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(Fair Trading Guarantee)
Your contract is with Club Cantabrica Coach and Air Holidays Ltd. trading as Snowcoach. When you make a booking, you guarantee that you have the authority to accept, and do accept on behalf of your party the terms of these booking conditions which, unless agreed in writing cannot be changed. A contract will exist as soon as we issue our confirmation invoice. This contract is made on the terms of these booking conditions, which are governed by English Law, and the jurisdiction of the English Courts. If you had not seen these terms and conditions when you made your booking, it is deemed that the terms are accepted.
Paying for your Holiday
When you make your booking you must pay a deposit of £85 per person plus any insurance premium. The balance of the price of your holiday arrangements must be paid at least eight weeks before your departure date. If the deposit and/or balance is not paid in time, we reserve the right to cancel your holiday arrangements. If the balance is not paid in time we shall retain your deposit. All monies you pay to a travel agent will be held at all times on behalf of Club Cantabrica Coach and Air Holidays Ltd.
Insurance
It is a condition of this contract that you travel with a fully comprehensive policy and acquaint yourself with its' terms. Should you, or any member of your party, not take insurance providing equal cover to the policy we offer, you absolve us of all possible liabilities and consequences in respect of matters that otherwise would be covered.
Passport and Visa Requirements
If you hold a valid EU passport you do not need a visa for any of the countries featured in this website It is your responsibility to ensure that you have a valid passport and, if you do not hold an EU passport, to ensure that you have any visa that may be required.
Health and Travel Advice
For health and travel advice visit www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/HealthAdvice ForTravellers and/or www.fco.gov.uk or telephone FCO: 0845 850 2829.
Special Requests
We will endeavour to meet special requests or preferences but no guarantee can be given. Any request must be shown on your booking form but cannot be accepted as a condition of booking unless specifically agreed in writing.
Early Snow Guarantee
in recent seasons most of our resorts have enjoyed good conditions and with our Snowcoach service at
least one of the nearby ski areas on our regular programme has had good skiing.
However, with the variable early season snowfalls last winter, we have decided to provide this special snow guarantee free of charge. It covers departures from 14 Dec to 20 Jan (excluding New Year).
If every ski area on our normal programme has less than 50% of its lifts open, then 5-3 days before departure you can decide to change your holiday to another resort the same week or to change to another departure date, subject to availability.
If you change to a less expensive holiday the price will remain the same. If you change to a more expensive holiday we will pass on any difference in price as per the website. There will be no administration fees for any changes.
We will offer at least three alternative holidays for you to choose from and of course will do everything possible to accommodate your preferences. Under this guarantee there will be no cash refunds.
Luggage
When travelling by coach or air restrictions apply to respect of weight and dimensions. Restrictions also apply in respect of hand luggage.
Full details are provided in the Getaway Guide, which accompanies your travel documents. If travelling by air the allowance will be shown on your tickets or flight confirmation document.
Our liability for the loss, damage or delayed luggage is limited as set out under the heading 'Our Liability to You'. Porterage is not provided.
Departure Times
If travelling by coach, you must be at the pick-up point 20 minutes before the departure time, final details of which, including the pick-up point, will accompany your travel documents.
If travelling by air you should check-in at your departure airport at least 2 hours before the departure time shown on your air ticket or flight confirmation document.
Delays
Regardless of the mode of transport, it must be accepted that delays can occur.
Delays if travelling by air
Other than in cases where it could cause further delay, these are normally:
2-4 hours Light refreshment vouchers
4-8 hours Subject to circumstances and time of day, a full meal or additional vouchers.
Over 8 hours Subject to circumstances and time of day, meals, refreshments and off airport hotel facilities.
Delays if travelling by coach
You will understand that be it due to traffic, weather conditions, mechanical failure, an accident or some other reason, the location of any delay cannot, even with all due care, be predicted, nor the circumstances or conditions which may exist. Accordingly, we cannot accept liability for any inconvenience or expenses you may incur or any consequencial losses. We will make every effort to operate coaches of the standard described in this website. but cannot accept a claim on the basis of an inferior vehicle being used as a relief or replacement or in cases of 'Force Majeure- Important' as described in these conditions.
A delayed coach may necessitate reduced meal and stretch stops.
Accommodation
Accommodation is reserved from mid afternoon on your arrival day into resort. On your day of departure you will be required to vacate at 0900hrs.
Live and Let Live
You have to consider other people. We reserve the right to refuse or cancel a booking or admittance and/or re-admittance to the accommodation or transport to clients who breach any applicable rules or whose behaviour (including bad language and abuse) or health or hygiene which in our opinion or that of any person in authority may impair the comfort, or well-being of others, their safety and the safety of employees, or damage to the property.
Website Information
All the information in the website and/or brochure is published by us in good faith and is believed to be correct and valid at the time of going to press. Unfortunately, errors may have occurred and changes taken place affecting this information and it is your responsibility to check the updated information at the time of booking. You must understand that certain facilities (including entertainment, excursions, local transport and sporting activities) and services mentioned may be subject to consumer support, maintenance or weather conditions and may not be available at certain times, in particular during the early and late season, the choice of shops and their provisions may be limited.
This website. is our responsibility, as your tour operator. It is not issued on behalf of, and does not commit the airlines mentioned herein or any airline whose services are used in the course of your holiday arrangements. Please note, that in accordance with Air Navigation Orders, in order to qualify for infant status, a child must be under 2 years of age on the date of its' return flight.
If You Have a Complaint
If you have a problem during your holiday, please inform the relevant supplier of the service/s in question and our resort representative immediately who will endeavour to put things right. If your complaint is not resolved locally, you must obtain from the representative, a Client Comment Form for immediate completion. Follow this up within 42 days of your return home by writing to our Customer Services Department giving your booking reference and all other relevant information. Please keep your letter concise and to the point. This will assist us to quickly identify your concerns and speed up our response to you.
It is an express condition of your contract that this simple procedure is followed. We cannot accept liability in relation to any claim, which does not involve death, injury or illness if this procedure is not followed.
The Getaway Guide that accompanies your tickets contains helpful and important information that, if followed, will help prevent any dissatisfaction and which you are required to read.
If you have a complaint, we will try to settle it amicably. In the event of our being unable to agree a solution, you are entitled to refer the matter to arbitration under a special scheme arranged by ABTA and administered independently by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. The Scheme provides for a simple and inexpensive method of arbitration on documents alone with restricted liability on the customer in respect of costs. The Scheme does not apply to claims for an amount greater that £5,000 per person. There is also a limit of £25,000 per booking form. Neither does it apply to claims, which are solely in respect of physical injury or illness or their consequences. The Scheme can, however, deal with compensation claims, which include an element of minor injury or illness subject to a limit of £1,000 on the amount the arbitrator can award per person in respect of this element.
If You Change Your Booking
If, after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you wish to change your holiday arrangements in any way, for example your departure date or accommodation, we will do our utmost to make these changes but it may not always be possible. Any request for changes (including alterations to names) must be in writing from the person who made the booking or your travel agent.
You will be asked to pay an administration charge of £15 per person, and any further cost we incur in making this alteration.
An alteration within eight weeks of departure may, if a change of departure date, flight, accommodation or resort, be considered as a cancellation and subject to the cancellation charges set out below.
If You Cancel Your Booking
You, or any member of your party, may cancel your holiday arrangements at any time. Written notification from the person who made the booking or your travel agent, on your behalf, must be received at our offices. Since we incur costs in cancelling your travel arrangements, you will have to pay the applicable cancellation charges up to the maximum shown below.
More than 56 days deposit only;
56 - 42 days before departure 30% (or deposit if higher);
41 - 29 days before departure 40%;
28 - 15 days before departure 65%;
14 - 7 days before departure 90%;
Less than 7 days before departure 100%.
If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.
If you, or a member of your party, is prevented from travelling, a third party may be substituted (introduced by you) without incurring any charge, other than a £15 amendment fee, providing 21 days notice prior to departure is given, the third party must, however, be a suitable client. Within 21 days cancellation charges as set out above may apply.
If We Change or Cancel Your Booking
It is unlikely that we will have to make any changes to your holiday arrangements, but we do plan the arrangements many months in advance. Occasionally, we may have to make changes and we reserve the right to do so at any time. Most of these changes will be minor and we will advise you, or your travel agent, of them at the earliest possible date. We also reserve the right, in any circumstances, to cancel your holiday arrangements. For example, if the minimum number of clients required for a particular arrangement is not reached, we may have to cancel it. However, we will not cancel your holiday arrangements less than eight weeks before your departure date, except for reasons of set out under the heading 'Force Majeure - Important' or failure by you to pay the final balance or abusive behaviour. If we are unable to provide the booked holiday arrangements, you can either have a refund or all monies paid or accept an offer of alternative arrangements of comparable standard from us, if available (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower rate). If it is necessary to cancel your holiday arrangements, we will pay to you compensation as set out in this clause.
Any changes to the actual airline, after you have received your tickets, will be notified to you as soon as possible and in all cases at check-in or at the boarding gate. Such a change is deemed to be a minor change for which compensation will not be paid.
In accordance with EU Directive - (EC) No.2111/2005, Article 9, we are required to bring to your attention the existence of a 'Community list', which contains details of air carriers that are subject to an operating ban within the EU Community. The Community list is available for inspection at http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/air/safety/flywell_en.htm.
If after reservation an airline becomes blacklisted and no alternative can be offered, flight passengers will have the right to be reimbursed or re-routed.
Other examples of minor changes include alteration of your outward/return coach or flight departure time of less than 12 hours, coach departure points (if this is necessary, we will arrange and pay for transport to a new departure point, the method of transport being at our discretion), combining coaches, routing, aircraft type, airport of destination, accommodation to that of the same or a higher standard of classification, loss of hostess service or video. If it is necessary to combine coaches, the affect of this may mean a change of routing, seat numbers, type of vehicle or loss of on board video service.
If we make a major change to your holiday, we will inform you or your travel agent as soon as is reasonably possible if there is time before your departure. You will have the choice of either accepting the change of arrangements, accepting an offer of alternative travel arrangements of comparable standard from us if available (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value), or cancelling your booked holiday and receiving a full refund of all monies paid. In all cases, except where the major change arises due to reasons set out under the heading of 'Force Majeure - Important' we will pay a minimum compensation level as detailed below:
More than 56 days - nil,
43 - 56 days - £5.00,
29 - 42 days - £10.00,
15 - 28 days - £15.00
0 - 14 days - £20.00.
If we are not given sufficient notice to notify of a change in accommodation or resort before your departure, we will pay, as a disturbance fee, £10 per person in addition to the above scale and refund any difference in the website. price you are entitled to.
A major change is one which involves a change of resort, UK airport, departure time by more than 12 hours, accommodation to that of a lower standard or classification.
Should a situation arise whereby circumstances amounting to 'Force Majeure', as defined in these conditions, forced us to curtail your holiday after the date of departure, we regret that, beyond any money recovered by us, we could not make any refunds or pay compensation or be responsible for any costs or expenses incurred by you.
Our Liability To You
1) We promise to make sure that the holiday arrangements we have agreed to make, perform or provide as applicable as part of our contract with you are made, performed or provided with reasonable skill and care. This means that, subject to these booking conditions, we will accept responsibility if, for example, you suffer death or personal injury or your contracted holiday arrangements are not provided as promised or prove deficient as a result of the failure of ourselves, our employees, agents or suppliers to use reasonable skill and care in making, performing or providing, as applicable, your contracted holiday arrangements. Please note it its your responsibility to show that reasonable skill and care has not been used if you wish to make a claim against us. In addition, we will only be responsible for what our employees, agents and suppliers do or do not do if they were at the time acting within the course of their employment (for employees) or carrying out work we had asked them to do (for agents and suppliers).
2) We will not 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:-
- the acts (s) and/or omissions (s) of the person (s) affected or any members (s) of their party or
- the act (s) and/or omissions (s) of a third party not connected with the provision of your holiday and which were unforeseeable or unavoidable or
- 'force majeure' as defined under the heading 'Force Majeure - Important'.
3) Please note, we cannot accept responsibility for any services, which do not form part of our contract. This includes, for example, any additional services or facilities, which your accommodation provider or any other supplier agrees to provide for you where the services or facilities are not advertised in our website or brochure and we have not agreed to arrange them and any excursion you purchase in resort. In addition, regardless of any wording used by us on our website, in any of our brochures or elsewhere, we only promise to use reasonable skill and care as set out above and we do not have any greater or different liability to you.
If you or any member of your party, suffer death, illness or injury arising our of an activity which does not form part of our contract, we shall at our discretion, offer guidance and assistance providing we are advised within 90 days of the occurrence. Where legal action is contemplated and you want our assistance, you must obtain our written consent prior to commencement or proceedings. Our consent will be given subject o you undertaking to assign any costs, benefits received under any relevant insurance policy to ourselves. We limit the cost of our assistance to you or any member of your party to £5,000 in total.
4) 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 the 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.
5) As set our in these booking conditions we limit the maximum amount we may have to pay you for any claims you may make against us.
Where we are found liable for loss of and/or damage to any luggage or personal possessions (including money), the maximum amount we will have to pay you is £35 per person affected unless a lower limitation applies to your claim under this clause or clause (6) below.
For all other claims which do not involve death or personal injury, if we are found liable to you on any basis the maximum amounts we will have to pay you is three time the price (excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges) paid by or on behalf of the person (s) affected in total unless a lower limitation applies to your claim under clause (6) below. This maximum amount will only be payable where everything has gone wrong and you have not received any benefit at all from your holiday.
6) Where any claim or part of a claim (including those involving death or personal injury) concerns or is based on any travel arrangements (including the process of getting on and/or off the transport concerned) provided by any air, sea, rail or road carrier or any stay in a hotel, the maximum amounts 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 carriers or hotel keeper concerned would have to pay under the international convention or regulation which applies to the travel arrangements or hotel stay in question (for example, the Warsaw Convention as amended or unamended and the Montreal Convention for international travel by air and/or for airlines with an operating licence granted by an EU country, the EC Regulation on Air Carrier Liability No 889/2002 for national and international travel by air, the Athens Convention for international travel by sea). Please note: Where a carrier or hotel would not be obliged to make any payment to you under the applicable International Convention or Regulation in respect of a claim or party of a claim, we similarly are not obliged to make a payment to you for that claim or part of the claim. When making any payment, we are entitled to deduct any money which you received or are entitled to receive from the transport provider or hotelier for the complaint or claim in question. Copies of the applicable International Conventions and Regulations are available from us on request.
Under EU law you have if travelling by air rights in some circumstances to refunds and/or compensation from your airlines in cases of denied boarding, cancellation or delay to flights. Full details of these rights will be published at EU airports and will also be available from airlines. However, reimbursement in such cases will not automatically entitle you to a refund of your holiday cost from us. Your right to a refund and/or compensation from us is set out under the heading 'If we Change or Cancel Your Holiday'. If your airlines does not comply with these rules you should complain to the Air Transport Users' Council on 020 7240 6061 or www.auc.org.uk
7) Please note, we cannot accept any liability for any damage, loss, expense or other sum (s) of any description (1) which would on the basis of the information given to us by you concerning your booking prior to our accepting it, we could not have foreseen you would suffer or incur if we breached our contract with you or (2) which did not result from any breach of contract or other fault by ourselves or our employees or, where we are responsible for them, our suppliers. Additionally we cannot accept liability for any business losses.
8) 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 under the heading 'If You Have a Complaint'. If asked to do so, you must transfer to use 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 agree to cooperate fully with us and our insurers if we or our insurers want to enforce any rights which are transferred.
Force Majeure - Important
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 obligations under our contract with you is prevented or affected by or you otherwise suffer any damage or loss (as more fully described in 'Our Liability to You') as a result of 'force majeure'. In these Booking Conditions, 'force majeure' means any event which we or the supplier of the services(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, actual or threatened terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, traffic conditions, mechanical failure, fire and all similar events outside our control.
Our Price Promise
We reserve the right to alter the prices of any holidays shown in our website. and you will be advised of the current price at the time of booking your holiday.
In the circumstances listed below the price may be subject to change:
Changes in transportation costs, including the cost of fuel; dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services such as landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports and airports; currency exchange rates; Government action such as increases in VAT or any other government imposed increases. However, there will be no change within 30 days of your departure and we promise to absorb and not charge for any increase equivalent to 2% of the price of your holiday arrangements, which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges. You will be charged for any amount over and above this. If this means that you have to pay an increase of more than 10% of the price of your holiday arrangements, you will have the option of accepting a change to another holiday if we are able to offer one (if this is of equivalent or higher quality you will not have to pay more but if it is of lower quality you will be refunded the difference in price), or cancelling and receiving a full refund of all monies paid, except for any amendment charges.
Should you decide to cancel for this reason, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 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, by more than 2% of your holiday cost, then any refund due will be paid to you. However, please note that holiday arrangements are not always purchased in local currency and some apparent changes have no impact on the price of your holiday due to contractual and other protection in place.
The price of your holiday arrangements, ski/boot/snowboard hire, instruction and lift passes was calculated using exchange rates quoted in the 'Financial Times Guide to World Currencies' on Monday 4th September 2006 in relation to the following currencies: Euro 1.4866; US$ 1.9034.
Our Financial Protection Promise
The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 require us to provide security for the monies that you pay for the package holidays booked from this website. and for your repatriation in the event of our insolvency. We provide this security by way of a bond held by the Civil Aviation Authority under ATOL 2645 and a bond held by ABTA V4636.
If you book arrangements other than a package holiday from this website. the financial protection referred to above does not apply.
Sending Your Tickets
Tickets and travel information will be sent two weeks prior to departure.
Validity
Holidays in this website operate within the period 1 October 2007 - 31 May 2008. Publication date December 2007.
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