Our Fair Trading Agreement and holiday information sets out clearly and simply the responsibilities which we at Woottens Luxury Travel have to you and which you in turn have to us when a contract is made between us.  The contract is made when you make a booking and we accept it by written confirmation.  When booking your holiday you will be confirming on behalf of yourself, and the others named in your party, that you have read, understood and have accepted this fair trading agreement and the holiday information provided.  Your obligation is to pay the price of the holiday and recognise your liabilities if you wish to alter the holiday or have to make a cancellation.  On our part we have an obligation to provide you with the holiday you have booked.  This fair trading agreement applies to all holidays sold by Woottens Luxury Travel.


Your Contract With Us

1. YOU PAY A DEPOSIT
When you make your booking you and your party must accept the terms of this Fair Trading Agreement, and pay a deposit of £20 per person on all coach holidays (unless otherwise stated).

2. YOU PAY THE BALANCE
The balance payment of the holiday must be paid at least four weeks before the holiday departure date. If you book within the applicable balance due period you must pay the full holiday cost at the time of booking. If the balance is not paid in time we reserve the right to cancel your holiday, retain your deposit, and apply cancellation charges set out in Paragraph 4 'if you Cancel your Holiday'.

3. IF YOU CHANGE YOUR BOOKING
If, after our confirmation has been issued, you wish to change to another of our current year's holidays or change your departure date we will do our utmost to make the changes, provided that written notification is received at our offices from the person who signed the Booking Form not later than the date on which the balance of the original holiday cost was due for payment. Any alteration you make later than the original balance date will be treated as a cancellation of the original booking and will be subject to the cancellation charges set out below. Other alterations such as the addition of requests or change of pick-up point that require a reconfirmation to be issued must be notified and accompanied by a payment of £5 to cover administration costs.

4. IF YOU CANCEL YOUR HOLIDAY
You, or any members of your party, may cancel your holiday at any time provided that the cancellation is made by the person signing the booking form and is communicated to us in writing. As this incurs administration costs we will retain your deposit and, in addition, apply cancellation charges up to the maximum shown below:-
Period before departure within which written cancellation is received
Amount of cancellation charge
More than 28 days   Deposit only
Less than 28 days   Total holiday payment

Alternatively, you have the right to transfer the booking to another person provided that they satisfy all the conditions applicable to the package and as long as you give the Company at least seven days written notice of your intention to do so. Both you and the person to whom you transfer the booking will be responsible for the payment of any outstanding monies and in addition there will be an administration charge of £25 per passenger to cover costs incurred. NOTE: If the reason for cancellation is covered under the terms of an insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.

5. IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT
If you have a complaint during your holiday, please inform our driver/courier, or representative who will do his/her utmost to resolve the problem immediately. In almost all cases, difficulties can be rectified on the spot as it is not possible to correct most hotel problems after the completion of your holiday. Consequently, any such complaint cannot be investigated if no prior notice is made to our driver/courier and no claims will be entertained under these circumstances. If the matter cannot be put right on the spot, you must notify us in writing, within 28 days of the completion of your holiday and this must be sent to The Customer Relations Manager, Woottens Luxury Travel, The Coach Yard, Lycrome Road, Chesham, Bucks, HP5 3LG and must quote your booking reference number, holiday destination and departure date. Failure to establish your complaint immediately in accordance with the above procedure may effect the outcome of it.

6. CONDITIONS OF CARRIAGE
When you travel on an aircraft, train or ship, the conditions of carriage of that carrier apply and are subject to National and International conditions which may limit or exclude liability. Your contract made under the terms of this Fair Trading Agreement is subject to English (Scottish) law and jurisdiction. Some coach journeys may be operated by vehicles other than those owned by Woottens Luxury Travel and the specification may be different. The Public Service Vehicles (Conduct of Drivers, Conductors and Passengers) Regulations as amended 1990, apply to all coaches throughout any holiday in the UK.

7. STATUTORY, AUTHORITIES
Our brochures are issued subject to applicable Acts of Parliament and Government Regulations and the company reserves the right to modify itineraries to conform with requests from the competent authorities in the United Kingdom and any other sovereign state through which the tours run.

8. OTHER TERMS
On a holiday you may not:- a) Bring a pet or any other animal. b) Play a radio or a cassette player on a coach. Woottens Luxury Travel reserve the unconditional right to refuse a booking or terminate a clients holiday in the event of unreasonable conduct which in Woottens Luxury Travel's opinion is likely to cause damage, distress, danger or annoyance to other clients, employees, property or to any third party. If you are prevented from travelling or continuing your holiday by such a termination Woottens Luxury Travels responsibility for your holiday thereupon ceases. Full cancellation charges will apply and Woottens will be under no obligation for any refund, compensation or loss which you may incur. You are responsible for ensuring that you are at the correct departure point at the correct time, and we cannot be liable for any loss or expense suffered by passengers because of their late arrival at any departure point. Excursions are included in the price of most holidays and refunds cannot be made for passengers not wishing to go on these excursions. Admission fees to buildings, grounds etc. are not included in the price of the holiday unless otherwise stated.

9. PASSPORTS & VISAS
For all Continental holidays you will require a full 10 year British Passport. If you have any doubts about your status as a resident British subject or you do not hold a full British Passport, you must check with the Embassies or Consulates of the countries to be visited to confirm the passport or visa requirements needed in your particular circumstances. We cannot accept responsibility if passengers are not in possession of the correct travel documents and we cannot entertain any refunds in respect of holidays uncompleted and/or any additional expenses incurred. Most continental holidays travel through France via the Dover - Calais short sea crossing.

10. HOLIDAY INSURANCE
We advise all passengers to have insurance.

11. HEALTH
Under normal circumstances most Western European Countries do not require visitors to be vaccinated. However, we will indicate any known vaccination or other health requirements where possible for each country to be visited. If you are not sure of the health requirements of the country you are visiting, you are advised to check with your doctor before travelling.




Our Promise To You

1. WE RESERVE YOUR HOLIDAY
When you or your travel agent has provisionally confirmed that we have space on the holiday of your choice, a confirmation/ invoice will be forwarded to you normally within 7 days of receipt of your signed booking form and the contract is made between us when you receive confirmation.

2. YOUR HOLIDAY PRICE
Holiday prices include all coach travel, hotel accommodation and meals as specified in the holiday description and VAT where applicable. Morning coffee, afternoon tea and other refreshments are not included. Some hotels may make a small charge for porterage and tea or coffee served after dinner. Gratuities to hotel staff and driver/couriers are discretionary. Unless specifically indicated in the tour itinerary or description, entrance fees, guide fees and city sightseeing tours are not included in the holiday cost. Our holiday prices are fixed and we guarantee that there will be no surcharges arising from currency fluctuations or any normal cost increases. The only exception to this price guarantee is any additional or new charge of tax imposed by UK or foreign governmental bodies which significantly affect holiday costs.

3. IF WE CHANGE YOUR HOLIDAY
The arrangements for our holidays are made many months in advance and changes are sometimes unavoidable. Most of these changes are however, very minor but where they are significant we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible before your departure date.  A "significant change" is one that involves changing your departure date; departure point: resort area or reducing the quality of your main hotel. Changing the location of a single overnight hotel does not constitute a significant change. In the event of a "significant change" you may decide to: (a) Continue with your holiday as amended; (b) Accept an alternative holiday which we may offer you; or (c) Cancel your booking.

4. IF WE CANCEL YOUR HOLIDAY
We reserve the right to cancel your holiday (if, for example, there is insufficient demand) and if this should occur we will return to you all the monies you have paid to us or offer you a suitable alternative holiday. In either case, we will pay you compensation on the scale laid out in paragraph 3 above. However, we will not cancel your holiday after the date when payment of the balance of the holiday price becomes due (as printed on our invoice) unless: (a) You have not paid for your holiday in full or (b) Your holiday is influenced by war or threat of war; riots; civil strife; terrorist activity; industrial disputes; natural or nuclear disasters; fire; epidemic or health risk; technical problems to transport; closure or congestion of ports or similar events beyond our control. If we have to cancel your holiday at any time, we are liable only for any monies you have paid to us at the time of cancellation.

5 WHAT ABOUT COMPLAINTS?
All complaints that are received are thoroughly investigated and customers kept informed at each stage of the investigation. Sometimes these investigations can take time awaiting response from our suppliers. We can normally agree an amicable settlement of the few complaints that we receive.

6. OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO YOU
We accept responsibility for ensuring that all component parts of your holiday are supplied to you to a reasonable standard. If any such part is not provided in the advertised manner, we will pay you reasonable compensation unless the non-provision was due to circumstances which we could not predict and which were beyond our control, such as adverse weather, road or traffic conditions or the matters referred to in paragraph 4 above. For all claims other than death or personal injury which result from non performance or improper performance of the contract by us, our liability to each claimant is limited to the total cost of the holiday per person.

PERSONAL INJURY
(Whilst participating in arrangements made by us); We have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that proper arrangements have been made for all the holidays which we arrange and that the suppliers of all the services are efficient, safe, and reputable and that they comply with the local and national laws and regulations of the country in which they supply those services. Whilst we have no direct control over the provision of services to you by us or subcontracted by us to provide any part of the arrangements for your holiday where such failure or improper performance is due to the fault of such person and not an event which such person could not foresee or forestall even if they had taken all due care. NB: We will make payments as stated above provided: (a) That claims for personal injury are notified to us within 3 months of the conclusion of your holiday. (b) The injured client(s) assign to Woottens Luxury Travel any rights against a supplier or other person or party they may have relating to the claim. (c) They agree to co-operate fully with us should we or our insurers wish to enforce those rights which have been assigned to us or to which we are subrogated and- (d) such payment is limited in the case of transport by water or air to a maximum of such sums as would be obtained under the provisions of the appropriate International Conventions.

PERSONAL INJURY (unconnected with arrangements made by us)
Where appropriate and subject to our reasonable direction, we will afford general assistance to clients who through misadventure suffer illness, personal injury or death whilst travelling on a Woottens holiday arrising out of an activity which does not form part of the advertised itinerary nor part of an excursion offered through the company, and which is the responsibility of a third party.


Holiday Information (outside of contract)

HOTEL AMENITIES
Such amenities as advertised will normally be available for the enjoyment of our clients, sometimes with a small charge. Please remember that some amenities (e.g. hotel lifts, swimming pools etc.) require servicing and cleaning and may not therefore be available at all times. Some services may be affected by weather conditions and their availability is entirely at the discretion of the provider of the service. We cannot be held liable if these facilities are unavailable for any reason. Entertainment provided by hotels is often subject to demand and its nature and/or frequency may be varied if there is a lack of demand or insufficient numbers staying in the hotel.

THE PUBLISHED RUNNING TIMES of services are estimates only and we will not be liable for any loss (howsoever caused) arising from delay or failure to operate services in accordance with published timings.

1. JOINING ARRANGEMENTS
In some cases the coach that picks you up at your local joining point may be your holiday coach, but to offer such a large and varied programme of holidays we may use feeder coaches on certain pick up routes. Such coach transfers will be carried out under strict supervision. The published times of service are estimates only and we cannot accept responsibility for any loss resulting from delays to the published times.

2. SEAT ALLOCATION
A seating plan is held for each tour and passengers can choose their seat. Bookings by post are usually allocated the seats nearest the front that are available unless otherwise requested. These seats are kept throughout your holiday. Please note that booked seat numbers cannot always be applicable on feeder coaches.

3. LUGGAGE
Luggage space is limited on all coaches, so passengers are restricted to one suitcase per person, but a small bag may also be taken on board the coach. On overnight stops all luggage is removed from the coach for security reasons and you should take off all your personal belongings. We cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to personal items.  Luggage labels are supplied by us and we would ask that these are used at all times to assist our drivers.

4. ACCOMMODATION
Accommodation throughout the UK and Europe varies and our range of hotels covers everything from the grandest 5 star to the comfortable 2 star. We go to great lengths to ensure that your holiday accommodation will be of an acceptable standard and every effort will be made to provide precisely the kind of room you have booked. All rooms have private facilities and this is deemed to have been effected by the provision of either bath and WC or shower and WC. Please note that very occasionally a wash basin may be located in the bedroom rather than bathroom. Requests for one or other can only be treated as requests and not guaranteed. All bookings for double rooms are taken on a request basis as most modern hotels have a majority of twin bedded rooms. In the case of triple rooms these are often unsuitable for three adults and vary between hotels. In any event, space within the room may well be limited. Please seek our advice on suitability. Single rooms are always a problem and are in limited supply on all tours. Please note that the location, position, size or type of any room cannot be guaranteed and, in the main, room allocation is the responsibility of the hotelier. However, all special requests such as low floor rooms, are passed on and we make every endeavour to see that they are considered. Our liability for the provision of extra facilities for which a supplement is paid, shall be limited to the price of that supplement.

5. ITINERARIES AND EXCURSIONS
Variations between the published itinerary and the final itinerary will not entitle you to compensation where variations are a consequence of "non-significant" changes to your holiday. These variations would only be made in the best interests of our clients in the light of operational experience.

6. SPECIAL CARE FOR THE DISABLED
We try our best to provide holidays which will enable all our clients to enjoy themselves regardless of any handicaps. However please recognise that not all coach holidays are suitable. If you feel you can manage the coach and have a travelling companion to accompany you and assist you when needed then you are most welcome. Book early though, front seats are soon gone. Please note that we are only able to carry folding wheelchairs.

7. REPRESENTATION AND COMPLAINTS
The driver/courier on your holiday is there to deal with any queries or problems that you may encounter. If you have a problem during your holiday, you must inform them immediately. In most cases these difficulties can be rectified on the spot and it is never possible to reverse hotel problems (i.e. room or food) after you have returned from your holiday. Consequently, any such complaint cannot be investigated if no prior notice is made to our driver/courier and no claims will be entertained under these circumstances.

8. SPECIAL REQUESTS
If you have any special requests these should be notified on the booking form at the time of booking.  We will endeavour to ensure that special requests are carried out, but regret that these cannot be guaranteed.