FULL BOOKING CONDITIONS for RUFUS READE TOURS
YOUR CONTRACT IS WITH RUFUS READE TOURS

1.Your Tour Contract: 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 Scottish Law, and the jurisdiction of the Scottish Courts. You may however, choose the law and jurisdiction of England or Northern Ireland if you wish to do so.
We are unable to confirm provisional or conditional bookings; only bookings made on the booking form and accompanied by a signature and the required deposit are considered valid. Upon receiving your booking we send you a letter confirming your place on the tour, your confirmation invoice. Accompanying this will be these full Booking Conditions, a recommended Reading list and a Detailed Itinerary. It is our policy to allow a two week ‘cooling off’ period: if, within 2 weeks of receiving this confirmation, you decide to withdraw, please notify us and we will refund your deposit. This notification must be in writing.
 
2. Your Financial Protection: Your booking is for a holiday that does not involve an air ticket from the UK. It is therefore outwith the Air Tour Operators Licence (ATOL) regulations in the UK. We recommend that you buy an air ticket which provides some sort of protection in the event the airline suffers a bankruptcy whilst you are away: in particular we recommend Ian Dickson Travel Service, 50 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6JN Tel: 0131 55 66 777

3. Your Tour Price: a) We reserve the right to alter the prices of any of the tours shown in our brochure. You will be advised of the current price of the tour that you wish to book before your contract is confirmed. b) As soon as bookings achieve viable numbers we will send you your Invoice for the final balance due on the date shown. The balance of the price of your travel arrangements must be paid at least eight weeks before your departure date.  If the deposit and/or balance is not paid in time, we shall cancel your travel arrangements. c) If your booking is made nine weeks before departure it must be accompanied by the full tour price, and the ‘cooling off’ period is not applicable. d) Changes 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 and airports and exchange rates mean that the price of your travel arrangements may change after you have booked. However there will be no change within 30 days of your departure. We will absorb and you will not be charged for any increase equivalent to 2% of the price of your travel arrangements, which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges. You will be charged for the amount over and above that. If this means that you have to pay an increase of more than 10% of the price of your travel arrangements, you will have the option of accepting a change to another tour if we are able to offer one (if this is of equivalent or higher quality you will not have to pay more but if it is of lower quality you will be refunded the difference in price), or cancelling and receiving a full refund of all monies paid, except for any amendment charges. We will consider an appropriate refund of insurance premiums paid if you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy. Should you decide to cancel for this reason, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the issue date printed on your final invoice. Should the price of your tour go down due to the changes mentioned above, by more than 2% of your tour cost, then any refund due will be paid to you. However, please note that travel arrangements are not always purchased in local currency and some apparent changes have no impact on the price of your travel due to contractual and other protection in place.

4. 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. Any request for changes to be made must be in writing from the person who made the booking no later than 12 weeks prior to travel. You will be asked to pay an administration charge of £50, 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 and you should contact us as soon as possible. We are happy to discuss any changes or amendments verbally or by email, but note that such changes can only be requested in writing by letter (email or verbal requests are not valid).
Note: Certain travel arrangements 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.

5. If You Cancel Your Tour: You, or any member of your party, may cancel your travel arrangements at any time. Written notification from the person who made the booking must be received at our offices. Since we incur costs in cancelling your travel arrangements, you will have to pay the applicable cancellation charges up to the maximum shown in clause 7.
Note: If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.

6. If We Change or Cancel Your Tour: It is unlikely that we will have to make any changes to your travel arrangements, but we do plan the arrangements up to a year 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 for the better, and we will advise you of them at the earliest possible date. We also reserve the right in any circumstances to cancel your travel arrangements. For example, if the minimum number of clients required for a particular travel arrangement is not reached, we may have to cancel it. However, we will not cancel your travel arrangements less than eight 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 (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value). If it is necessary to cancel your travel arrangements, we will pay to you compensation as set out in this clause.
In accordance with EU Regulation 2111/2005 we are required to advise you of the actual carrier operating your internal flight/connecting flight/transfer. We do this by listing carriers to be used or likely to be used. Please note that carriers such as the airlines used in the brochure may be subject to change. 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 change of accommodation to another of the same standard. If we make a major change to your tour, 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 (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value), or cancelling your booked tour 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 as detailed at the foot of this page.

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.

IF WE CANCEL YOUR TOUR UP TO 8 WEEKS					IF YOU CANCEL YOUR TOUR
PRIOR TO DEPARTURE						PRIOR TO DEPARTURE
Amount you will receive from us						Amount of cancellation charges
All monies paid 							57 days or more from departure Deposit only
40-56 days 30% of total tour cost
29-55 days 60% of total tour cost
15-28 days 90% of total tour cost
Less than 15 days 100% of total tour cost
The compensation that we offer does not exclude you from
claiming more if you are entitled to do so.

7. If You Have A Complaint: If you have a problem during your tour, please inform our representative immediately 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. Please keep your letter concise and to the point. This will assist us to quickly identify your concerns and speed up our response to you. It is strongly recommended that you communicate any complaint to our representative without delay and complete a report form whilst on tour. If you fail to follow this procedure we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were on tour and this may affect your rights under this contract.

8. 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, except in cases involving death, injury or illness, shall be limited to a maximum of three times the cost of your travel arrangements. Our liability will also 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. You can ask for copies of the transport companies' contractual terms, or the international conventions, from our offices. 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. However reimbursement in such cases will not automatically entitle you to a refund of your tour cost from us. Your right to a refund and/or compensation from us is set out in clause 6. If any payments to you are due from us, any payment made to you by the airline will be deducted from this Amount.

9. Prompt assistance on tour: 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.

10. 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. We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel because you have not complied with any passport, visa or immigration requirements.
We will advise any visa requirements necessary at the time of booking. Note that we can only advise requirements applicable for UK passport holders, and for obtaining visas in UK. However, it is your responsibility to obtain the visa prior to travel. In some circumstances, e.g., where prior authorisation is required from the host country, or a group visa is required, we will obtain the visas on your behalf.

11. Excursions: Excursions or other tours that you may choose to book or pay for whilst you are on tour are not part of your package tour provided by us. For any excursion or other tour that you book, your contract will be with the operator of the excursion or tour and not with us. We are not responsible for the provision of the excursion or tour or for anything that happens during the course of its provision by the operator. 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.
12. Insurance: We ask that all travellers hold travel insurance policies. We insist on this for your own protection in case you have to cancel the holiday, or in case of loss or accident on the tour. Those not resident in the U.K. must obtain travel insurance from the country of residence. 
Note that we do not sell insurance.

Please check your insurance carefully. E.g., does it cover full repatriation expenses in the event of an accident? Does it cover full tour refund in the event of cancellation through accident, illness or bereavement immediately prior to a tour? In fact things like this are fairly standard to most travel insurance but it is as well to make sure. Remember that an accident abroad can involve very large sums of money if you are not adequately insured. If you have not already given your insurance details on your booking form, please send us your details before travel (including Policy number and emergency telephone number). Although it is not essential that we have this, it makes it easier for us to render assistance during the tour in the unlikely event of accident.

13. Restrictions due to any widespread illness: Government restrictions due to widespread illness such as Covid-19 may cause a holiday to be curtailed or cancelled. You should ensure that your insurance covers such events, as refunds on your behalf are impossible to obtain from ground agents, once a tour is close to starting or already begun.

14. UK Government  Advice on Travel: We adhere to UK Government travel advisory notices for overseas countries. If the advice is against travel to a destination included in an itinerary, we may have to postpone, re-route or cancel the tour. You should also check with your travel insurance company to confirm how any government travel notice affects your cover as this varies between insurers. FCO Travel advice is available at https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice

15. Single Rooms: Single occupancy is usually more expensive, particularly as most hotels now put singles into double rooms, hence a Single Supplement is payable. It is company policy to charge only the hotel charges on single supplements; no margin is added for the company. If a tour participant is willing to share, we will try our best to match them with someone of the same gender, but this cannot be guaranteed.

16. Land only arrangements: This holiday is a ‘land arrangements only’ holiday. The flight from the UK is not part of the package sold to you through Rufus Reade Tours. Once you have booked your tour with Rufus Reade Tours we suggest that you contact an agent who will be in a position to quote you for the airfare and book you seats on the same flight as other people who are booking on the same holiday. 

When you fill in the booking form you are asked to sign that you have read these booking conditions and agree to them. These booking conditions are part of your contract with 

Rufus Reade Tours, 
40 Pilrig Street, 
Edinburgh EH6 5AL
Tel 0131 554 1078
rufusreade@blueyonder.co.uk
www.rufusreadetours.com

Booking Conditions 22 April 2023