Action-Outdoors.co.uk

In these Booking Conditions, “you” and “your” means the lead name on the booking (including anyone who is added or substituted at a later date). “We”, “us” and “our” means Action Outdoors Holidays Limited.

Please note, we act as agent for a number of ATOL holders. This means that when you purchase a flight only, or a flight inclusive package holiday (see below) from us, your contract in respect of that flight or flight element of that package holiday is with the ATOL holder concerned.

In these Booking Conditions, a “Package Holiday” means a combination of at least two out of (a) transport, (b) accommodation or (c) other tourist services (not ancillary to any transport or accommodation and forming a significant part of the arrangements) where booked through the us at the same time, for which payment is made to us and which last at least 24 hours or include overnight accommodation. Where you book a Package Holiday through us and it has been confirmed, we will accept responsibility for the non-flight elements of that Package Holiday in accordance with these Booking Conditions as an “organiser” under the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992.

1. Making your booking
To make a booking, you must complete our booking form. This must be completed by the named person on the booking (“the party leader”). The party leader must be at least 18 and must be authorised to make the booking on the basis of these Booking Conditions by all persons named on the booking. * By signing the booking form, the party leader confirms that he/she is so authorised and that all party members agree to be bound by these Booking Conditions. The party leader is responsible for making all payments due to us.

The completed signed booking form must then be sent to us together with the payments referred to in clause 2 below.

Once we have received your booking form and all appropriate payments, we will, subject to availability, confirm your holiday by issuing a confirmation e-mail. This e-mail will be sent to the party leader [or your travel agent]. Please check this invoice carefully as soon as you receive it. Contact us immediately if any information which appears on the confirmation or any other document appears to be incorrect or incomplete as it may not be possible to make changes later. [We regret we cannot accept any liability if we are not notified of any inaccuracies in any document within ten days of our sending it out (five days for tickets).

2. Payment
In order to confirm your chosen holiday, a deposit of £25 or £100 per person dependent on holiday type (or full payment if booking within 6 weeks of departure) must be paid at the time of booking. If you wish to purchase the insurance policy we offer, or flights, all applicable premiums must also be paid at the time of booking (you must be insured - see clause 7).

The balance of the holiday cost must be received by us not less than six weeks prior to departure. This date will be shown on the confirmation invoice. Reminders are not sent. * If we do not receive all payments due (including any surcharge where applicable) in full and on time, we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled by you. In this case the cancellation charges set out in clause 6 below will be payable.

  Except for flight inclusive bookings all monies you pay to one of our authorised travel agents for your holiday with us will be held by the agent on your behalf until we issue our confirmation invoice. After that point, your agent will hold the monies on our behalf. For flight inclusive bookings, all monies paid to such agents for your holiday with us will be held on behalf of the ATOL holder concerned until they are paid to that ATOL holder or refunded to you. 

3. Your contract
A binding contract between us comes into existence when we despatch our confirmation invoice to the party leader [or your travel agent]. This contract and all matters arising out of it are governed by English law. We both agree that any dispute, claim or other matter which arises out of or in connection with this contract or your holiday will be dealt with by the Courts of England and Wales only.

* Changes to these Booking Conditions [or the General Information shown in our brochure] will only be valid if agreed by us in writing.

4. The cost of your holiday
The prices shown in our brochure were calculated on 30 July 2010 on the basis of then known costs and exchange rates of 1 GBP to 1.17 EURO.

We reserve the right to increase or decrease the prices of unsold holidays at any time. The price of your chosen holiday will be confirmed at the time of booking.

Once the price of your chosen holiday has been confirmed at the time of booking then, subject to the correction of errors, we will only increase the price in the following circumstances. Price increases after booking will be passed on by way of a surcharge. A surcharge will be payable if transportation costs and/or dues, taxes or fees payable for services such as embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports or airports increase or our costs increase as a result of any adverse changes in the exchange rates which have been used to calculate the cost of your holiday.

Even in the above cases, we will absorb increased costs up to a total amount equivalent to 2% of the cost of your confirmed holiday (excluding insurance premiums and any amendment charges). Only if the increased costs exceed this 2% will we levy a surcharge. If any surcharge is greater than 10% of the cost of your holiday (excluding insurance premiums and any amendment charges), you will be entitled to cancel your booking and receive a full refund of all monies paid to us except for insurance premiums and amendment charges. You have 14 days from the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice to tell us if you want to cancel for this reason. If you do not tell us that you wish to cancel within this period of time, we are entitled to assume that you do not wish to cancel and will pay the surcharge. Any surcharge must be paid with the balance of the cost of the holiday or within 14 days of the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice, whichever is the later.

We promise not to levy a surcharge within 30 days of departure. * Due to the above promises, no refunds can be made in the event of favourable exchange rate variations or decreases in costs.

We reserve the right to correct errors in both advertised and confirmed prices. We will do so as soon as we become aware of the error.

Please note, changes and errors occasionally occur. You must check the price of your chosen holiday at the time of booking.

5. Changes by you
Should you wish to make any changes to your confirmed holiday, you must notify us in writing as soon as possible. Whilst we will endeavour to assist, we cannot guarantee we will be able to meet any such requests. Where we can, an amendment fee of £20 per person/per booking will be payable together with any costs incurred by ourselves and any costs or charges incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers. 6. Cancellation by you
Should you or any member of your party need to cancel your chosen holiday once it has been confirmed, the party leader must immediately advise us in writing. Your notice of cancellation will only be effective when it is received in writing by us at our offices. As we incur costs from the time we confirm your booking and may be unable to re-sell your holiday, the following cancellation charges will be payable. Where the cancellation charge is shown as a percentage, this is calculated on the basis of the total cost payable by the person(s) cancelling excluding insurance premiums and any amendment / cancellation charges which have already been incurred. Insurance premiums and amendment / cancellation charges are not refundable in the event of the person(s) to whom they apply cancelling.

Period before departure within which written notification of cancellation is received by us
Cancellation charge per person cancelling
More than 45 days prior to departure Loss of deposit and insurance premium
44 to 31 days prior to departure 40%
30 to 15 days prior to departure 60%
14 or less 100%

Depending on the reason for cancellation, you may be able to reclaim these cancellation charges (less any applicable excess) under the terms of your insurance policy. Claims must be made directly to the insurance company concerned.

* If any member(s) of your party is/are prevented from travelling, the person(s) concerned will be able to transfer their place to someone else (introduced by you) providing the following requirements are complied with. We must be notified of the transfer(s) not less than [two weeks] before departure. A transfer will not be possible if there is a waiting list for places in which case the available place must be offered to the next person on that list. Where a transfer to a person of your choice can be made, all costs and charges incurred by us and/or incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers as a result together with an amendment fee of £20 must be paid before the transfer can be effected. For flight only, or flight inclusive bookings, you must pay the charges levied by the airline concerned. As most airlines do not permit name changes after tickets have been issued for any reason, these charges are likely to be the full cost of the flight.

7. Insurance
We consider adequate and appropriate travel insurance to be a pre-requisite to booking. Details of the policy we offer are shown elsewhere in this brochure. If you decide not to purchase this insurance, you must give details of your alternative policy (insurer and policy number) on our booking form. As a minimum this Insurance must provide the same level of cover as that as is offered by Action Outdoors. If you fail to do so, we will add the appropriate premiums for the personal travel insurance we offer to your confirmation invoice. These premiums must be paid as soon as possible as cover will not be effective until we receive all applicable premiums in full.

Please read your policy details carefully and take them with you on holiday. It is your responsibility to ensure that the insurance cover you purchase is adequate for your particular needs. We do not check alternative insurance policies.

Please note clause 8 below applies to bookings of Package Holidays only.

8. Changes and cancellation by us
We start planning the holidays we offer many months in advance. Occasionally, we have to make changes to and correct errors in brochure and other details both before and after bookings have been confirmed and cancel confirmed bookings. Whilst we always endeavour to avoid changes and cancellations, we must reserve the right to do so. * However, we promise we will only cancel your confirmed booking 8 weeks or less before departure where you have failed to comply with any requirement of these booking conditions entitling us to cancel (such as paying on time) or where we are forced to do so as a result of circumstances outside our control/”force majeure” as defined in clause 9 below. We will not cancel after this date for any other reason.]

* Most changes are minor. Occasionally, we have to make a “significant change”. “Significant changes” include the following changes when made before departure; a change of accommodation to that of a lower official classification or standard for the whole or a major part of the time you are away, a change of accommodation area for the whole or a major part of the time you are away, a change of outward departure time or overall length of time you are away of twelve or more hours, the closure of the only or all advertised swimming pool(s) at your accommodation for an extended period and, in the case of tours, a significant change of itinerary missing out one or more major destinations substantially or altogether.

If we have to make a significant change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible. If there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of the following options:-

(a) (for significant changes) accepting the changed arrangements or (b) purchasing an alternative holiday from us, of a similar standard to that originally booked if available (if the chosen alternative is less expensive than your original one, we will refund the difference but if it is more expensive, we will ask you to pay the difference) or (c) cancelling or accepting the cancellation in which case you will receive a full and quick refund of all monies you have paid to us.

Please note, the above options are not available where any change made is a minor one. The substitution of sporting activities, at least to a similar alternative, will be considered as a minor change.

If we have to make a significant change or cancel eight weeks or less before departure, we will pay you reasonable compensation subject to the following exceptions. Compensation will not be payable and no liability beyond offering the above mentioned choices can be accepted where (1) we are forced to make a change or cancel as a result of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which we could not have avoided even with all due care or (2) we have to cancel because the minimum number of bookings necessary for us to operate your holiday has not been reached - in this case we will notify you by the deadline specified. No compensation will be payable if we cancel as a result of your failure to comply with any requirement of these booking conditions entitling us to cancel (such as paying on time).

* In all cases, our liability for significant changes and cancellations is limited to offering you the above mentioned options and, where applicable, compensation payments. We regret we cannot pay any expenses, costs or losses incurred by you as a result of any change or cancellation. * No compensation is payable for minor changes or where we make a significant change or cancel more than nine weeks before departure.

Very rarely, we may be forced by “force majeure” (see clause 9) to change or terminate your holiday after departure but before the scheduled end of your time away. This is extremely unlikely but if this situation does occur, we regret we will be unable to make any refunds (unless we obtain any refunds from our suppliers), pay you any compensation or meet any costs or expenses you incur as a result.

9. Force Majeure
Except where otherwise expressly stated in these booking conditions, we regret we cannot accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our contractual obligations is prevented or affected by or you otherwise suffer any damage or loss (as more fully described in clause 10(1) below) as a result of “force majeure”. In these Booking Conditions, “fo rce majeure” means any event which we or the supplier of the service(s) in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such events may include war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, terrorist activity or actual threatened terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire and all similar events outside our control.

Please note, clause 10(1) (2) and (3) below apply to bookings of Package Holidays only.

10. Our Liability to you
(1) We promise to make sure that all parts of the holiday we have agreed to arrange as part of our contract are provided to a reasonable standard and in accordance with that contract. We also accept responsibility for what our employees, agents and suppliers do or do not do. We will not, however, be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss (for example, loss of enjoyment), damage, expense, cost or other sum or claim of any description whatsoever which results from any of the following:-

(a) the fault of the person(s) affected or any member(s) of their party or

(b) the fault of a third party not connected with the provision of your holiday which we could not have predicted or avoided or

(c) an event or circumstances which we or the supplier of the service(s) in question could not have predicted or avoided even after taking all reasonable care (see clause 9).

(d) the fault of anyone who was not carrying out work for us (generally or in particular) at the time.

In addition, we will not be responsible where you do not enjoy your holiday or suffer any problems because of a reason you did not tell us about when you booked your holiday or where any problems you suffer did not result from any breach of our contract or other fault of ourselves or, where we were responsible for them, our suppliers or agents or where any losses, expenses, costs or other sum you have suffered relate to any business.

Please note, we cannot accept responsibility for any services which do not form part of our contract. This includes, for example, any additional services, activities or facilities which your hotel or any other supplier agrees to provide for you where the services, activities or facilities are not advertised in our brochure and we have not agreed to arrange them.

(2) The promises we make to you about the services we have agreed to provide or arrange as part of our contract - and the laws and regulations of the country in which your claim or complaint occurred - will be used as the basis for deciding whether the services in question had been properly provided. If the particular services which gave rise to the claim or complaint complied with local laws and regulations applicable to those services at the time, the services will be treated as having been properly provided. This will be the case even if the services did not comply with the laws and regulations of the UK which would have applied had those services been provided in the UK. The exception to this is where the claim or complaint concerns the absence of a safety feature which might lead a reasonable holiday maker to refuse to take the holiday in question.

(3) *We limit the maximum amount we may have to pay you for any and all claims or parts of claims which do not involve personal injury, illness or death. Except where loss of and/or damage to luggage or personal possessions is concerned or a lower limitation of liability applies to your claim, the maximum amount we will have to pay you for such non personal injury claims if we are found liable to you on any basis is twice the price (excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges) paid by or on behalf of the person(s) affected in total. This maximum amount will only be payable where everything has gone wrong and you have not received any benefit at all from your holiday.

*Where we are found liable for loss of and/or damage to any lugg age or personal possessions (including money), the maximum amount we will have to pay you is “25 per person affected as you are assumed to have taken out adequate insurance at the time of booking. Please also see clause 10(4) below.

(4) Where any claim or part of a claim concerns or is based on any travel arrangements (including the process of getting on and off the transport concerned) provided by any air, sea, rail or road carrier or any stay in a hotel, the maximum amount of compensation we will have to pay you will be limited. The most we will have to pay you for that claim or that part of a claim if we are found liable to you on any basis is the most the carrier or hotel keeper concerned would have to pay under the international convention which applies to the travel arrangements or hotel stay in question (for example, the Warsaw Convention as amended for international travel by air and/or for airlines with an operating licence granted by an EU country, the EU Regulation on Air Carrier Liability for national and international travel by air, the Athens convention for international travel by sea). When making any payment, we are entitled to deduct any money which you have received or are entitled to receive from the transport provider or hotelier for the complaint or claim in question.

(5) You must provide ourselves and our insurers with all assistance we may reasonably require. You must also tell us and the supplier concerned about your claim or complaint as set out in clause 12 below. If asked to do so, you must transfer to us or our insurers any rights you have against the supplier or whoever else is responsible for your claim or complaint (if the person concerned is under 18, their parent or guardian must do so). You must also agree to cooperate fully with us and our insurers if we or our insurers want to enforce any rights which are transferred.

11. Complaints and problems
In the unlikely event that you have any reason to complain or experience any problems with your holiday whilst away, you must immediately inform our representative and the supplier of the service(s) in question. Any verbal notification must be put in writing and given to our representative and the supplier as soon as possible. Until we know about a problem or complaint, we cannot begin to resolve it. Most problems can be dealt with quickly. * If you remain dissatisfied, however, you must write to us within 28 days of your return to the UK giving your booking reference and full details of your complaint. * For all complaints and claims which do not involve death, personal injury or illness, we regret we cannot accept liability if you fail to notify the complaint or claim entirely in accordance with this clause.

12. Behaviour, Your Health and Fitness
When you book with us, you accept responsibility for any damage or loss caused by you or any member of your party. Full payment for any such damage or loss must be paid direct at the time to the accommodation owner or manager or other supplier. If you fail to do so, you will be responsible for meeting any claims subsequently made against us (together with our own and the other party’s full legal costs) as a result of your actions.

We expect all clients to have consideration for other people. If in our reasonable opinion or in the reasonable opinion of any other person in authority, you or any member of your party behaves in such a way as to cause or be likely to cause danger, upset or distress to any third party or damage to property, we are entitled, without prior notice, to terminate the holiday of the person(s) concerned. In this situation, the person(s) concerned will be required to leave the accommodation or other service. We will have no further responsibility toward such person(s) including any return travel arrangements. No refunds will be made and we will not pay any expenses or costs incurred as a result of the termination.