Agency Terms of Business
Introduction
These are the agency terms of business ("Agency Terms of Business") on which we, Hays Travel Limited trading as The Family Holidays Company and Quo Vadis, will process an accommodation or holiday booking for you.
We will arrange for you to enter into a contract with a Travel Provider (eg Hotel Company, hotel owner or Tour Operator) or their agent. We are acting as the Travel Provider’s agent in arranging your booking and the Travel Provider is the principal, or the agent to the principal. You will not have a contract with us, we do not provide, arrange or create any one or combinations of travel products; we simply facilitate your connection to those who do.
Importantly, your booking through us is subject to both these Agency Terms of Business (which define and explain our obligations to you and the role that we play) and the specific booking conditions of the relevant Travel Providers (these are shown on your invoice). You are advised to read both carefully.
In requesting accommodation online or asking us to confirm by email or telephone accommodation or a holiday for you, you are accepting both our Agency Terms of Business and the Booking Conditions of the Travel Provider.
Please note if you follow links on our website to book car hire, transfers or other services each service or product is a separate booking and you would have a separate contract with each of the Travel Providers for whom we may or may not be an agent. Your bookings, even though they may be linked to the same dates of travel, do not constitute a package as defined in the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Travel Regulations 1992 ("Package Travel Regulations 1992") nor the Civil Aviation (Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing) Regulations 1995, Amended 2003 ("ATOL Regulations").
Booking details and Procedure
To confirm a booking the party leader must be authorised to make the booking on the basis of these Terms and the Booking Conditions of the Travel Provider by all persons named on the booking. By making a booking he/she confirms that this is the case. The party leader must be over 18 years old and is responsible for making all payments to us.
When you make a booking request online, via email or telephone we will email you an acknowledgement of that request, this is not confirmation your booking has been accepted. A binding contract comes into existence when your booking request is accepted by the Travel Provider (this may be immediate if you complete the online booking or some time afterwards depending on each Travel Provider).
It is important that you understand that payment at the time you are making your booking does not in itself mean that your booking is confirmed. Because we are making live reservations with travel providers we have to have the security that we have appropriate payment from you and hence your initial payment to us is your authority, should your booking request be accepted, for us to confirm your booking with the Travel Provider. If unexpectedly in the short time between your payment and us seeking to confirm your booking with the Travel Provider the travel product has become unavailable or the price has changed, you will of course receive a complete refund of the money you have paid for that product.
If you are booking accommodation only with us, we advise you to check availability but NOT to book flights, car hire etc until you have confirmation that your accommodation is confirmed. In the event that your accommodation was not confirmed you would not receive a refund from us for your flights or any other products which you booked in connection with the same holiday.
We will notify you your booking request has been confirmed in writing via our sales invoice which we will email to you on behalf of the Principal travel provider.
Please check that all names, dates and timings are correct on receipt of all documents and advise us of any incorrect or incomplete information within two days of receipt of your documents. Please note that we will not accept any responsibility for incorrect information if we are not informed within this time frame. Any changes to these details may incur charges applied by the Travel Provider unless the mistake was made by us. Please ensure that the names given are the same as in the relevant passport.
Tickets/vouchers will be sent by email or by post, subject to full payment being received by us. You are required to take these with you, failure to do so may result in your room being cancelled, or having to pay for your room again, or paying a higher price. No refunds for unused accommodation vouchers can be made, as they will be treated as cancellations.
Although we will endeavour to pass on any reasonable special requests on, we are unable to guarantee that the request will be met.
The booking information that you provide to us will be passed on only to the relevant Travel Providers of your travel arrangements or other persons necessary for the provision of your travel arrangements. If we were not authorised to pass this information to the relevant Travel Providers, whether in the EEA or not, we would be unable to arrange your booking. In making this booking, you consent to this information being passed on to the relevant parties.
Please see full details of our data protection/privacy policy.
Payment
If you make a booking more than 14 weeks before you are due to arrive you are required to pay a deposit and the full balance by the date notified to you, usually 14 weeks before you arrive. If full payment is not received by the balance due date, we will notify the Travel Provider who may cancel your booking and charge the cancellation fees set out in their Terms and Conditions.
If you make a booking less than 14 weeks before you arrive then full payment is required at the time of booking unless we advise you otherwise.
Changes to your booking or cancellation
Should you wish to amend your booking you must advise via email us as soon as possible and this will take effect once we have received and acknowledged receipt of your email. Whilst we will try to assist we regret that amendments cannot always be made and there may be a charge from the Travel provider of up to 100% (as set out in their own Terms and Conditions) to do so.
Depending on the reason for cancellation you may be able to reclaim these charges under the terms of your insurance policy and we can provide a cancellation invoice for you to make a claim directly with them.
Financial Protection
We are an ABTA bonded travel agent, number P6851.
If you book a package holiday with us (flight and accommodation) this will be provided by an ATOL protected tour operator for whom we act as agent and your holiday will be financially protected.
If you book accommodation-only or accommodation with transfers you will be protected against out failure by Supplier Failure Insurance which we include in your booking cost. This policy will not cover you for any consequential losses associated with our failure so we advise you to ensure your Personal Travel Insurance covers you for consequential losses.
This insurance should also cover you for each of the services you may have booked relating to the same holiday eg flights, car hire (even if is via one of the links on our website) as each is a separate booking, paid for separately by you and each has its own booking conditions that are not related to your holiday as a whole and even if related by travel date do not constitute a package with financial protection. If you do not have this insurance you should be aware that in the event that you miss your flight, your flight is delayed or cancelled and you are not able to arrive at your accommodation you will not be able to receive a refund. This will be considered a ‘no-show’ and full cancellation charges will apply. Likewise in the unlikely event that your accommodation booking is changed or cancelled by your Travel Provider, the Booking Conditions of your flights and any other elements (including cancellation charges) will still individually apply regardless.
We do not sell travel insurance but can advise you of companies that offer this protection in their standard travel insurance packages.
Insurance
We strongly advise that you take out a policy of insurance in order to cover you and your party against the cost of cancellation by you; the cost of assistance (including repatriation) in the event of accident or illness; loss of baggage and money; and other expenses. Don’t forget failure to disclose relevant information will affect your insurance. Some of our Travel Providers make this a condition of booking.
Passports, Visas and Health
Your specific passport and visa requirements, and other immigration requirements, are your responsibility and you should confirm these with the relevant embassies and / or consulates. Neither we, nor the Travel Provider, accept any responsibility if you cannot travel because you have not complied with any passport, visa or immigration requirements. Most countries now require passports to be valid for at least 6 months after your return date. British Citizens can find information at www.ips.gov.uk/passport/index.asp.
Some of our accommodation providers negotiate their low rates on the basis that residents of the country where the hotel stay is taking place, are not eligible to stay at that rate. In most circumstances, this does not apply to residents of EU countries staying in other EU countries. Problems seem to mainly occur, where non-EU passport holders are booked to stay in the country where the passport was issued. For example, Turkish nationals in Turkey, or Egyptian nationals in Egypt. If you think this may affect your booking, please ask our Customer Service team to confirm your booking will be accepted by the hotel, as resolution once you are abroad will be very difficult.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office provides up-to-date travel advice to help British Travellers make informed decisions about travelling abroad. See www.fco.gov.uk/knowbeforeyougo. Check with your own doctor for health requirements.
Website accuracy and prices
We take great care to ensure that the information shown on each featured accommodation is accurate. It may be altered at any time without prior notice and we reserve the right to alter, amend or cancel any details shown. Facilities and amenities in each accommodation can change permanently with short notice or may be temporarily unavailable for operational reasons especially in low season. Where this happens we will do our best to advise you as soon as possible although we cannot accept liability for any changes or closures to amenities.
Where inaccuracies relate to the understatement of the price of a specific product you will be offered either a full refund of money paid on that booking only or the opportunity to maintain that booking on receipt of the additional payment. All images of hotel rooms are for representation only and may not reflect the actual room you are allocated.
We do not accept responsibility for any expenses or costs incurred by you as a result of the change and we do not accept responsibility for changes or cancellations that are due to unusual or unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control. These can include war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, terrorist activity, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions, governmental action or accommodation ceasing to be available.
Complaints
Your contract is between you and the Travel Provider and any queries or concerns must be addressed to them. This is especialIy important if you have a problem whilst on holiday and you should report it to the relevant Travel Provider or their local supplier or agent immediately. If you fail to follow this procedure there will be less opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint. The amount of compensation you may be entitled to may be reduced or you may not receive any at all depending upon the circumstances.
We do pride ourselves on delivering the highest standard of customer service and if your Travel Provider is unable to resolve your concern please contact our customer services team who will try to assist you although we are only able to do this during our normal office hours.
If the matter cannot be resolved and it involves us or another ABTA member then it can be referred to the arbitration scheme arranged by ABTA www.abta.com.
Limitation of liability
For the avoidance of doubt, your booking is directly with the Travel Provider. To the extent that we are not negligent in the provision of our services to you, we accept no liability or responsibility for any complaint, loss, damage, expense or other claim in respect of any aspect of your bookings or travel arrangements.
Specifically, we will not be liable for any act or omission by any person not employed directly by us and whilst we have chosen our Travel Providers with care we have no control over our Travel Providers and so cannot be held responsible for any action or omission of our Travel Providers or their servants, agents or employees.
Moreover, we cannot be held responsible for any loss, damage or expense incurred or suffered by you which results from strike, civil commotion, fire, flood, war, threat of war, terrorist activity, national or nuclear disaster, late delivery, adverse weather conditions any act of God and / or any other event which is outside of our reasonable control.
In no circumstances shall we be liable for any economic loss, loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of business, loss of goodwill, loss of reputation, loss of anticipated savings arising out of the failure or delay in perfoming the services under these terms of business or otherwise in connection with these terms of business; or for any indirect, special or consequential loss or damage (howsoever arising).
Jurisdiction
Your Terms of Business with us will be governed by English law and any related disputes will be dealt with in the courts of England and Wales. If you live in Northern Ireland or Scotland, the courts of Northern Ireland or Scotland as appropriate can deal with any disputes.
Credit Card Fraud Protection
To ensure that your credit, debit or charge card is not being used without your consent, we will validate name, address and other personal information supplied by you during the order process against appropriate third party databases. By accepting these terms and conditions you consent to such checks being made. In performing these checks personal information provided by you may be disclosed to a registered Credit Reference Agency which may keep a record of that information. You can rest assured that this is done only to confirm your identity, that a credit check is not performed and that your credit rating will be unaffected. All information provided by you will be treated securely and strictly in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
