Booking Conditions
Steppes Travel Booking Terms & Conditions and supplementary general information.
The following Booking Conditions, general information and the supplementary information, together with our Privacy Policy and Website Terms of Use , form the basis of your contract with Steppes Travel Ltd, trading as Steppes Travel, Steppes Discovery and The Traveller (‘The Company’, ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’). Steppes Travel Ltd, of 51 Castle Street, Cirencester, GL7 1QD, is registered in England under number 03307429. In these Booking Conditions references to “you” and “your” include the first named person on the booking and all persons on whose behalf a booking is made or any other person to whom a booking is added or transferred.
By making a booking, the first named person on the booking agrees on behalf of all persons detailed on the booking that:
- He/she has read these terms and conditions and has the authority to and does agree to be bound by them;
- He/she consents to our use of information in accordance with our Privacy Policy and is authorised on behalf of all persons named on the booking to disclose their personal details to us, including where applicable special categories of data (such as information on health conditions or disabilities and dietary requirements);
- He/she is over 18 years of age and where placing an order for services with age restrictions declares that he/she and all members of the party are of the appropriate age to purchase those services;
- He/she accepts financial responsibility for payment of the booking on behalf of all persons detailed on the booking.
- Making your booking
Please complete the online booking form and forward it to The Company with a deposit of at least 30% of the total booking value . Where applicable an additional deposit payment may be required to cover any extra costs, and we will inform you in advance if this is the case . Please note that if you are booking 12 weeks or less before departure then full payment is required at the time of booking. We reserve the right to return your deposit and decline to issue a booking confirmation at our absolute discretion. A binding contract comes into existence between you and The Company as soon as we have issued you with a booking confirmation that will confirm the details of your booking and will be sent to you or your Travel Agent. If the Company cannot accept your booking, any payment you have made to The Company will be refunded. If your confirmed arrangements include a flight, we (or if you booked via an authorised agent of ours, that agent) will also issue you with an ATOL Certificate. Upon receipt, if you believe that any details on the ATOL Certificate or booking confirmation or any other document are wrong you must advise us immediately as changes can not be made later and it may harm your rights if we are not notified of any inaccuracies in any document within ten days of our sending it out (five days for tickets). Many airlines now require the full names of all passengers travelling. We will ask you at the time of booking to confirm the number of members in your party and to provide us with the first forename, title and surname of each member (as shown on each passport). The information that is completed on the booking form will be sent to Airlines, it is mandatory that we receive this information correctly; if not the Company cannot be held liable. The balance of the cost of your arrangements (including any applicable surcharge) is due not less than 12 weeks prior to scheduled departure . If we do not receive this balance in full and on time, we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled by you in which case we shall retain your deposit. Any money paid to an authorised agent of ours in respect of a booking covered by our ATOL is held by that agent on behalf of and for the benefit of the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust at all times, but subject to the agent’s obligation to pay it to us for so long as we do not fail financially. If we do fail financially, any money held at that time by the agent or subsequently accepted from the consumer by the agent, is and continues to be held by that agent on behalf of and for the benefit of the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust without any obligation to pay that money to us. - Accuracy
We endeavour to ensure that all the information and prices both on our website and in our brochures are accurate, however occasionally changes and errors occur and we reserve the right to correct prices and other details in such circumstances. You must check the current price and all other details relating to the arrangements that you wish to book before you make your booking. - Travel Insurance
Adequate travel insurance is a condition of your contract with us. We will require you to let us have evidence of your insurance at least 8 weeks prior to departure or at the time of booking if later. You must be satisfied that your insurance fully covers all your personal requirements including pre-existing medical conditions, cancellation charges, medical expenses and repatriation in the event of accident or illness. Details of a policy suitable to cover the arrangements you book are available by contacting Campbell Irvine Insurance. We reserve the right to terminate your booking if you fail to obtain travel insurance cover. If you travel without adequate insurance cover, we will not be liable for any losses howsoever arising, in respect of which insurance cover would otherwise have been available. - Special requests
Any special requests must be advised to us at the time of booking, and should be confirmed in writing. The Company will try to arrange for reasonable special requests to be met, but cannot guarantee that they will be. The fact that a special request has been noted on your confirmation invoice or any other documentation or that it has been passed on to the supplier is not confirmation that the request will be met. Failure to meet any special request be a breach of contract on the Company’s part unless the request has been specifically confirmed by us. We do not accept bookings that are conditional upon any special request being met. - Disabilities and Medical Problems
We are not a specialist disabled holiday company, but we will do our utmost to cater for any special requirements you may have. If you or any member of your party has any medical problem or disability which may affect your booking, please provide us with full details before you make your booking so that we can try to advise you as to the suitability of your chosen arrangements. We may require you to produce a doctor’s certificate certifying that you are fit to participate. Acting reasonably, if we are unable to properly accommodate the needs of the person(s) concerned, we will not confirm your booking or if you did not give us full details at the time of booking, we will cancel it and impose applicable cancellation charges when we become aware of these details. - Conditions of Suppliers
Many of the services which make up your holiday are provided by independent suppliers. These 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 (available upon request), and subject to the laws of the country. - Excursions
Excursions or other tours that you may choose to book or pay for whilst you are on holiday are not part of your package holiday provided by us. For any excursion or other tours that you book, your contract will be with the supplier 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. - Price Policy
We reserve the right to amend the price of unsold holidays at any time and correct errors in the prices of confirmed holidays. We also reserve the right to increase the price of confirmed holidays solely to allow for increases which are a direct consequence of changes in:
(i) the price of the carriage of passengers resulting from the cost of fuel or other power sources;
(ii) the level of taxes or fees chargeable for services applicable to the holiday imposed by third parties not directly involved in the performance of the holiday, including tourist taxes, landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports and airports; and
(iii) the exchange rates relevant to the package.
Such variations could include but are not limited to airline cost changes which are part of our contracts with airlines (and their agents), cruise ship operators and any other transport providers. Surcharges will be notified by a Supplementary Invoice sent to you (or your travel agent). You will be charged for the amount of any increase in accordance with this clause. If a surcharge made would increase the total price of your arrangements (excluding insurance premiums, amendment charges and/or additional services or travel arrangements) by more than 8%, you will have the option of accepting a change to another holiday if we are able to offer one (if this is of lower quality you will be refunded the difference in price), or cancelling and receiving a full refund of all monies paid to us, except for any insurance premiums and any amendment charges and/or additional services or travel arrangements. Should you decide to cancel for this reason, you must exercise your right to do so within 7 days from the issue date printed on your final invoice. 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 the price of your holiday go down due to the changes mentioned above , then any refund due will be paid to you less an administrative fee of £20. 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. The Company undertakes not to levy a surcharge within 20 days of departure .