paid to us or refunded to you.
21) PRICES
We reserve the right to increase or decrease our prices at any time prior to booking. Due to current world uncertainty, we are unable to predict any future developments that may affect the cost your holiday. Therefore there may be extra charges made by airlines for insurance and security costs which we reserve the right to pass on to you. We will not impose any surcharges on the price of your holiday arrangements less than 30 days
before departure. In addition, 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). Only if the increased costs exceed this 2% will we levy a surcharge. Surcharges may be imposed to cover increases in transportation costs, including the cost of fuel, dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services such as landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports or airports, or the exchange rates applied to the particular package. Where a surcharge is payable, there will be an administration fee of £1 per person. Should the surcharge exceed 10% of your holiday price (excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges), you will be entitled to cancel your holiday with a full refund of all monies paid except for any premium paid to us for holiday insurance and amendment charges. 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 surcharge. 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.
22) PREVENTED FROM TRAVELLING?
If any member of your party is prevented from travelling, that person may transfer their place to someone else (introduced by you) 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 (e.g for new airline tickets) as a result together with an amendment fee of £25 must be paid before the transfer can be effected. Please also see clause 5 above.
23) CHANGES AND CANCELLATIONS BY US
Occasionally, we have to make changes to and correct errors in brochure and other details both before and after bookings have been confirmed and we may have to cancel confirmed bookings. Whilst we always endeavour to avoid changes and cancellations, we must reserve the right to do so. Occasionally, we have to make a “significant change”. “Significant changes” means 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
change. All other changes are minor changes. If we have to 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) purchasing 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 but if it is more expensive, we will ask you to pay the difference) or
(c) cancelling or accepting the cancellation in which case you will receive a full and quick refund of all monies you have paid to us.
Please note, the above options are not available where any change made is a minor one. If we have to make a significant change or cancel 10 weeks or less before departure, we will pay you the compensation set out below subject to the following exceptions. Compensation will not be payable and no liability beyond offering the above mentioned choices can be accepted where we are forced to make a change or cancel as a result of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyondour 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 a significant change per person or cancellation (excluding infants) is notified to you [or your travel agent] |
Compensation (per person) |
|
0-7 days |
£40 |
|
8-14 days |
£30 |
|
15-28 days |
£20 |
|
29-42 days |
£15 |
|
43-56 days |
£10 |
|
more than 56 days |
Nil |
For children paying less than the adult price the compensation is reduced by the relevant proportion. 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 10 weeks before departure.
Post departure changes. Where, after departure, a significant proportion of the services contracted for is or cannot be provided, you will have the choice of returning to your point of departure and receiving a pro rata refund of the cost of the remainder of your holiday, or accepting alternative arrangements. In addition, if appropriate, we will pay you compensation of an amount which is reasonable taking into account all the circumstances.
24) TICKETS
All tickets will be sent out approximately 2 weeks prior to your departure providing full payment has been received. In the event of a last minute booking, you may either collect the tickets from our office or we will fax or e-mail the details to you. Your travel tickets need careful checking as timings are subject to change and may vary slightly from those on your confirmation invoice. 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.
25) 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/often] be lower.
26) DELAY
We regret that we are not in a position to offer you any assistance in the event of a delay at your outward point of departure. However, the individual supplier through whom your travel has been booked may be able to do so.
Erna Low Body & Soul Holidays, 9 Reece Mews, London
SW7 3HE.Tel: 020 7594 0290 e-mail: spas@ernalow.co.uk