Booking Conditions

Please read these Booking Conditions carefully which apply to all short breaks and holidays booked with National Holidays.

1. Definitions

In these Conditions of Booking, "we", "us" and "our" are references to National Holidays Tours Limited and "you" and "your" are references to the person booking the Holiday with us. "The Holiday" means the holiday which you have reserved and which we will provide to you under the Contract.

2. Transportation

When you contact us to make a booking, we act as an agent for National Holidays Ltd, the provider of the transportation. We reserve the right to substitute the carrier if necessary. When we have confirmed your booking a contract exists under which we accept responsibility for the provision of all transport services described in our brochure.

3. The Contract

These Conditions of Booking and the Confirmation of Booking will be part of the Contract. Under the Contract we agree, subject to these Conditions of Booking and the Confirmation of Booking, to provide the Holiday to you and anyone on whose behalf you book the Holiday.

4. Booking Confirmation

If you have booked on-line or have booked by telephone or through an agent and have received a copy of our current brochure, the Contract will come into effect as soon as you have booked.

If you have booked by telephone or through an agent and have not received a copy of our current brochure you may notify us that you have changed your mind; within 5 days of confirmation of your booking; or more than 7 days before the start of your holiday - which ever is the sooner. In this instance we may refund your deposit and any insurance premiums. Once the contract exists, your rights to cancel are set out in clause 11.

5. Holiday payment

Holidays with included tickets/admission may occasionally require a higher deposit payment. The deposit (including any insurance premiums) belongs to us as soon as the contract comes into existence. You must pay the full price to us at least 6 weeks before departure. If you do not make this payment on time, we reserve the right to cancel the holiday and keep the deposit.

There will be no charge made when using a credit or debit card although we do reserve the right to pass any supplementary charges to our customers by way of a nominal charge.

Your holiday price includes the provision of our holiday confirmations in a digital format. Paper copies posted out to customers will incur a small charge and will normally only be issued on request. 2018 Departures - please note that for 2018 departures full payment is due 4 weeks before departure.

6. Minimum number of passengers

Our holidays are organised on the basis that a minimum number of persons will travel. If we receive insufficient bookings then we may cancel the Holiday in which case we will notify you of this at least 7 days before the date of departure.

7. Advertised Facilities

Some of the advertised facilities on our holidays (for instance leisure facilities) may attract a supplementary charge.

8. Inclusive Breaks

UK Licensing Legislation stipulates that alcoholic drinks promotions may not be unlimited. Most inclusive breaks will include a maximum number of alcoholic drinks available to each guest per day, and may use a drinks voucher or bar-credit system to comply with licensing laws.

9. Changes to your holiday

We regret that there may be circumstances in which we have to change the details of your Holiday. If the changes that we make are only minor, for instance an alteration to your seat numbers, then we will attempt to notify you of these changes as soon as possible and the Contract will continue in force.

In the unusual event that we have to make a significant change to your Holiday (for example a change in resort, a notable deletion from the holiday itinerary, a change of departure or arrival date or a downgrade in the quality of accommodation offered to you) we will notify you as soon as possible.

If we make a significant change to the Holiday before your departure, you may cancel your Holiday by notifying us within 5 working days of receipt by you of our notification (or, in exceptional circumstances, within a shorter period of time if our notice to you so requires). If you cancel your Holiday in accordance with this clause we will reimburse in full, the deposit and any other monies received from you in respect of the Holiday.

10. Price revision

We may alter the price of the Holiday in certain circumstances but in no circumstances will we make any increase in price less than 7 days before the start of the Holiday. We may only increase the price of your Holiday to the extent that the cost is increased due to rises in the rates of value added tax or other dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services such as embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports or that the cost increases as a direct result of exchange rate fluctuations. We will always bear the first 2% of any such increased cost. If the total cost rises by more than 10% then this will be a significant change to your Holiday and you may cancel it in accordance with clause 9.

11. If you wish to cancel your holiday

You may cancel the Holiday in accordance with clause 9 if we make a significant change to your Holiday.

In all other circumstances if you cancel your holiday then we will make the following cancellation charges:

12. Transferring your holiday

If for circumstances beyond your control (for example if you are unfit to travel due to illness or you are called for jury service)) you are unable to go on the Holiday you may transfer your Holiday to another person provided you notify us as soon as possible and at least 7 days before departure.

We shall be entitled to charge a £10 administrative charge and to charge you for any other additional costs incurred by us as a result of the transfer of the Holiday. Both you and the person to whom you transfer the Holiday will be liable to us for proper performance of this Contract.

If you wish to change any other details of your Holiday (for example the point at which you join) we will endeavour to meet your requirements so far as possible. However, we reserve the right to charge a £10 administration charge and to charge you for any other costs which we may incur as a result of your change.

13. Law & jurisdiction

English law applies to this Contract and the English courts shall hear any claims brought under it.

14. Circumstances beyond our control

We shall not be liable for any delay in performing any of our obligations under this Contract where the delay is due to circumstances beyond our control. Examples of circumstances beyond our control are strikes and exceptionally bad weather. However, if any of our suppliers or agents let us down, this will not be treated as being a cause beyond our control.

15. Holiday insurance

We require you to take out holiday insurance when travelling to Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Continent. On travel within the UK, we strongly recommend that you take out insurance.

We are able to offer a competitively priced holiday insurance policy. If you prefer, you may take out alternative holiday insurance but we will require you to provide us with evidence of the insurance policy and cover where travel is to Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Continent. Consistent with all travel insurance policies when you take out our holiday insurance you must declare any reason, medical or otherwise which may influence the insurers’ decision in accepting you for cover. National Holidays cannot be held responsible for costs arising from a failure to take out adequate holiday insurance cover.

16. Our liability and responsibility to you

We take every care to ensure that your Holiday will be as enjoyable and as safe as possible. If anything goes wrong with your Holiday that is directly our fault then we accept responsibility to compensate you.

We also accept responsibility to compensate you if it is the fault of our staff or anyone else providing the Holiday to you and this may include the hotel owner and ferry operator. However, the maximum amount of compensation that we will pay you is:

• (a) Unlimited in case of death or personal injury.
• (b) Limited to the amount of the insurance excess on the holiday insurance package which we have offered to you if your property or belongings are damaged.
• (c) Limited to the price of the individual Holiday if you suffer any other loss or damage. This is in addition to anything we may pay you under clauses (a) and (b).

The above represents our only liability to you and you are advised that we cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage in respect of cash/currency/credit cards/ passports/ jewellery/ mobile phones/cameras/other electronic equipment or personal items.

17. Rules & regulations

You agree to abide by our rules and regulations in force from time to time. In particular, you agree not to smoke or to consume alcoholic beverage while travelling on our coaches.

Any serious breach of our rules and regulations or unreasonable conduct by you will entitle us to refuse a booking or exclude you from the remainder of the Holiday and you will be responsible for your own costs and ours.

Fitness to travel:-

We accept your booking on the basis that you have told us about any disability that you suffer and any reason that could make it unwise for you to travel. If you are disabled or maybe unfit to travel you should provide full information at the time of booking. You must check that this information appears on the special section of the booking form.

18. Special Requests

If you have any special requests for services not included on the holiday price - for instance low floor bedrooms or special diets - you must notify these to us at the time of booking. Please check these are detailed on your holiday tickets.

We will do our best to provide for your requirement, however, special requests cannot be guaranteed. Requests for the carriage of wheelchairs will normally be accepted, but may be limited on certain holidays. Requests for the carriage of lightweight motorised scooters/ wheelchairs cannot usually be accepted as a result of health & safety legislation.

Important notes

Travelling abroad

If the Holiday involves travel outside of the UK and you are a British citizen then you must bring your passport with you. If you are not a British citizen you should check whether you require a visa.

National Holidays cannot be held responsible for any passenger travelling without proper documentation. If the Holiday involves travel outside the UK you should obtain a European Health Insurance Card. This will ensure that you can obtain medical treatment if you become ill. You can obtain an EHI Card from the Department of Health on-line or by telephone.

Exchange rates

Details for this brochure were compiled in September 2018. An aggregated exchange rate of 1.10 Euro has been applied to all costings.

Protecting your money

We have taken out a financial bond with the Bonded Coach Holiday Group of the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT). This means that in the unlikely event that we become insolvent and have to cancel the Holiday, you will be able to obtain a refund.

If you have a complaint

If you have any complaints during the Holiday it is essential that you notify the supplier of the service and you must tell the coach driver/courier as soon as possible. Your driver/courier will try to resolve the problem for you. If the coach driver/courier has not been able to resolve your complaint you should write to us explaining what your complaint is about within 21 days after the Holiday. Except in respect of death or injury caused by negligence, we regret that we cannot accept liability for any claims which you do not notify to us within 21 days.

Single Bedroom Supplements

Whilst many of our selected hotels levy varying charges for single bedroom occupancy National Holidays has adopted a policy of spreading these charges equally across our holiday programmes, thereby (subject to availability) allowing single bedroom allocation on all departures. For certain longer holidays special single room supplements may apply.

Single bedroom occupancy supplements for most holidays are as follows:

Child Reductions

Children are welcome on all holidays and short breaks - unless specifically designated "adult-only".

A reduction of 20% on the advertised price is normally available to all children aged 2-12 years inclusive when travelling with at least one adult per child.

Special additional child reductions may be available on certain holidays. Infants aged below 2 years may travel free of charge but cannot be guaranteed an individual coach seat and separate arrangements may be required for the provision of a cot. Please ask at the time of booking. Some European legislation advises that when travelling all children/infants should have an individual seat on the coach available to them.

A nominal charge will therefore be applicable for a reserved coach seat for any infant travelling on any continental break.

Pre-existing Illness or Disability

Whilst National Holidays will always reasonably fulfil a duty of care to all travellers, it is the responsibility of the client to make proper contingency for any pre-existing illness or disability. National Holidays will provide advice and guidance regarding the suitability of any holiday on an individual basis, but cannot be held responsible for any circumstances arising from a failure to disclose any illness or disability which may render the holiday unsuitable or untenable.

Clients travelling against medical advice may jeopardise their right to any claim under the terms of their holiday insurance policy.

Luggage

There is normally no restriction on the amount of luggage taken on any holiday, however, a maximum weight of 20kg per item should be observed.