Skylark Holidays
January 2012
All bookings are subject to these Terms and Conditions. You can make yourself a copy if you want.
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Booking Terms and Conditions
1. Making your booking.
To confirm a booking please complete and sign the Booking Form and return it to us a with a deposit. Full payment must be made at time of booking if 6 weeks before your holiday starts. Payments may be made by cheque made payable to “Skylark Holidays” or alternatively by bank transfer for which we we can provide you with our account details upon request.
The receipt or banking of a deposit or the making of a provisional reservation does not imply final acceptance of the booking;neither is a verbal quotation confirmation of final cost. If a booking cannot be accepted, notification and refund of any deposit will be sent as soon as possible. The contract is made between us when we send out our confirmation letter. Once the booking is confirmed the Deposit is non-refundable. The balance is due 6 weeks before the holiday start date.
2. Making payment. Please make a note for yourself of the due date for the balance because after sending out our confirmation invoice we may not send out any reminders. Should the balance not be received by the due date, your place may be released, and our cancellation policy will apply. Payments may be made by cheque made payable to “Skylark Holidays”. We guarantee that the price of your holiday will not be subject to alterations or surcharge once the booking has been confirmed.
3. Changing your booking. If after your booking has been confirmed you wish to transfer to a different holiday or holiday date, we will make every effort to satisfy your requirements provided that written notification is received at our office from the person who signed the booking form, not later than the date on which the balance of the original holiday price is due for payment. Alterations made after the balance due date, will be regarded as a cancellation by you of the original holiday and a new booking for a different holiday, and the cancellation charges set out below will apply.
If after your booking has been confirmed you are unavoidably prevented from proceeding and wish to transfer your confirmed booking to another person, you can do so, provided that this is not later than 30 days before the holiday start date. You, as transferor of the holiday, and the transferee shall be jointly and severally liable to us for the payment of the balance due, together with all additional charges of whatever sort imposed by the suppliers providing component parts of your holiday. In all cases, you will be required to pay a minimum administration fee of £20 per person.
4. Should you need to cancel. Our company is small and intimate and any cancellation has a significant affect on us. Therefore we will implement a strict cancellation policy whereby we will retain a part of the holiday price according to the following table:-
Notice Received Retention from total holiday price
More than 42 days Deposit
42 – 29 days 50%
28 – 15 days 75%
14 or less days 100%
We recommend that you take out insurance so that you are fully covered by a comprehensive insurance policy.
5. If we have to alter your holiday. We try hard not to make changes to your holiday or course but because they have been organised well in advance, changes are sometimes unavoidable. The web site, dossiers, course content, itineraries and schedules are put forward as a statement of our intentions only and are not representations or undertakings that they will be carried out.
If we have to make a significant change to your holiday before the start date (e.g. downgrading your accommodation, or changing the date) we will advise you as soon as is reasonably possible. You will then have the choice of
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accepting the alteration,
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taking an alternative holiday (and where this is of a lower price we will refund the difference), or,
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withdrawing from the contract and accepting a full refund of all monies paid.
In addition, in appropriate cases, we will pay you (which in this circumstance means we will pay each individual in the holiday party) compensation on the scale shown below (on the assumption that the full balance has been paid)
More than 29 days nil
28 – 15 days before holiday start date £15
14 – 0 days before holiday start date £20
6. If we have to cancel your holiday If we have to cancel your holiday before the start date, you will have the choice of taking an alternative holiday (and where this is of a lower price we will refund the difference) or withdrawing from the contract and accepting a full refund of all monies paid.
We shall not cancel a holiday after the date when the payment of balance becomes due, unless you default in payment of an outstanding balance or unless it is necessary to do so as a result of force majeure. Force majeure means unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which neither we nor our suppliers could avoid, and specifically relates to the illness or injury of either ourselves or our tutors since we are integral to the holiday but also includes war or threat of war, riots, civil strife, terrorist activities, industrial disputes, fire or adverse weather conditions, level of water in rivers or other similar events beyond our control.
We reserve the right to cancel a booking without any obligation to refund or make any alternative arrangements or pay any compensation, where you fail to make payment or otherwise your behaviour brings the holiday to an end. We also reserve the right, for any reason or at any time, at our sole discretion,to decline to accept or to retain any person as a client particularly if their conduct is disruptive and affecting the enjoyment of other clients on the holiday, and we shall be under no liability for any costs incurred by such a person as a result of our doing so.
7. Suppliers Conditions. Suppliers such as accommodation providers have their own booking conditions and you will be bound by these so far as the relevant supplier is concerned Some of these conditions may limit or exclude liability on the part of the supplier and in addition we are required to draw your attention to some specific conditions. We can supply copies of relevant conditions upon request.
8. Safety. In the interest of safety you must undertake to follow the instructions or guidance of our and our suppliers representatives, tutors or guides, and follow the advice or warning or advisory notices encountered during your holiday or workshop including following fire emergency procedures using such entrances and exits as may be designated by suppliers and respecting the Country Code. We and your fellow holiday makers other participants and our suppliers expect you to act sensibly and prudently at all times.
9. Liability You will be responsible for any damage caused to the allocated rooms, furnishings, utensils and equipment in them belonging to ourselves or our suppliers by any act, omission, default or neglect by you and you will pay on demand the amount required to make good or remedy any such damage. For the purpose of this clause, acts or omissions of your invitees, employees and/or sub-contractors shall be deemed acts of yourself.
10. Insurance. We strongly advise you to arrange insurance to cover personal accident, cancellation of your holiday by yourselves or Skylark Holidays, loss of personal effects and personal liability. Skylark Holidays cannot accept responsibility for illness, injury or loss, other than caused by our proven negligence. We do not make recommendations on which insurance companies or policies are best but if you would like some ideas of where to obtain insurance please see the Resource pages on our web site.
11.Data Protection The information provided by you may be processed by us and our suppliers for purposes notified to the Data Protection Registrar. By confirming the booking you are consenting to this processing of information.
12. Complaints Procedure. Should you wish to make a complaint during your holiday you should contact our offices immediately and we will do our best to resolve the problem straight away. If the problem cannot be resolved on the spot, please write to us within 14 days with full details.
13. Jurisdiction. Any disputes between us will be governed by the non-exclusive law and jurisdiction of the English Courts.