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The contract between us
Bonding arrangements
Liability
The Price of your holiday
Final Payment
Cancellation by you
Cancellation by us
Insurance
Medical precautions
The
contract between us
The contract will consist of an agreed itinerary and your
acknowledgement of acceptance of these booking conditions.
The contract between us becomes binding at the point at which
you issue instructions to us to go ahead with making reservations
for the agreed itinerary, and pay the deposit according to
the terms in the 'Payments, etc.' page of this website.
Bonding
arrangements
As a licensed international tour operator, we are legally
bound to maintain a substantial bond in a holding account
for your protection. This will be used to compensate you in
the event of business failure or our failure to carry out
any or all of the terms of the contract, subject to the conditions
that follow. We have listed our full registration, licence
and bond details on our web site at "About us".
It's an easy matter to request confirmation of a company’s
legitimacy from VNAT (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism).
Its contact details are:
Vietnam National
Tourism Authority (Tourism Department)
web site: www.vietnam-tourism.com
e-mail: vnat@vietnam-tourism.com
tel: (0084 4) 822 3744
fax: (0084 4) 942 4115
e-mail: vnat@vietnam-tourism.com
Liability
We accept responsibility for carrying out the terms of the
contact and for the performance of our employees, sub-contractors
and suppliers. If we fail to comply with the terms of the
contract, we will compensate you for any loss that you incur.
We will not be liable to pay compensation if the failure to
carry out the terms of the contract is neither our fault nor
that of our employees, sub-contractors or suppliers because
the failure is caused by:
yourself:
a third party, unconnected with the contract, whose actions
we could not have reasonably foreseeable or avoided, or
an event or circumstances beyond our control, the consequences
of which could not have been avoided by us, our employees,
sub-contractors and suppliers despite all due care being taken.
This includes postponements and/or cancellations where national
carriers disclaim liability.
Our
liability in this regard is contingent upon your early notification
of your dissatisfaction to us, our guide or one of our employees,
in time for us to rectify the error or omission. If we are
unable to rectify the error or omission, we will make appropriate
compensation. For technical reasons, compensation must be
made in Vietnamese Dong (VND), but you will be able to exchange
them, and any other VND you have left over, into US dollars
at the prevailing exchange rate at most branches of State
Banks, or at the airport. Compensation or refund payments
are limited to the total amount that you have paid.
Alterations
by you:
Because we operate on a tailor-made basis, you can request
alterations to any aspect of your holiday without surcharges.
We will advise you of the cost or saving resulting from proposed
alterations and, if it is acceptable to you, incorporate it
into the price.
Alterations
by us:
Your booking will be accepted based on your understanding
that the tourism infrastructure in Viet Nam is substantially
less than that in developed countries.
Sometimes, close to your time of departure, we receive information
about circumstances beyond our control affecting your holiday:
potential travel disruption, road works, major events, predicted
adverse weather conditions and so on. In such circumstances,
we will contact you and, if possible, suggest alternatives
to solve any problems that might arise. All such alterations
will be subject to your approval and agreement. If you agree
to such alterations, and they involve additional cost, this
must be borne by you.
If alterations become necessary during your holiday because
of the failure of a third party contracted by us to provide
the required services, and we are unable to provide an equivalent
alternative, we will compensate you for any losses incurred
and seek redress from our sub-contractor later. If we offer
you a more expensive alternative, the extra cost will be borne
by us.
During
your holiday, if alterations are necessary because of circumstances
beyond our control occurring at short notice, such as unforeseen
weather conditions, postponements, cancellations or overbooking
by national carriers, government action or mechanical breakdowns,
we will do our best to find satisfactory alternatives and
minimise inconvenience, but cannot be held liable for any
losses incurred. If such alterations involve additional cost,
this must be borne by you.
Acceptance
of booking:
We reserve the right to decline your booking without explanation
if we have cause to believe that you might pose a threat to
public safety and/or security in Vietnam.
Our
acceptance of your booking is conditional upon your understanding
that we cannot be held liable for any accidents, illnesses,
thefts or losses occurring during your holiday and caused
by circumstances beyond our control, or resulting from your
failure to take common-sense precautions or to follow instructions
given by us or our guides/party leaders or persons with official
authority. We require you to take out travel insurance and
any other necessary insurances adequate to meet your needs,
and will assume that you will have done so before your arrival
in Vietnam.
The
Price of your holiday
The price is the total cost of the holiday including all elements
specified in the itinerary, unless stated otherwise. As our
holidays are individually designed, the price will vary according
to changes made in the vacation programme. At the point at
which you decide to make full payment, all agreed changes
to the price will be included in the invoice that we send
you.
Deposit:
As we develop the itinerary for your holiday, we will check
the availability of hotels and, if possible, make provisional
bookings. To do this, we will need early notification of your
flight details. Once we have agreed the itinerary and the
price, and received your instruction to proceed, we will ask
you to transfer a minimum 15% deposit to our bank to cover
our costs if you cancel thereafter. Upon receipt of your deposit,
we will make firm bookings and confirm them to you.
Please
note that, in several areas, hotels become fully booked well
in advance because there are few adequate alternatives, or
sometimes none at all. It is therefore in your interests to
pay the deposit as early as possible to secure the best availability.
At this stage, you may choose to pay the full price rather
than a deposit, thereby avoiding a second transfer fee.
Final
Payment
Full payment of the balance must be made by electronic transfer
in time to arrive in our account in the State Bank no later
than 40 days before your departure for Vietnam. We will supply
you with the details and SWIFT codes of intermediary banks
that you can use to expedite your payment - it should take
no more than a couple of days. However, please check if your
bank uses its own intermediate bank, as that can extend the
transfer time considerably.
In
the event of the full payment not reaching our account by
the due date, we reserve the right to cancel all bookings
and the contract between us.
Please
note that, for convenience, we price in United States dollars.
Where price equivalents in VND or any other currency are given,
they are for guidance only and must not be taken as firm prices.
Both deposit and final payment must be made in US dollars
or in your chosen international currency. If you choose to
pay in a currency other than US dollars, the price in the
invoice will be at the exchange rate prevailing on the day
we issue it.
If
you ask for changes to be made after you have paid in full,
but before your date of departure, any increase in the price
must be settled by cash or credit card (Visa, MasterCard or
American Express) upon your arrival in Viet Nam. If changes
result in a reduction of the price, you will be reimbursed
in VND upon arrival less any costs that we have reasonably
incurred.
Please
note that all credit card payments in Viet Nam are subject
to a surcharge, currently 3% for Visa and MasterCard, and
3.9% for American Express.
If
you ask for changes to be made during your time in Viet Nam,
we will advise you of the extra cost and only proceed on your
instruction. Any extra costs that you have incurred by altering
your itinerary while you are in Viet Nam must be settled no
later than three days before your departure from Vietnam.
If the alteration involves a reduction, we will refund you
the saving in VND, less any costs that we have reasonably
incurred, before you leave Viet Nam. No refunds will be made
for any unused elements of the itinerary.
Cancellation
by you:
The date of cancellation will be the date on which we receive
your notification of your wish to do so.
If
you cancel your contract at any time up to 40 days before
your departure for Viet Nam you will lose your deposit.
If
you cancel your contract at any time after 40 days before
your date of departure for Viet Nam, all monies that you have
transferred will be returned less 40% of the total price of
your holiday and the transfer fees levied by our bank.
If,
rather than cancel, you wish to transfer your booking to another
person, we can arrange this subject to your instruction, and
the transferee providing his or her full details, confirmation
of acceptance of the terms of the contract, agreement to pay
our costs incurred in making the transfer and any outstanding
balance of the total price, and there being sufficient time
to allow a new visa to be issued.
Cancellation
by us:
We reserve the right to cancel the contract between us for
any reason prior to your payment of the full price of the
holiday, whereupon we will refund any monies that you have
paid us in full. After full payment has been made, we will
only cancel the contract if circumstances beyond our control
make it unavoidable. In the unlikely event that such circumstances
should arise, we will contact you immediately and offer you
the choice of an alternative of equivalent quality or a full
refund of all monies paid. No additional compensation will
be paid over and above the total sum received from you.
Insurance
Travel insurance and medical precautions are essential. We
do not give specific advice on these matters as we are expert
in neither, and individual circumstances differ.
We
advise you to tell us the name of the company and its contact
details so that we can give notification on your behalf if
you are unable to do so in the unlikely event of an accident
occurring.
If
you are intending to engage in any activity that could be
considered 'hazardous' in any way, you should check your insurance
carefully to make sure that you will be covered in the case
of an accident.
Medical
precautions:
You should ensure that you are fully up to date with vaccinations
required for Vietnam.
If
your itinerary means you may be involved in strenuous activities,
such as cycling, trekking, etc., you should check with your
medical practitioner if you are in any doubts about your fitness
to do so.
If
you are prone to recurring illnesses, allergies or have any
other disabilities or health problems relevant to your holiday,
you should inform us well in advance. The same applies to
specific dietary requirements, either for medical or religious
reasons.
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