Conditions of Booking
1. Your Holiday Contract The Swiss Ski Company is a trading name of Travelco Limited with whom your contract is made and whose registered address is East House, 109 South Worple Way, London SW14 8TN. When you make a booking you guarantee that you have the authority to accept and do accept on behalf of your party the terms of these booking conditions. A contract will exist as soon as we issue our confirmation invoice. This contract is made on the terms of these booking conditions, which are governed by English Law, and the jurisdiction of the English Courts.
2. Your Financial Protection When you buy an ATOL protected air holiday package or flights from us you will receive a Confirmation Invoice from us confirming your arrangements and your protection under our Air Travel Organiser’s Licence number 3148. 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 you book a package holiday other than by air from this brochure, your monies are protected by way of our ABTA bond (W6262). If you book accommodation only we only act as agents and the financial protection referred to above does not apply.
3. ABTA We are a Member of ABTA, membership number W6262. We are obliged to maintain a high standard of service to you by ABTA’s Code of Conduct. We can also offer you an arbitration scheme for the resolution of disputes arising out of, or in connection with this contract. Further information on the Code and arbitration can be found on ABTA’s website www.abta.com The arbitration scheme is arranged by ABTA and administered independently by IDRS, part of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. It provides for a simple and inexpensive method of arbitration on documents alone with restricted liability on you in respect of costs. Full details will be provided on request or can be obtained from the ABTA website. The scheme does not apply to claims for an amount greater than £5,000 per person. There is also a limit of £25,000 per booking form. Neither does it apply to claims which are solely in respect of physical injury or illness or their consequences. The scheme can however deal with compensation claims which include an element of minor injury or illness subject to a limit of £1,000 on the amount the arbitrator can award per person in respect of this element. The application for arbitration and Statement of Claim must be received by IDRS within nine months of the date of return from the holiday. Outside this time limit arbitration under the Scheme may still be available if the company agrees, but the ABTA Code does not require such agreement. For injury and illness claims, you may like to use the ABTA/Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Mediation Procedure. This is a voluntary scheme and requires us to agree for mediation to go ahead. The aim is to help you resolve your dispute in a quick and cost effective way. Details on request or from www.abta.com.
4. Your Holiday Price We unconditionally guarantee that there will be no surcharge to your holiday price after you have made your booking. However, we reserve the right to increase our prices at any time before you book. All prices are quoted in £s sterling and were calculated in April 2010 using an exchange rate of £1 = 1.63 Swiss Francs.
5. Deposit & Payment When you make your booking a deposit of £150 per person is required if your holiday is with British Airways or Swiss International Air Lines. For holidays with flights with any other airlines a minimum deposit of £250 per person will apply. The balance of the price of your travel arrangements must be paid at least 60 days before your departure date. If the deposit and/or balance are not paid in time, we shall cancel your travel arrangements. If the balance is not paid in time we shall retain your deposit.
6. If You Change Your Booking If, after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you wish to change your travel arrangements in any way, for example your chosen departure date or accommodation, we will do our utmost to make these changes but it may not always be possible. You will be asked to pay an administration charge of £20 per booking and any further cost we incur in making this alteration. You should be aware that these costs could increase the closer to the departure date that changes are made. Certain tickets may not be changeable after a reservation has been made and any alteration request could incur a cancellation charge of up to 100% of that part of the arrangements.
7. If You Cancel Your Holiday You, or any member of your party, may cancel your travel arrangements at any time. The following cancellation charges will apply:
Up to 42 days before departure: Loss of deposit.
41 to 25 days before departure: 40% of holiday price.
24 to 14 days before departure: 60% of holiday price.
13 to 7 days before departure: 80% of holiday price.
Less than 7 days: Full holiday cost.
If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.
8. If We Change or Cancel Your Holiday It is unlikely that we will have to make any changes to your travel arrangements, but we do plan the arrangements many months in advance. Occasionally, we may have to make changes and we reserve the right to do so at any time. Most of these changes will be minor and we will advise you at the earliest possible date. We also reserve the right in any circumstances to cancel your travel arrangements. However, we will not cancel your travel arrangements less than 6 weeks before your departure date, except for reasons of force majeure or failure by you to pay the final balance. If we are unable to provide the booked travel arrangements, you can either have a refund of all monies paid or accept an offer of alternative travel arrangements of comparable standard from us, if available. If it is necessary to cancel your travel arrangements, we will pay to you compensation as set out below. In accordance with EU Regulation 2111/2005 we are required to advise you of the actual carrier operating your flight. The carriers to be used or likely to be used are as follows: British Airways or Swiss International Air Lines.
Any changes to the actual airline after you have received your tickets will be notified to you as soon as possible and in all cases at check-in or at the boarding gate. Such a change is deemed to be a minor change. Other examples of minor changes include alteration of your outward/return flights by less than 6 hours, changes to aircraft type or change of accommodation to another of the same standard and you do not have the right to cancel without incurring our normal cancellation charges. If we make a major change to your holiday, we will inform you as soon as reasonably possible if there is time before your departure. You will have the choice of either accepting the change of arrangements, accepting an offer of alternative travel arrangements of comparable standard from us if available, or cancelling your booked holiday and receiving a full refund of all monies paid. In all cases, except where the major change arises due to reasons of force majeure, we will pay compensation per person as follows:
Up to 42 days before departure: None
41 to 25 days before departure: £20
24 to 14 days before departure: £25
13 to 7 days before departure: £30
Less than 7 days: £40
9. Force Majeure This means that we will not pay you compensation if we have to cancel or change your travel arrangements in any way because of unusual or unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control. These can include, for example, war, riot, industrial dispute, terrorist activity and its consequences, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions.
10. If You Have A Complaint If you have a problem during your holiday, please inform the relevant supplier (e.g. your hotelier) who will endeavour to put things right. If your complaint is not resolved locally, please follow this up within 28 days of your return home by writing to us giving your booking reference and all other relevant information. If you fail to follow this simple procedure we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were in resort and this may affect your rights under this contract.
11. Our Liability To You If the contract we have with you is not performed or is improperly performed by us or our suppliers we will pay you appropriate compensation if this has affected the enjoyment of your travel arrangements. However we will not be liable where any failure in the performance of the contract is due to: you; or a third party unconnected with the provision of the travel arrangements and where the failure is unforeseeable or unavoidable; or unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised; or an event which we or our suppliers, even with all due care, could not foresee or forestall. Our liability will be limited in accordance with and/or in an identical manner to
(a) The contractual terms of the companies that provide the transportation for your travel arrangements. These terms are incorporated into this contract; and
(b) Any relevant international convention, for example the Montreal Convention in respect of travel by air, the Athens Convention in respect of travel by sea, the Berne Convention in respect of travel by rail and the Paris Convention in respect of the provision of accommodation, which limit the amount of compensation that you can claim for death, injury, delay to passengers and loss, damage and delay to luggage. We are to be regarded as having all benefit of any limitation of compensation contained in these or any conventions.
Under EU law (Regulation 261/2004) you have rights in some circumstances to refunds and/or compensation from your airline in cases of denied boarding, cancellation or delay to flights. Full details of these rights will be publicised at EU airports and will also be available from airlines. However reimbursement in such cases will not automatically entitle you to a refund of your holiday cost from us. Your right to a refund and/or compensation from us is set out in clause 7. If any payments to you are due from us, any payment made to you by the airline will be deducted from this amount. If your airline does not comply with these rules you should complain to the Air Transport Users' Council on 020 7240 6061 www.auc.org.uk
12. Prompt Assistance in Resort If the contract we have with you is not performed or is improperly performed as a result of failures attributable to a third party unconnected with the provision of the services, or as a result of failures due to unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised, or an event which we or our suppliers, even with all due care, could not foresee or forestall, and you suffer an injury or other material loss, we will offer you such prompt assistance as is reasonable in the circumstances.
13. Passport, Visa and Immigration Requirements 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. We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel because you have not complied with any passport, visa or immigration requirements.
14. Data Protection Policy In order to process your booking and to ensure that your travel arrangements run smoothly and meet your requirements we need to use the information you provide such as name, address, any special needs/dietary requirements etc. We take full responsibility for ensuring that proper security measures are in place to protect your information. We must pass the information on to the relevant suppliers of your travel arrangements such as airlines, hotels, transport companies etc. The information may also be provided to security or credit checking companies, public authorities such as customs/immigration if required by them, or as required by law. Additionally, where your holiday is outside the European Economic Area (EEA), controls on data protection in your destination may not be as strong as the legal requirements in this country. We will not however, pass any information onto any person not responsible for part of your travel arrangements. This applies to any sensitive information that you give to us such as details of any disabilities, or dietary/religious requirements. If we cannot pass this information to the relevant suppliers, whether in the EEA or not, we cannot provide your booking. In making this booking, you consent to this information being passed on to the relevant persons.
This brochure is our responsibility, as your tour operator. It is not issued on behalf of, and does not commit the airlines mentioned herein or any airline whose services are used in the course of your travel arrangements. Please note that in accordance with Air Navigation Orders in order to qualify for infant status, a child must be under 2 years of age on the date of its return flight.
