Fair Trading Charter
Your Contract with us
When you make a booking, you must complete a booking form and pay the required deposit. When you make this booking as the lead name you undertake that you are 18 and have the authority to accept, and do accept, on behalf of your party the terms of this fair trading charter. This contract is made subject to the terms of this Trading Charter, which are governed by English law, and the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts. However, if you are resident in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you are able to choose the law and courts in your country, but if you wish to do so we would ask you to request this before placing your booking.
This trading charter will not apply to any booking involving any type of flight. Instead, if you are booking a holiday which includes a flight, you will be supplied with the full booking conditions of the ATOL holder arranging your holiday with whom you have a contact.
Deposits
We reserve the right to alter the prices of any of the packages that we advertise. At the time of booking you will be told the current price of the package. A deposit must be paid to secure any booking. This is due four weeks after written confirmation of the holiday. Deposits are non-refundable but the loss of a deposit may be covered by your holiday insurance. The amount of deposit is quoted per person and is dependent upon the duration and destination of your holiday. You will be told at what point in time you will become committed to a booking, but we are not committed to the booking until such time as we provide you with our confirmation. Our commitment is always conditional upon any balance being paid before the advised due date.
In exceptional circumstances, with the express prior agreement of Opal Travel Group Ltd, it may be acceptable for a holding deposit to be sent to reserve a specific break. This is a temporary measure to hold the reservation and the exact number in the party and full appropriate individual deposits would need to be sent within the pre-agreed timescale. All holding deposits are non-refundable and non-transferable. If the full deposit is not received within the agreed timescale, Opal Travel Group reserves the right to resell any allocation held. Any holidays cancelled or the number of passengers reducing within 42 days of the start of the holiday will incur cancellation charges, regardless of the amount of deposit paid.
You pay the Balance
The balance of holiday costs must be paid through the office at which the booking was made no later than 8 weeks prior to the holiday departure date. If the balance is not paid in time, we reserve the right to cancel your holiday, retain your deposit and apply cancellation charges as set out in paragraph 3. If you book within 8 weeks of departure date, the full holiday price becomes payable immediately.
If you cancel your Holiday
You or any member of your party may cancel your booking at any time provided that the cancellation is made by the person who signed the booking form, and notified to us in writing. As administration costs are incurred and for the risk that we may not be able to resell the holiday, we will retain your deposit and in addition levy cancellation charges as shown below. Hotel policies may vary and charges listed below are intended for guidance and are subject to charges incurred by the hotel in which case you will be liable.
Alternatively you have the right to transfer the booking to another person provided that they satisfy all the conditions applicable to the package, as long as you give the Company 7 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.
Note: If the reason for cancellation is covered under the terms of an insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.
You pay the Balance
The balance of holiday costs must be paid through the office at which the booking was made no later than 8 weeks prior to the holiday departure date. If the balance is not paid in time, we reserve the right to cancel your holiday, retain your deposit and apply cancellation charges as set out in paragraph 3. If you book within 8 weeks of departure date, the full holiday price becomes payable immediately.
If you have a complaint
If you have a complaint during your holiday, you must inform in the first instance the supplier of the service, eg. Hotel management, and then our driver/courier who will do his/her best to remedy the problem on the spot. In the unlikely event that matters cannot be satisfactorily resolved at the time, you must notify us in writing within 28 days of completion of your holiday. Failure to establish your complaint immediately, in accordance with the above procedure may affect the outcome of it.
Reservation of Rights
We reserve the right to refuse a booking, refuse to carry or continue to carry, any person, who in the opinion of Opal Travel Group Ltd. is a danger to health, safety, or the well-being of the Company’s clients or employees or who is likely to cause distress or annoyance to other clients or to any third party. When any person is prevented from continuing travel as a result of such termination, our responsibility for the holiday will cease immediately. Any losses or expenses incurred by the client shall be borne by the client and full cancellation charges will apply.
Our Obligation to You
As a result of an EC Directive, the Government have introduced regulations dictating the methods used to provide financial guarantees for all holidays. Opal Travel Group Ltd. satisfy the relevant regulations and all monies paid are held on deposit until after the holiday has taken place.
Other Terms
- a) 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 if you are not.
- b) You must not bring a pet or other animal on one of our coach holidays
- c) Playing of radios or cassette players on the coach is not permitted
- d) Smoking and consumption of alcohol is not permitted on our coaches, this includes E-Cigarettes
- e) It is your responsibility to ensure that your luggage and belongings are loaded on to the coach on which you are travelling, especially at ports, airports and on leaving hotels.
We reserve the right to refuse a booking, refuse to carry or continue to carry, any person, who in the opinion of Opal Travel Group Ltd. is a danger to health, safety, or the well-being of the Company’s clients or employees or who is likely to cause distress or annoyance to other clients or to any third party. When any person is prevented from continuing travel as a result of such termination, our responsibility for the holiday will cease immediately. Any losses or expenses incurred by the client shall be borne by the client and full cancellation charges will apply.
Our Obligation to You
As a result of an EC Directive, the Government have introduced regulations dictating the methods used to provide financial guarantees for all holidays. Opal Travel Group Ltd. satisfy the relevant regulations and all monies paid are held on deposit until after the holiday has taken place.
Your Holiday Price
Holiday prices include all coach travel, hotel accommodation and meals as specified in the holiday description and VAT at the current rate where applicable. Morning coffee, afternoon tea and other refreshments are not included. Some hotels may make a small additional charge for porterage and tea and coffee served after lunch or dinner. Gratuities to the hotel staff and driver/couriers are discretionary.
If we change your holiday
We plan arrangements for holidays 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 is reasonably possible before your departure. However where before departure we have to alter significantly an essential term of this contract, such as location of resort, quality of main hotel (not including single overnight hotels) under such circumstances you will be given the following options:
- a) To accept the change to the contract
- b) To take a substitute holiday of equivalent or superior quality if we are able to offer you one or
- c) to take a substitute holiday of lower quality if we are able to offer you one and to recover from us the difference between the price of the original holiday and that of the substitute holiday or
- d) To have repaid to you as soon as possible all the monies paid by you under this contract.
If we cancel your holiday
In certain circumstances, we may have to cancel your holiday. If we have to cancel your holiday we will return to you all the money you have paid to us or offer you a suitable alternative holiday. If this should be of a lower price we will refund the difference to you. If we have to cancel your holiday at any time, we are only liable for the monies paid to us at the time of the cancellation.
Travel Discounts/Surcharges
If you are part of a group holiday that includes coach travel, there is no discount available for making your own way, unless prior arrangements have been agreed with Opal Travel Group Ltd. We reserve the right to charge a coach surcharge to the group should the total numbers travelling on the coach reduce from the numbers quoted at the time of the original booking. We offer a discount to organisers dependent on the number of adults travelling. For every 25 adults travelling we offer one free place, 50 adults travelling two free places and pro rata.
Our Responsibility For Your Holiday
We accept responsibility for the acts or omissions of our employees, agents, sub-contractors and suppliers and for ensuring that we provide the services described in the holiday description. If any part of your holiday is not provided in the advertised manner, we will pay you appropriate compensation if this has affected the enjoyment of your holiday unless the non- provision was due to circumstances which we could not predict such as weather, road or traffic conditions. We will not however be responsible for nor accept liability for death or bodily injury caused to any named person on the booking form except for negligent acts and/or omissions of our employees, agents, sub-contractors or suppliers. Any claims arising there from shall be subject to English Law in respect of any question of liability or quantum and all proceedings shall be within the exclusive domain of the English Courts. We would ask you to be aware of the following:-
Some hotel amenities eg lifts, swimming pools etc. at times require servicing and/or cleaning and we cannot guarantee that they are always available. Weather, lack of demand and seasonal opening times can also affect the provision of entertainments and outdoor amenities. Some itineraries include the use of ferries and other forms of transport which can be affected by inclement weather and may have to be cancelled or alternative arrangements made. Please also note that the operation of optional excursions is subject to a minimum number of clients booking.
General Information
Special Requests
If you have any special requests such as low floor room, room adjacent to friends, dietary requirements etc. please ensure these are advised on the booking form. We are not in a position to guarantee these requests, but will always pass these on to the hotels.
VAT
VAT is included in the price of your holiday at the current rate. Should the rate of VAT change, we reserve the right to adjust our prices accordingly. The VAT scheme that we have to operate within is the Tour Operator’s Marginal Scheme. This scheme does not enable or allow us to issue VAT invoices for our customers.
Single Rooms
The number of single rooms is limited and on some holidays there is a supplementary charge. Single rooms are often smaller and not as well situated as other rooms and it is therefore advantageous to share with another person. The supplement is for the convenience of having a room to oneself.
Child Reductions
Child Reductions apply when children occupy the same room as two full paying adults and vary between individual hotels. Child prices are available on request.
Health
Clients should obtain the leaflet “Health Advice for Travellers” which contains form E111 enabling you to obtain emergency medical treatment in the EU. PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY AND COMPLETE THE FORMS AT THE BACK AND TAKE THEM TO YOUR POST OFFICE FOR STAMPING. THESE WILL ENABLE YOU TO OBTAIN MEDICAL HELP IN EUROPE MORE EASILY. THIS APPLIES TO CLIENTS TRAVELLING ON CONTINENTAL HOLIDAYS ONLY.
Hotel and Meal Information
Hotels have been carefully selected to provide our clients with good value for money and range from family run hotels to large luxury hotels. Almost all our holidays include breakfast and dinner daily (Half Board) except where stated. Please remember when travelling on the continent that food served will vary from country to country and breakfast usually consists of rolls, butter, preserves and coffee. When booking, please also remember that hotel standards vary and that the standards of hotels are reflected in holiday costs.
Our Coaches
We will always use our reasonable endeavours to provide a coach to the specification as described in our brochure or advertisement but reserve the right to substitute an alternative vehicle should unforeseen circumstances arise. It is possible that on occasions operational reasons will require a coach with a different configuration to be used. We therefore reserve the right to alter a coach-seating plan and allocate other seats than those you have booked.
Requests for particular seats can be made on most packages when booking but because allocations are made on a first come, first served basis you are recommended to book early.
Specific seats will not be allocated on coaches which operate on feeder services between joining points and main departure points or on coaches which carry out transfers to and from seaports, airports etc.
Group Travel Insurance
It is essential for everyone to have adequate insurance cover when on holiday either in Britain or Europe. Apart from medical cover, loss of articles etc, cancellation of a holiday through illness incurs charges which can be quite high. With suitable insurance cover any loss may be considerably reduced. We strongly recommend for your own peace of mind that insurance is taken. We are unable to offer any reimbursement in the case of cancellation. It is up to you to make sure you are adequately insured. You should read your insurance document carefully. It gives you full details of what is and is not covered and the conditions of the cover. Cover will vary from policy to policy and insurer to insurer. Opal Travel Group Ltd cannot accept any liability for cancellation of any travel services due to adverse weather conditions.
Fraudulent Claims
It is a criminal offence to make a fraudulent claim.
Health
Your policy contains restrictions regarding pre-existing medical problems concerning the health of the people travelling and of other people upon whose health the trip may depend. You are advised to read your policy carefully. When taking out your policy, please make sure that you are not aware of any reason why the trip should be cancelled or curtailed and:-
- You are not receiving or awaiting treatment for an illness or injury as a hospital in-patient, as any claims arising from this injury or treatment will not be covered.
- You are not travelling against the advice of a medical practitioner, for the purpose of obtaining medical treatment, where a terminal prognosis has been given, or where depression or an anxiety state has been diagnosed.
- Where you have received medical treatment as a hospital in-patient or out-patient, during the six months prior to the booking of the trip, you must obtain medical advice on the advisability of taking the trip.
- Where you are under going medical treatment as a hospital out-patient at a date the final cost of the trip is due to be paid a ‘Certificate of Fitness’ confirming your ability to travel must be obtained.
- If you are on medication at the time of travel your medical condition is stable/well controlled.
Passengers with disabilities
We want to ensure the arrangements for your package are suitable and appropriate. Not all packages may be suitable for you and if we reasonably consider we cannot provide what is required, we will not accept the booking. Should you or a member of your party have any medical condition or disability that may affect you/their holiday or that of other passengers, we ask that you contact a member of our sales team to discuss this so that we can advise you of the suitability of the holiday.
If a passenger requires personal assistance (for example but not limited to assistance with feeding/dressing/toileting/mobilising) then this passenger must travel with an able bodied companion/carer. Coach drivers/tour managers are unable to offer such assistance.
Whilst we will make every reasonable adjustment to do so, if we are unable to accommodate the needs of a passenger or believe that the medical condition or disability of a passenger is likely to adversely affect other passengers, we reserve the right to decline the booking. We also reserve the right to cancel any holiday and impose cancellation charges if we are not fully advised of any relevant disability or medical condition at the time the booking is made and subsequently decide that we are unable to accommodate this passenger. This applies whether we advise that we are unable to accommodate a passenger either before departure or during the holiday and if this occurs during the holiday then we will seek the additional costs of returning the passenger home.
We want you to enjoy your package and will try to help you select an appropriate trip.
Luggage Allowance
You are permitted to bring one medium sized suitcase up to 20kg in weight per person. Please remember to bring an overnight bag where an overnight stop is included in your package. If you wish to bring a wheelchair or similar additional large item, please request this at the time of booking.
Opal Travel Group Ltd (Web Site )Terms & Conditions
If you continue to browse and use this website you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions of use, which together with our privacy policy govern Opal Travel Group’s relationship with you in relation to this website.
The term “Opal Travel Group” or “us” or “we” refers to the owner of the website whose registered office is Suite 39a Armour Road, Tilehurst, Reading, Berkshire, RG31 6HA. The term “you” refers to the user or viewer of our website.
The use of this website is subject to the following terms of use:
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