Booking Conditions & Important Information

We know that your holiday booking is important to you, so we urge you to read these conditions and information carefully before signing the booking form. Your holiday contract is with Good News Holidays Ltd, 3 Station Approach, Higher Denham UB9 5EL, Registered in England Nov, 1997 No.3463799, trading as GN Holidays - herein after referred to as GNH.

1) FINANCIAL PROTECTION: GN Holidays are licensed as air travel organisers by the Government's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) under Licence No. ATOL 9362, and bonded accordingly. In the unlikely event of our insolvency, the CAA will ensure that you are not stranded abroad and will arrange to refund any money you have paid to us for an advance package holiday booking. For non-flight inclusive packages (e.g. coach, sea, rail or self drive only) your money is protected in a Trust Account as specified in Regulation 20 of The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 (90/314/EEC) and approved by ABTA.

2) BOOKINGS & PAYMENT: Your holiday booking⁄contract is with GN HOLIDAYS. Once we receive your booking with the appropriate payment we will (assuming your holiday choice is available) send you a confirmation/⁄invoice at which time your booking is confirmed (subject to cancellation & amendment terms below). The confirmation⁄invoice will show any balance due which must be received at our offices no later than 8 weeks (56 days) before departure, 10 weeks (70 days) for cruises (we do not issue receipts for balance payments). If you are booking less than 56 days before departure full payment must be made at time of booking. Day trips must be paid in full at time of booking. Note: a 2% administration fee will be added to all payments by credit card. Payments by debit card incur no charge.

3) CONFIRMATION: The person signing the booking form is responsible for all passengers named on the form, whether or not he⁄she travels. If the booking form is not signed (e.g. as in the case of some telephone bookings) it is deemed that these conditions of booking are accepted by all members of the party, unless we are informed otherwise in writing within 7 days of the issue of the confirmation⁄invoice. When we have confirmed your booking, a contract exists under which we accept responsibility for the provision of the services described on your confirmation⁄invoice - special requests will be as shown and are not guaranteed unless stated.

4) TICKETS: Travel documents⁄tickets with timings and final itineraries will normally be sent to you around 7 days before departure.

5) CANCELLATIONS AND AMENDMENTS (a) by you: Please note that holiday payments are non-transferable and deposits & insurance premiums non-refundable. If you cancel, the amount we will retain is as shown below, based on the number of days before departure that we receive written advice (verbal cancellations will not be confirmed by us until we have this) of cancellation signed by the person who made the original booking, and irrespective of whether the balance payment has been made.

Please note special conditions apply to cruise bookings - any cancellations made less than 10 weeks prior to departure will incur 100% cancellation charges.

These cancellation costs are recoverable in certain circumstances under the terms of your holiday insurance (less the standard excess on the policy). These amounts exclude insurance premiums which are non-refundable in this case. Any booking amendments will incur administration charges of £10 per amendment, plus any charge levied to us by the transporter or other supplier. A transfer of holiday arrangements to a later departure date, or to a holiday costing less, will normally be treated as a cancellation and a re-booking (see above). Special conditions apply to Eurostar day trips (see booking details on tour panel).
(b) - By us - In the unlikely event of our having to make a material alteration to your holiday, or to cancel it (e.g. due to insufficient bookings), we undertake to advise you as soon as possible and for cancellation, no later than 4 weeks before departure excepting force majeure - see below. Where possible we will offer you a choice of alternative tour arrangements or a full, prompt refund of all monies paid including deposit and insurance premium (if supplied by us). What we deem to be reasonable compensation will also be paid if the advice of cancellation is issued later than the period of notice stated above (force majeure excepted). Minor alterations will be advised as soon as possible or with your travel documents. In the event of force majeure which we feel at our absolute discretion prevents us from operating the holiday (e.g. natural disaster, fire, flood, snow, war, political crisis, health risk, industrial unrest, closure of rail stations, ferry ports, airports or roads), though our sole obligation is to refund all money paid, we will normally offer you the opportunity of an alternative holiday.

6) COMPLAINTS/PROBLEMS: We do our utmost to avoid you having any complaint about your holiday. In that unlikely event, the matter must be brought to the attention of our representative (driver/courier), and a representative of the hotel/holiday centre or provider of the service in question, so that the matter can be resolved there and then. It is a condition of the contract that you report any problem during your holiday. If you do not do this we cannot accept responsibility as we have been deprived of the opportunity to rectify the problem. If the complaint cannot be resolved on the spot please complete a Holiday Report Form (available from our representative). Phone us on the office or emergency number out of hours (see your itinerary) and write to us separately within 28 days of your return so that the matter can be resolved quickly and amicably.

7) RESPONSIBILITY - (a) yours: We respectfully request that you notify us if a passenger has any form of disablement in the Special Requests section of the booking form.
(b) ours: As a responsible and caring tour operator we stand fairly and squarely behind the products we create. We accept responsibility for the actions of our staff and agents, suppliers and subcontractors for any avoidable deficiencies in the services we provide, and for negligence of the same parties in respect of death, serious injury, or illness caused to clients on a part of the arrangements we make (sea, rail or air carriage excepted. In these circumstances special conditions apply and/or carrier’s conditions of travel will apply to such travel. Full details available on request.). In addition we will offer assistance and advice, to clients, suppliers and subcontractors suffering death, serious injury or illness while on holiday even when not partaking of the arrangements made by us and thus where there is no liability on us or our suppliers. Please remember while we accept liability as stated, there are limits to what we can humanly achieve, particularly when dealing with hotels, transportation or services which we do not ourselves own or operate. In accepting your travel documents you accept this limitation of our liability and those legally imposed by our suppliers in the country concerned. Liability in respect of land and sea travel will be limited to that governed by international conventions concerning such travel. When we have confirmed your booking, a contract exists under which we accept responsibility for the provision of all the services described in our invoice. Good News Holidays Ltd, trading as GN Holidays, is registered in England and any dispute with us is subject to English Law, irrespective of destination, and heard at the appropriate court nearest to our registered office. We reserve the right at any time to refuse, cancel or terminate a booking from any person/persons whom we feel may prejudice the enjoyment and safety of other travellers and shall not bear any resulting costs.

8) RIGHTS OF REFUSAL AND INDEMNITY: We expect clients to have consideration for their fellow passengers. If you behave in a way that is likely, in our opinion or the opinion of any person in authority, to cause offence, danger or distress to others, we reserve the right to terminate your holiday arrangements. In this event, our responsibility for your holiday will immediately cease and we will not be liable for any costs or expenses incurred by you as a result. Full cancellation charges will apply and we will be under no obligation whatsoever for any refund, compensation or loss you may incur. If your actions cause damage to the accommodation in which you are staying, or the vehicle, train, ship or aircraft in which you are travelling, or cause delay or diversion to any means of transportation, you agree to fully indemnify us against any claim (including legal costs) made against us by, or on behalf of, the owners of such accommodation, or the operator of such means of transportation.

9) BROCHURE INFORMATION AND TIMINGS: All information is believed correct at the time of going to press. All timings in this brochure are necessarily approximate at this stage. Precise timings, departure points, routes, hotel name, intended order of excursions/visits and joining instructions will be sent with your travel documents as they could occasionally be liable to change e.g. for weather and/or operational reasons. You are asked to remember that very occasionally resort or other facilities may be withdrawn for maintenance or other reasons beyond our control, such as the sudden onset of adverse weather conditions. In these unusual circumstances we shall bear no resulting liability. Please note: the duration/number of days shown in this brochure includes the days of departure and return. Any photographs or illustrations in this brochure are representative of the type of holiday/country/area(s) visited, and do not necessarily depict your exact accommodation/destination unless stated.

10) PRICE POLICY: We reserve the right to increase or decrease brochure prices at any time prior to you booking. Once booked, the price of your holiday can be varied due to changes in transportation costs such as fuel, government action, and currency. In the case of small variations, an amount equivalent to 2% of the holiday price excluding insurance premiums and any amendment charges will be absorbed or retained. For larger variations, this 2% will still be absorbed for increases but not retained from refunds. In either case there will be an administration charge of £1 per person. If this means that you will have to pay an increase of more than 10% of the holiday price, you will have the option of accepting a change to another holiday if we have one, or cancelling and receiving a full refund of all monies paid, except for any amendment charges. Should you decide to cancel because of this, you must do so within 14 days from the issue date printed on the invoice. Please note that travel 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.

11) PASSPORTS & VISAS: A full passport is essential for travel to all destinations outside of the UK. All passports should have at least three months left to run from the date of return arrival in the UK, although some countries require you to have up to eight months validity on your passport. British passport holders will be advised of any necessary visas or entry requirements prior to travel. However, it is your responsibility to check the latest regulations with the relevant Embassy before departure. We are unable to make any refunds to clients unable to travel through failure to obtain a passport or visa. Photo ID such as a passport, photographic driving licence or Citizen Card is required for identification on UK domestic air travel.

12) TRAVEL BY AIR, SEA OR RAIL: In the case of travel by air, the conditions will incorporate limits and exclusions set by the Warsaw and/or Montreal Conventions. These limit the time for making a claim to two years and limit the amount of compensation that can be recovered both for damages for personal injury and other damage. In the case of personal injury, damages can only be claimed for "bodily injury" and this does not include psychological or psychiatric injury. Furthermore the amount that can be claimed is limited in most cases to about £81,000. It is also possible for the carrier to rely upon certain defences, such as showing it took all necessary measures to avoid the damage, or that the damage was caused or contributed to by you. These too, may limit the amount of compensation that is payable or mean that no compensation is payable. In the case of travel by water, the conditions will incorporate limits set by the Athens Convention. The Convention limits the time for making a claim to two years and limits the amount of compensation payable both for damages for personal injury and other damage in similar ways to the Warsaw and Montreal Conventions. Defences are also available which will reduce the amount of compensation payable or mean that no compensation is payable. You should ensure that you have adequate insurance for personal possessions as liability for loss of these items is excluded in most circumstances. In all cases our liability shall be limited to the extent that we would have to pay damages if we were the carrier itself.

13) COACHES & DEPARTURE POINTS: When you make a coach inclusive booking with us we act as an agent for the relevant carrier disclosed on your travel documents. We reserve the right to use a substitute if necessary. Coaches used are modern and comfortable, usually with WC. In the unlikely event of operational difficulties we reserve the right to use coaches without this facility. WC is not guaranteed on short journeys & day trip coaches. Coaches are manned by experienced driver⁄tour manager(s). We will allocate you specific coach seat numbers with your travel documents - please advise any Special Requests. Smoking and⁄or consumption of alcohol is not permitted on the coaches. No-one will be allowed to board the coach if they are considered to be (at our sole discretion) unfit to travel through excessive alcohol consumption. Your actual departure point and time will be confirmed with your travel documents.

14) ACCOMMODATION ONLY: Where accommodation only is provided the terms & conditions of the accommodation provider also apply. Transportation to⁄from the accommodation is your sole responsibility.

15) PORTERAGE: Porterage is not included unless indicated in the holiday description. You will sometimes find porters to help you at airports and railway stations, but a charge may be made. The hotels we use don’t normally have porters. If they do a charge may be payable. When packing your luggage, please remember that it is you who will have to carry it.

16) JOINING OUR HOLIDAYS: We try to help customers who have to make independent travel arrangements to join our holidays, but we can accept no responsibility for delays, rescheduling or cancellation of flights⁄train departures that affect these arrangements. Airlines and train operators reserve the right to change schedules at any time.

17) HOLIDAY FLIGHTS: Some of our holidays feature flights with low-cost airlines which are subject to availability and price. Therefore, there may be an additional cost if the fair class we request is unavailable. Under these circumstances we will offer you the opportunity to book at a higher cost or to select an alternative date.

18) HOLIDAYS BY TRAIN: Where possible we will reserve seats for your journeys, but we cannot always guarantee that seats will be together or in the direction of travel.

19) TRAVEL DELAYS: Occasionally delays will occur. We will work closely with all carriers to ensure any delay is as short as possible. We will try to make sure that arrangements are made for refreshments, when appropriate, but these arrangements will normally be the responsibility of the carrier. Any claim for delays should be directed to you travel insurer. In the unlikely event your flight is delayed more than 4 hours or cancelled, you should contact GN Holidays for guidance. It is your responsibility to obtain written confirmation of the delay⁄cancellation from the airline before you leave the airport - this will be required should it be necessary to claim on your travel insurance.

20) DATA PROTECTION POLICY: Please be assured we take every step to protect your personal information. Data is not used for any purpose, or passed on to any third party, other than in connection with travel arrangements booked. Data may also be provided to security or credit checking companies and public authorities such as customs⁄immigration if required by them, or as required by law. GN Holidays may contact you from time to time by mail, telephone or email with offers of goods and services. If you prefer us not to contact you for this purpose please write to Data Office, GN Holidays, 3 Station Approach, Higher Denham, Uxbridge UB9 5EL.

21) INSURANCE It is a condition of booking a non-mainland UK or overseas holiday or cruise with us that you take out insurance cover. Because of new rules governing the sale of financial services GN Holidays is unable to sell travel insurance at the moment. Travel insurance is, however, widely available online and over the counter at Post Offices.