BOOKING CONDITIONS EDITION - SP-190822
Any contract between you and “Special Pilgrimages Ltd” is subject to these Booking Conditions. No employee or representative of Special Pilgrimages Limited has the authority to agree with you any other verbal or written variation. The contract shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law and is subject to the jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) licence number ATOL 2963 is carried by Special Pilgrimages Limited of which Special Pilgrimages Christian Tours, Christian Heritage Tours and Wayfaring are trade names. For your financial protection all our arrangements are covered by bonds held with the Civil Aviation Authority (ATOL Licence No. 2963).
Please complete the enclosed booking form, sign it and send it to Special Pilgrimages Limited, Special Pilgrimages Ltd. do not operate through a sub agent or a third party. All cheques and postal orders should be made payable to “Special Pilgrimages Limited”. You can also pay online if you wish. Special Pilgrimages Ltd. will not accept responsibility for money paid to third parties. A confirmation invoice will be sent to you only on receipt of your completed, dated and signed booking form and the appropriate deposit. The person signing the Booking Form will be considered the principal passenger and our sole point of contact.
Your address details , telephone contact numbers and e-mail address that you will provide us with on your booking form will be considered by us as the formal and only points of contact with you. Should any of your contact details you have provided us with change, you must immediately notify us and in writing. Telephone instructions will not be accepted. Failure to establish contact with you at any time in writing, by phone or e-mail using the details you have provided on your booking form and or any subsequent amendments we have received from you in writing, will result in cancelling your booking and applying cancellation charges as applicable in item ‘7’ below. A letter posted to you by recorded delivery to your last known address by us will be deemed as officially delivered and legally received by you.
Please note that we do not issue reminders and the balance due must be paid to us at least 12 weeks before you travel or as shown on your invoice and pilgrimage brochure. The earliest date will apply. If this is not done then we reserve the right to cancel your holiday and apply cancellation charges as applicable under item ‘7’ below. Should your cheque be returned unpaid by the bank, we will charge you each time £25.00 in respect of Bank Charges. If you book 12 weeks or less before departure, then the full amount must be paid when you book. A late booking fee may apply and any other applicable increases to the tour price.
Should you wish to change any aspect of your holiday after your booking has been confirmed, you must inform Special Pilgrimages Limited in writing. If the change you request is feasible, an administration fee of £50.00 will be charged plus any expenses incurred by us in making any necessary alterations. No name changes are allowed at any stage before departure. Bookings are non transferable to other people or other tours under any circumstances.
Should you wish to cancel your tour, the signatory to the booking form / principal passenger should notify us directly in writing by letter or e-mail as soon as possible. We only accept cancellation of a booking by e-mail from the e-mail address listed on the booking form. The signatory must issue the cancellation on behalf of any listed passengers. We cannot accept a cancellation from another listed passenger unless authorised in writing to do so by the principal passenger. The scale of cancellation charges detailed hereafter is calculated according to the number of days prior to departure that written notice of cancellation is received by us: -
Prior to Departure Date
Over 84 days…… 1st & 2nd Deposit only as applicable
56-83 days………. 50% of final invoice or the deposit (s) if higher
15-55 days ......... 80% of final invoice
1-14 days and on date of departure or later 100% of final invoice.
Please check with your Travel Insurance Underwriter as your cancellation maybe covered under your travel insurance policy.
When extensions to the main tour are arranged on an individual basis they will not be escorted. Once you split up from the main group and engage in an arrangement specially organised individually for you and or for members in your party and on behalf of you or them, you will be fully responsible for all subsequent transfers and transportation from the moment you split up from the main group unless confirmed by us otherwise in writing on your confirmation invoice.
Tours are based on an economic minimum number of passengers as indicated on your travel brochure. Should this not be reached, we reserve the right up to twelve weeks prior to departure to cancel the tour. In the circumstances of cancellation by us we would offer you the choice of an alternative tour of comparable standard (subject to availability) or make a prompt refund of any monies paid. In the unlikely event that it is necessary to cancel a tour within twelve weeks prior to departure, we will pay you compensation as detailed below: -
Day s) prior to departure date when cancellation is notified to you
Compensation per person
More than 84 days…………… Nil
56-83 days……………………….. £10
15-55 days..……………………… £20
14-00 days.………………………… £25
We are not liable to pay compensation when we are obliged to cancel your holiday for reasons of force majeure as outlined below or where you have failed to pay the balance of the tour price by the balance due date.
We may also be obliged to cancel your holiday for reasons of force majeure (for example war, threat of war, riots, civil disturbance, strikes, natural or nuclear disasters, terrorist activities or threat of such, earthquakes, volcanoes, fire or adverse weather conditions, closure of airports, ports or railways, changes to timings, day of departure or cancellation of international and domestic air, river, sea and railway services or mechanical breakdown of such services or similar events beyond our control). We may also be obliged to cancel your pilgrimage if the Foreign and Common wealth Office totally bans British Citizens from all travelling to your destination and/or scheduled flights cease to operate for reasons of force majeure. In such cases we will advise you as soon as possible and, if we can, offer you an alternative holiday of comparable standard, or make a refund of all monies paid to us excluding a handling fee to offset our costs. However, we can be under no other liability to you in such cases.
The tours scheduled in this brochure are planned many months in advance and sometimes changes may be necessary. We reserve the right to make such changes. Your rights depend on the type of change. Alterations are either ‘significant’ or ‘minor’. We have the right to make ‘minor’ changes at any time. We will, if practicable, advise you or your travel agent of any ‘minor’ change before your departure but we are not obliged to do so or pay you compensation. The arrangements featured in this brochure are by their nature very complex with services from different airlines, hotels and ground transportation companies. We therefore have to reserve the right to change any flight or hotel listed and confirmed and, if necessary, even to modify the itinerary itself without prior notice. We will make every effort to provide as much advance notification as possible, but we feel it is only fair to warn you of possible variations. No compensation is payable in such circumstances, nor does it confer to you or any members in your party the right of cancellation.
In some countries lengthy delays may be experienced at border crossings between two countries. Such delays are subject to the discretion of the national or local authorities regulating
the border crossing. We cannot offer any accurate estimate of the length of such delay and if you require further information you should make your own enquiries.
The cost of your land arrangements is usually contracted in foreign currency. The prices in our brochure are based on the rate of exchange (to £1.00) on applicable tours as follows:
Euros…………………………… €1.10
U.S. Dollar…………………… $1.30
Or as indicated on your tour brochure
All prices are subject to change prior to the booking being made. Once confirmed the price of your holiday is subject to increase due to currency fluctuations, aircraft fuel surcharge, airport and security charges, taxes and fees , increases in the cost of scheduled air fares, hotels and government actions. Even in such cases, we will absorb an amount equivalent to 2% of the basic holiday price and any amendment charges. Only amounts in excess of this 2% will be surcharged but where a surcharge is payable there will be no administration charges. If this means paying more than 15% on the holiday price, you will be entitled to cancel your holiday with us with a full refund of all monies paid except for amendment charges and a handling fee to cover our costs. Should you decide to cancel because of this, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the issue date printed on your invoice. The above undertaking excludes any government and / or governmental levies. Any increases in the original holiday price will be notified to you no later than 30 days prior to departure. In the case of bookings made less than four weeks before the date of departure, any surcharges will be notified to you and included in your invoice.
Single rooms are available at an extra cost as will be specified in your holiday brochure and are subject to availability and to our confirmation. These however are limited by the hotels to an allocation of 10% of the number of people in the party. First come will be first served. Above and beyond this 10% allocation, we cannot guarantee a single room even if a single room supplement is paid. In such circumstances you will be offered the choice to pay just the published single room supplement and accept the remote possibility that you will not be allocated a single room on arrival to your hotel (s), in which case your single room supplement will be refunded in part or in total as may be the case, agree to share in half a twin with a suitable person, in which case you will not be charged the single room supplement, withdraw your booking in which case we will return your booking form and cheque to you or you can pay a further supplement to upgrade your accommodation to a single occupancy in a twin or a double room, in which case your single room will be guaranteed.
If you are booking on your own and request to share in a twin room, we will do our best to find you a suitable person to share with. In the event that we fail to do so by 2 weeks before your departure, we will charge you the full single room supplement and allocate you a single room. An invoice and letter will be sent to you to this effect. If you fail to pay this charge by return of post, we reserve the right to cancel your reservation and make cancellation charges as per item ’7’ of these booking conditions.
As our pilgrimages are planned far in advance, the flights, airports and flight schedules that may be displayed in the brochure from which you have booked your pilgrimage are preliminary and for indication purposes only and they may be changed or cancelled without prior notice. As such we will not be held responsible in part or in full, in any shape or form for agreements you may enter with third parties relying on this initial information. Your reliable and final flight schedules and confirmation, together with your accommodation details will be dispatched to you two to three weeks before departure.
(a) Where you do not suffer personal injury or death, we accept liability should any part of your holiday arrangements booked with us not be as described in the brochure from which you have made your booking and not be of a reasonable standard. We will pay you reasonable compensation (limited to a maximum of three times the amount paid by you) unless there has been no fault on our part or that of our suppliers and the reason for the failure in your holiday arrangements could not have been foreseen or avoided by us or our suppliers even when all due care had been exercised. We will use this maximum sum to assess the appropriate sum due to you in the circumstances of your particular complaint.
(b) Should you suffer death or personal injury as a result of an activity forming part of your holiday arrangements booked with us, we accept responsibility unless there has been no fault on our part or that of our suppliers and the cause was your own fault, the actions of someone unconnected with us or your holiday arrangements or one which neither we nor our suppliers could have anticipated or avoided even with the exercise of all due care. Where such death or personal injury arises in the course of air travel, rail travel, sea travel, or hotel accommodation, the amount of compensation you will receive is limited in accordance with the provisions of any applicable International Conventions (the Warsaw Convention as amended by the Hague Protocol in 1955, the 1961 Berne Convention, the 1962 Paris Convention and the 1974 Athens Convention). Copies of these Conventions may be obtained by writing to us, please allow at least 28 days for the provision of such information. Please note that this acceptance of liability on our part is subject to the assignment by you to us of all your rights against any third party, agent, supplier or sub-contractor of ours which is in any way responsible for the death or personal injury which you suffer.
(c) Should you suffer death, personal injury or illness as a result of an activity not forming part of the holiday arrangements booked with us, we will give you advice, guidance and, at our discretion, financial assistance where appropriate up to a limit of £2,000. The financial assistance is for the specific and sole purpose of enabling legal action to be taken against the person responsible for your death, personal injury or illness. Any grant of financial assistance is dependant upon repayment to us of this sum out of any monies recovered by you from the person (s) responsible for your death, personal injury or illness. Further, the financial assistance is per booking form, not per person. Any request for assistance under this section must be made within 90 days of the incident occurring.
(d) As part or all of our tours are set in historical and old cities, towns and invariably include visits to excavation sites, it is inevitable that a good part of your pilgrimage may include walking on defect or uneven public and / or private highways, roads, pavements, access routes and excavation sites. As it is impossible for us to carry out daily inspections of such places and routes, for your personal and physical safety you are expected to take due care and proper notice of such surface defects while on these tours. Should you unfortunately suffer death, personal injury or illness as a result of an activity forming part of your holiday arrangements booked with us as a result of walking on defect surfaces in a public and or private road, pavement, route, highway or an excavation site, we accept no liability. However we will give you advice, guidance and, at our discretion, financial assistance where appropriate up to a limit of £2,000. The financial assistance is for the specific and sole purpose of enabling legal action to be taken against a third party that is responsible for your death, personal injury or illness. Any grant of financial assistance is dependant upon repayment to us of this sum out of any monies recovered by you from the person (s) responsible for your death, personal injury or illness. Further, the financial assistance is per booking form, not per person. Any request for assistance under this section must be made within 90 days of the incident occurring.
17.COMPLAINTS
Should a problem arise, you must notify the tour guide/local representative/local agent or hotel who will do whatever they can to help you there and then; you may be asked to complete a customer complaint form at this time. Please retain a copy signed by your tour guide for your records. Failure to give us the opportunity to solve any problems at the time will result in either a reduction or complete extinction of any right, which you may have to claim compensation. In the unlikely event that you are not satisfied with the actions taken to deal with your complaint and you wish to take the matter further, you must put your complaint in writing to our Head Office within 28 days of your return giving all the details and attaching the complaint form signed by your guide or our representative at your pilgrimage destination. We promise to deal with any dispute fairly and promptly within the terms of these conditions. We will not accept any complaint after 28 days from your return, as records may be destroyed, difficult to retrieve or unavailable and the memories of our guides and/or representatives of such events may no longer be reliable.
We reserve the right to amend the carrier, type of aircraft or timings on any of the itineraries.
When you travel with an airline, scheduled or otherwise, the Conditions of Carriage of that airline apply. Some of these will limit or even exclude liability. These conditions are the subject of International Agreements between the countries. Copies can be made available upon request to our office.
Low Cost Airlines: When a pilgrimage is operated on Low Cost airlines such as Easyjet, Ryanair, Jet2 etc... confirmation of seats and airfares becomes known to us online at the time of making the booking. Airfares can increase without warning as a result of high occupancy and / or proximity to departure date. When an airfare increase occurs at the time of booking, we reserve our right to pass on such increases to you. In such circumstances, we will invite you to either accept the increase in writing or to withdraw your booking.
Flight Delays: Flight timings are provided by airlines. They are subject to air traffic control restrictions, weather conditions, the need for constant maintenance and the ability of passengers to check in on time. There is no guarantee that the flights will depart at the time shown either in the brochure or on the tickets. The timings are estimates only. We do not accept any liability for any delay which may arise.
In the event of a flight being delayed, be it outward, onward or homeward, the relevant airline will make arrangements, dependent on the time of day and duration of the delay. In addition, your attention is drawn to your Travel Insurance (Travel Delay) detailing the levels of remuneration.
Direct Flights: Where a flight is described as direct, this means that no change of aircraft is necessary. Stops may be made en route for refuelling or to pick up/set down passengers. We do not however provide details of such stops where applicable in our documentation.
Direct Charter Flights: When a direct chartered flight or flights has been contracted on behalf of an Archdiocese, Diocese, Association, Club or a similar group and are subject to a minimum number of bookings and where by the minimum number required did not materialise, we reserve the right to use a third party flight or flights direct or otherwise between the contracted origin and destination airport. Such an amendment will be deemed to be minor and does not affect the nature and content of your pilgrimage.
If the minimum number required to operate such a pilgrimage does not materialise, we also reserve the right to operate the pilgrimage with coach transfers from your local area to a London or another airport in the U.K. In such circumstances we will also offer you a refund not exceeding 5% of your total holiday cost.
Passengers if travelling within the EU should refer to the Department of Health leaflet number T7.1 entitled Health Advice for Travellers which is available from our office or directly from the Department of Health www.dh.gov.uk. Clients should check with their doctor before departure as to which inoculations are considered necessary and/or recommended for your destination (s). Such precautions, however, do not take the place of travel insurance. We are not liable to you for any illness or discomfort you suffer through failure to have the inoculations required or failure to follow medical advice.
A full ten year British passport (your passport should be set to expire at least six months after the final day of your stay at your end destination) is necessary for all your travel with us. Non British passport holders must check entry and visa requirements with the relevant authorities. Sometimes multi entry visas are required. All passport and visa requirements are the sole responsibility of the passenger and no responsibility will be accepted by Special Pilgrimages Limited for the passengers failure to comply with immigration requirements, or failure to appear on time for departure schedules. British Visitors Passports are not valid for the holidays featured in this brochure. Nationalities other than British and E.C. Nationals, please contact Special Pilgrimages Limited for visa information on 01702 394000.
21.BROCHURE DESCRIPTIONS AND PRICES
Special Pilgrimages Limited reserve the right to change any of the services or facilities or prices described in our brochures at any time before a contract is made between you and Special Pilgrimages Limited. If there is any change Special Pilgrimages Limited will seek your written acceptance and confirmation before confirming your booking as such.
Our data protection is in compliance with the GDPR. Where you make a booking or enquiry with our company, your data will only be used where necessary In order to make the necessary arrangements for your tour. Your name will not be added to any mailing list without your prior consent via e-mail to opt in.
Special Pilgrimages Ltd will not accept any liability should you or any member in your party fail to obtain a valid, adequate and comprehensive travel insurance cover for the period you will be travelling with us. It is your own and sole responsibility to ensure that you and all members in your party have valid, and adequate travel insurance cover that suits your individual circumstances, suitable for your age group and covers all pre-existing medical conditions. Repatriation and medical costs overseas can run into tens of thousands of Pounds. Should you find yourself in a position or a situation where a claim you may make under your travel insurance policy cover is unsuccessful for any reason what so ever in part or in full, overseas or at home, Special Pilgrimages Ltd. will not accept any responsibility of what so ever.
We strongly recommend that you carefully read the exclusions in your travel insurance policy and how they may affect you should the situation rise and you may need to make a claim under your policy. If in doubt call your broker or underwriter and verify your doubts with them.
We strongly recommend that no matter how your pre-existing medical condition is small, to contact your broker or underwriter and declare all your pre-existing medical condition(s) and obtain full cover for them.
We strongly recommend that you should only travel with a valid, adequate and comprehensive travel insurance policy cover that does not invalidate or negate any condition in your case under there exclusions clauses and terms.
Travel Insurance cover today can be easily obtained and sometimes included with household insurance, some bank and credit card accounts as well as online, not to mention the fact that many people buy annual travel insurance policy cover.
Although we no longer sell Travel Insurance policies, we will be happy to assist you with your Travel Insurance if required.
PLEASE REFER TO OUR TRAVEL INSURANCE GUIDANCE SHEET SENT TO YOU WITH YOUR BOOKING DOCUMENTS
24.YOUR FINANCIAL PROTECTION
When you buy an ATOL protected flight or flight inclusive holiday from us you will receive an ATOL Certificate. This lists what is financially protected, where you can get information on what this means for you and who to contact if things go wrong. We, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL Certificate, will provide you with the services listed on the ATOL Certificate (or a suitable alternative). In some cases, where neither we nor the supplier are able to do so for reasons of insolvency, an alternative ATOL holder provider may provide you with the services you have bought or a suitable alternative (at no extra cost to you). You agree to accept that in those circumstances the alternative ATOL holder will perform those obligations and you agree to pay any money outstanding to be paid by you under your contract to that alternative ATOL holder. However, you may also agree that in some cases it will not be possible to appoint an alternative ATOL holder, in which case you will be entitled to make a claim under the ATOL scheme (or your credit card issuer where applicable). If we, or the supplier identified on your ATOL certificate, are unable to provide the services listed (or a suitable alternative, through an alternative ATOL holder or otherwise) for reasons of insolvency, the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust may make a payment (or confer a benefit on) you under the ATOL scheme. You agree that in return for such a payment or benefit you assign absolutely to those Trustees any claims which you have or may have arising out of or relating to the non-provision of the services, including any claim against us, the travel agent (or your credit card issuer where applicable). You also agree that any such claims may be re-assigned to another body, if that other body has paid sums you have claimed under the ATOL scheme.
