The following Booking Conditions together with the General
Information contained in this brochure form the basis of your
contract with Le Ski Limited, Stirling House, 139 Netheroyd Hill Rd.,Huddersfield HD2 2LX t/as Le Ski. Please read them carefully as they set out our respective rights and obligations. In these Booking Conditions, ‘you’ and ‘your’ means all persons named on the booking (including anyone who is added or substituted at a later date). ‘We’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ means Le Ski.
1. Making your booking You are free to make a provisional booking with us at no charge by telephoning us on 01484 548996. We will hold your booking for three working days from the date of booking. If we do not receive your completed booking form (see below) and all appropriate payments (see clause 2 below) within this time, we may assume that you wish to cancel your provisional booking and it will no longer be held by us. To make a booking, you must complete our booking form. This must be signed by the first named person on the booking (‘the party leader’). The party leader must be authorised to make the booking on the basis of these Booking Conditions by all persons named on the booking and by their parent or guardian for all party members who are under 18 when the booking is made. By signing the booking form, the party leader confirms that he/she is so authorised. The party leader is responsible for making all payments due to us and must be at least 18 when the booking is made. The completed signed booking form must then be sent to us together with the payments referred to in clause 2 below. Once we have received your booking form and all appropriate payments, we will, subject to availability, confirm your holiday by issuing a confirmation invoice. This invoice will be sent to the party leader or your travel agent. Please check this invoice carefully as soon as you receive it. 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 (five days for tickets). We will do our best to rectify any mistake notified to us outside these time limits but you must meet any costs involved in doing so. The only exception to this requirement to meet costs is where the mistake in question was made by us and there is good reason why you did not tell us about it within these time limits. If you wish to, you may contact us by e-mail for any of the reasons mentioned in these booking conditions (for example, to request an amendment) providing you do so to
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2. Payment In order to confirm your chosen holiday, a deposit of
£120 per person (or full payment if booking within eight 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 –
please see clause 7 on the subject of insurance). The balance of the holiday cost must be received by us by 1st of October 2008. This date will be shown on the confirmation invoice. Reminders are not sent. In the case of Group bookings where a free holiday is being given, please send 2 cheques only – one for the deposit and one for the balance. If we do not receive all payments due (including any surcharge where applicable) in full and on time, we are entitled to assume that you wish to cancel your booking. In this case, we will be entitled to keep all deposits paid or due at that date. If we do not cancel straight away because you have promised to make payment, you must pay the cancellation charges shown in clause 6 depending on the date we reasonably treat your booking as cancelled. For flight inclusive bookings, all monies paid to agents for your holiday with us will be held on our behalf until they are paid to us or refunded to you. Balance payments made by credit card attract a 2% fee.
3. Your contract A binding contract between us comes into existence when we despatch our confirmation invoice to the party leader or your travel agent. This contract and all matters arising out of it are governed by English law. 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 12) or by the Courts of England and Wales. Changes to these Booking Conditions or the General Information shown in our brochure will only be valid if agreed by us in writing.
4. The cost of your holiday The prices shown in our brochure and on our website were calculated on 19th of December 2007 on the basis of then known costs and exchange rates of £1 to Euros 1.4. We reserve the right to make changes to and correct errors in advertised prices at any time before your holiday is confirmed. We will advise you of any error of which we are aware and of the then applicable price at the time of booking. Once the price of your chosen holiday has been confirmed at the time of booking, then subject to the correction of errors, we will only increase or decrease the price in the following circumstances. A surcharge or refund (as applicable) will be payable, subject to the conditions set out in this clause, if transportation costs or dues, taxes or fees payable for services such as landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports or airports increase or decrease or our costs increase or decrease as a result of any adverse or favourable changes in the exchange rates which have been used to calculate the cost of your holiday. If any surcharge is greater than 10% of the cost of your holiday (excluding insurance premiums and any amendment charges), you will be entitled to cancel your booking and receive a full refund of all monies you have paid to us (except for any amendment charges) or alternatively purchase another holiday from us as referred to in clause 8 ‘Changes and Cancellations by us’. You have 14 days from the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice to tell us if you want to choose option (b) or (c) as set out in clause 8 below. If you do not tell us that you wish to choose either of these options within this period of time, we are entitled to assume that you do not wish to do so 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. We promise not to levy a surcharge within 30 days of departure. Please note, changes and errors occasionally occur. You must check the price of your chosen holiday at the time of booking.
5. Changes by you Should you wish to make any changes to your confirmed holiday, you must notify us in writing (including email) 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, a minimum amendment fee of £15 per person will be payable together with any costs incurred by ourselves and any costs or charges incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers.
6. Cancellation by you Should you or any member of your party need to cancel your chosen holiday once it has been confirmed, the party leader must immediately advise us in writing. Your notice of cancellation will only be effective when it is received in writing by us at our offices. As we incur costs from the time we confirm your booking, 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 departure Cancellation charge
within which written notification per person cancelling
of cancellation is received by us
More than 56 days Deposit only
29 – 56 days 40%
15 – 28 days 65%
8 – 14 days 85%
0 – 7 days 100%
Depending on the reason for cancellation, you may be able to reclaim these cancellation charges (less any applicable excess) under the terms of your insurance policy. Claims must be made directly to the insurance company concerned. Where any cancellation reduces the number of full paying party members elow the number on which the price, number of free places and/ or any concessions agreed for your booking were based, we will recalculate these items and re-invoice you accordingly. If any member of your party is prevented from travelling, the person(s) concerned 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 as a result together with an amendment fee of £50 must be paid before the transfer can be effected. For flight inclusive bookings, you must pay the charges levied by the airline concerned. As most airlines do not permit name changes after tickets have been issued for any reason, these charges are likely to be the full cost of the flight.
7. Insurance We consider adequate travel insurance to be essential. Details of the policy we offer are shown elsewhere in this brochure. If you decide not to purchase this insurance, you must give details in writing of your alternative policy (insurer and policy number). If you fail to do so, we may add the appropriate premiums for the personal travel insurance we offer to your confirmation invoice. These premiums must be paid as soon as possible as cover will not be effective until we receive all applicable premiums in full. Please read your policy details carefully and take them with you on holiday. It is your responsibility to ensure that the insurance cover you purchase is suitable and adequate for your particular needs. We do not check alternative insurance policies.
8. Changes and cancellation by us We start planning the holidays we offer many months in advance. Occasionally, we have to make changes to and correct errors in brochure and other details both before and after bookings have been confirmed and 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’. A significant change is a change made before departure which, taking account of the information you give us at the time of booking and which we can reasonably be expected to know as a tour operator, we can reasonably expect to have a major affect on your holiday. Significant changes are likely to include the following changes when made before departure; a change of accommodation to that of a lower 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 UK departure point to one which is more inconvenient for you. 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) accepting the changed arrangements or
(b) purchasing an alternative holiday from us, of a similar standard to that originally booked if available. We will offer you at least one alternative holiday of equivalent or higher standard for which you will not be asked to pay any more than the price of the original holiday. If this holiday is in fact cheaper than the original one, we will refund the price difference. If you do not wish to accept the holiday we specifically offer you, you may choose any of our other then available holidays. You must pay the applicable price of any such holiday. This will mean your paying more if it is more expensive or receiving a refund if it is cheaper.
(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 we will pay you reasonable compensation subject to the following exceptions. Compensation will not be payable and no liability beyond offering the above mentioned choices can be accepted where (1) we are forced to make a change or cancel as a result of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which we could not have avoided even with all due care. No compensation will be payable and the above options will not be available 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) or if the change made is a minor one. A minor change is any change which, taking account of the information you have given us at the time of booking or which we can reasonably be expected to know as a tour operator, we could not reasonably expect to have a significant effect on your confirmed holiday. Very rarely, we may be forced by ‘force majeure’ (see clause 9) to change or terminate your holiday after departure but before the scheduled end of your time away. This is extremely unlikely but if this situation does occur, we regret we will be unable to make any refunds (unless we obtain any refunds from our suppliers), pay you any compensation or meet any costs or expenses you incur as a result.
9. 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 more fully described in clause 10(1) below) 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, terrorist activity or actual threatened terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire and all similar events outside our control.
10. Our liability to you Please note – sub-clauses 1–6 below do not apply to any bookings you make for lift passes, ski equipment hire or ski school see sub-clause (7) below.
(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 arranged, performed or provided with reasonable skill and care. We will accept responsibility if any death, personal injury, failure or deficiency of your holiday arrangements is caused by any failure by ourselves or our employees (providing they were at the time acting within the course of their employment) 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 9)
(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 |
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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 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 UK which would have applied had those services been provided in the UK. The exception to this is where the claim or complaint concerns the absence of a safety feature which might lead a reasonable holiday maker to refuse to take the holiday in question.
(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 price (excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges) paid by or on behalf of the person(s) affected in total. This maximum amount 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 £50 per person affected as you are assumed to have taken out adequate insurance at the time of booking. Please also see clause 10(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, 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 concerned would have to pay under theinternational convention which applies to the travel arrangements in question (for example, the Warsaw 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 Athens convention 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 for the complaint or claim in question.
(5)You must provide ourselves and our insurers with all assistance we may reasonably require. You must also tell us and the supplier concerned about your claim or complaint as set out in clause 12 below. 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) Please note, in relation to any bookings we take and/or make on your behalf for lift passes and/or ski school and/or ski, boot or other skiing equipment hire, we act only as agent for the supplier of the services concerned. We accept no liability in relation to any contract you enter into for these services or for the acts or omissions of any supplier(s) or other person(s) or party(ies)connected with them. For all arrangements, your contract will be
with the supplier of the arrangements.
11. Complaints and problems In the unlikely event that you have any reason to complain or experience any problems with your holiday whilst away, you must immediately inform our representative and the supplier of the service(s) in question. Any verbal notification must be put in writing and given to our representative and the supplier as soon as possible. Until we know about a problem or complaint, we cannot begin to resolve it. Most problems can be dealt with quickly. If you remain dissatisfied, however, you must write to us within 28 days of your return to the UK giving your booking reference and full details of your complaint. Only the party leader should write to us. If you fail to follow this complaints procedure, your right to claim the compensation you may otherwise have been entitled to may be affected or even lost as a result.
12. Arbitration If you have a dispute with us which you are unable to resolve you may call upon the low cost AITO Independent Dispute Settlement Service (details on request). Claims which exceed £1500 per person or £7500 per booking form or claims which apply principally or exclusively in respect of (or as a result of) illness or personal injury are not admissible for settlement under this scheme.
13. Behaviour When you book with us, you accept 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 accommodation 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. We expect all clients to have consideration for other people. If in our reasonable opinion or in the reasonable opinion of any other person in authority, you or any member of your party behaves in such a way as to cause or be likely to cause danger, upset or distress to any third party or damage to property, we are entitled, without prior notice, to terminate the holiday of the person(s) concerned. In this situation, the person(s) concerned will be required to leave the accommodation or other service. We will have no further responsibility toward such person(s) including any return travel arrangements. No refunds will be made and we will not pay any expenses or costs incurred as a result of the termination.
14. 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 10 (4)). Copies of the relevant parts of these terms and conditions are available on request from ourselves or the supplier concerned.
15. Special requests and medical problems If you have any special request, you must advise us at the time of booking. Although we will endeavour to pass any reasonable requests on to the relevant supplier, we regret we cannot guarantee any request will be met. Failure to meet any special request will not be a breach of contract on our part. Confirmation that a special request has been noted or passed on to the supplier or the inclusion of the special request on your confirmation invoice or any other documentation is not confirmation that the request will be met. Unless and until specifically confirmed, all special requests are subject to availability. We regret we cannot accept any conditional bookings, i.e. any booking which is specified to be conditional on the fulfilment of a particular request. All such bookings will be treated as ‘standard’ bookings subject to the above provisions on special requests. If you or any member of your party has any medical problem or disability which may affect your holiday, please tell us before you confirm your booking. In any event, you must give us full details in writing at the time of booking.
16. Excursions, activities, brochure & website information The information contained in our brochure is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of the brochure going to print. Our brochure descriptions may refer to activities which are available in the area you are visiting. We have no involvement in any such activities which are neither run, supervised nor controlled in any way by us. They are provided by local operators who are entirely independent of us. They do not form any part of your contract with us even where we suggest particular operators/centres and/or assist you in booking such activities in any way. Accordingly, we cannot accept any liability in relation to such activities and the acceptance of liability contained in clause 10 of our booking conditions will not apply to them.
17. Passports, visas and health requirements A full British passport presently takes approximately 4 weeks to obtain. Requirements may change and you must check the up to date position in good time before departure. For European holidays you should obtain a completed and issued form E111 prior to departure. It is the party leader’s responsibility to ensure that all
members of the party are in possession of all necessary travel and health documents before departure. All costs incurred in obtaining such documentation must be paid by you. We regret we cannot accept any liability if you are refused entry onto any transport or into any country due to failure on your part to carry correct documentation. If you or any member of your party is not a British citizen or holds a non British passport, you must check passport and visa requirements with the Embassy or Consulate of the country(ies) to or through which you are intending to travel. If failure to have any necessary travel or other documents results in fines, surcharges or other financial penalty being imposed on us, you will be responsible for reimbursing us accordingly.
18. Ski guiding New regulations regarding ski guiding have recently been introduced in France. The interpretation is not entirely clear and we hope to be able to offer our comprehensive
guiding service in resort. There is a possibility however that our
service may not operate exactly as detailed or may be withdrawn
altogether.
19. Childcare We reserve the right to exclude children from the La Tania crèche where their behaviour is considered inappropriate or detrimental to the safety and well being of other children or staff. Children who are ill or cannot be cared for in our crèche in case they infect other children. The decision to exclude a child from our crèche rest with our Head Nanny.
20. Financial security We hold an Air Travel Organiser's Licence issued by the Civil Aviation Authority (ATOL number 2307). This means the air holidays in this brochure are ATOL protected. In the unlikely event of our insolvency, the CAA will ensure that you are not left 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 flights, AITOT will financially protect your holiday in the same way.
21. Prices and brochure accuracy Please note, the information and prices shown in this brochure may have changed by the time you come to book your holiday. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the brochure and prices at the time of printing, regrettably errors do occasionally occur. 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. This brochure is our sole responsibility. It is not issued on behalf of and does not commit any independent organisation/ carriers whose services are featured in it.
22. Delay We regret we are not in a position to offer you any
assistance in the event of delay at your outward or homeward
point of departure. Any airline concerned may however provide
refreshments etc. We cannot accept liability for any delay which is due to any of the reasons set out in clause 10 (1) of these booking conditions (which includes the behaviour of any passenger(s) on the flight who, for example, fails to check in or board on time). In addition, we will not be liable for any delay unless it has a significant effect on your holiday arrangements
23. 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 be lower.
24. Flights The flight timings given on booking are for general
guidance only and are subject to change. The actual flight times
will be those shown on your tickets which will be dispatched to you approximately two weeks before departure. You must accordingly check your tickets very carefully immediately on receipt. It is possible that flight times may be changed even after tickets have been dispatched – we will contact you as soon as possible if this occurs. 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. Privacy statement In order to process your booking Le Ski
need to collect certain personal details from you. These will include the names and contact details of party members, credit/debit card or other payment details and special requirements such as those relating to any disability or medical condition which may affect the chosen holiday arrangements and any dietary restrictions which may disclose your religious beliefs. If we need any other personal details, we will tell you before we obtain them from you. We need to pass on your personal details to the companies and organisations who need to know them so that your holiday can be provided (e.g. your airline, other supplier, credit/debit card company or bank). We would also like to store and use your personal details for future marketing purposes (for example, sending you a brochure or details of a promotion, including by email). All details you give us in connection with your booking (including those relating to any disability or medical condition or your religious beliefs) will be kept but we will use only names and contact details for marketing purposes. Occasionally, we may sell clients’ names and contact details to other companies or organisations who offer goods or services which we feel may interest you. We may need to disclose our customer database to a third party who acquires or attempts to acquire our company or our website service. If you do not want us to do any or all of these things, please let us know as soon as possible. Except where expressly permitted by the Data Protection Act, we will only deal with the personal details you give us as set out above unless you agree otherwise. We have appropriate security measures in place to protect this information.
26. Lift pass offer A 6 day Vallée de Courchevel or Espace Killy
lift pass will be provided to anyone paying a deposit by 31st July
2008 and full balance by 1st October 2008 for any chalet holiday
on 21 December 2008 and 4, 11, 18 and 25 January 2009
provided that travel is by Le Ski flight from Gatwick or Manchester.
27. Online booking Once you have booked online you receive an emailed confirmation from us. This confirmation relies on the information you input into our website booking system being correct. If this information is subsequently found to be incorrect (for example child ages, past customer discounts) we will re-issue your holiday confirmation. This re-issued confirmation will supercede the original confirmation.
Group discounts do not apply where a free lift pass has
been given. |
