Kindling terms and conditions
1. Booking a trip
To secure a booking, the traveller must pay 20% of the total trip price, per person, or pay the full amount if booking within 60 days of the start of your trip or at an earlier stage for some trips. A higher deposit will be payable if any supplier(s) requires additional payment at the time of booking / prior to balance due date. On occasions, full payment for a service may be required at the time of booking. The applicable deposit will be confirmed at the time of booking. All travellers (including anyone who is added or substituted at a later date), whether booking in person, by telephone, via our website, by email or by any other means, will be deemed to have agreed to the following four conditions:
a) they have read and accepted our booking conditions and information pages contained on our website.
b) they do not suffer from any pre-existing medical condition or disability which may prevent them from actively participating in the trip. If any person suffers from any medical condition or disability which will or may affect their trip arrangements, please mention it to us before making your booking to discuss your requirements.
c) the person making the booking confirms that he/she is at least 18 years old and has full authority to enter into a contract on the basis of these conditions on behalf of all persons named on the booking, will be the point person for all communications relating to the booking, and confirms that all such persons are fully aware of and accept these conditions. That person also consents to the use of personal data in accordance with our privacy policy and is authorised on behalf of all persons named on the booking to disclose their personal details to us, including where applicable, special categories of data (such as information on health conditions or disabilities and dietary requirements). A booking is accepted and becomes definite only from the date when we issue a confirmation invoice. It is at this point that a contract between us comes into existence. Before your booking is confirmed and a contract comes into force, we reserve the right to increase or decrease trip prices. We reserve the right to decline any booking at our discretion. We will communicate with you via the Kindling travelpods and by email. You must therefore check your messages and emails on a regular basis. We may also contact you by telephone if we cannot, for whatever reason, contact you by email or in the travelpods. It is your responsibility to ensure we have up to date contact information for you at all times. You should contact us in the travelpods or by email if you need to do so for any of the reasons mentioned in these booking conditions (for example, to request an amendment).
2. Payment for your trip
The payment must be received by us not later than your payment due date as shown on your booking confirmation. We will tell you at the time of booking when your payment will be due. If you don’t make the payment by the due date, we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled and cancellation charges will apply. Deposit and balance payments must be made in the same currency and sufficient payment should be sent to ensure the company receives the total invoiced price as guaranteed. You can pay by credit or debit card. We also accept payments via Wise and Pix. All the payment details will be provided by the travel consultant and will be written in your booking confirmation.
3. Changing or transferring your booking
A confirmed group tour departure booking can be changed or transferred free of charge to a different departure date or trip, up to your final balance due date, subject to the conditions below. Thereafter all changes will be treated as cancellations and subject to the cancellation charges below. Changes are subject to availability and are limited to one transfer during the lifetime of your booking. It is not possible to rebook back onto the original departure once you have either transferred or cancelled your booking. You can request a credit voucher for the amount paid in respect of any cancelled booking, less any non-refundable charges incurred by us or imposed by our suppliers. This must be redeemed within 12 months of issue against a new booking. No further credit vouchers can be requested against the new booking. The voucher cannot be exchanged for cash. No cash refund will be provided if the cost of the new booking is less than the value of the credit voucher.
Transfer of booking:
If you or any member of your party is prevented from travelling, in circumstances which we consider reasonable, that person(s) may transfer their place to someone else, subject to the following conditions:
a. that person is introduced by you and satisfies all the conditions applicable to the trip;
b. we are notified not less than 14 days before departure;
c. you pay any outstanding balance payment, as well as any additional fees, charges or other costs arising from the transfer; and
d. the transferee agrees to these booking conditions and all other terms of the contract between us.
You and the transferee remain jointly and severally liable for payment of all sums. If you are unable to find a replacement, cancellation charges will apply in order to cover our estimated costs. Otherwise, no refunds will be given for passengers not travelling or for unused services.
4. Cancelling your booking
Should you wish to cancel, cancellation charges will be imposed. These are calculated from the day written or verbal notification is received by us as a percentage of the total trip price per person cancelling, excluding any amendment charges. The cancellation charges shown below are those which will apply to most trips. However, some suppliers have conditions which require the payment of higher or different charges (including the imposition of 100% cancellation charges well in advance of the normal balance due date) which you will have to pay in the event of cancellation. You will be advised at the time of booking if this is the case for your trip.
Cancellation charges:
Amendment charges are not refundable if you cancel your booking. We strongly recommend that you purchase comprehensive travel insurance which includes cover against cancellation charges. Depending on the reason for the cancellation, you may be able to reclaim the cancellation charges (less any applicable excess) under the terms of your insurance policy. In the event of the cancellation of a booking where you are liable to pay to us cancellation charges in excess of the amount already paid to us at the time of cancellation, you cannot transfer or add these charges to another booking or use any amounts paid to us in relation to the cancelled booking by way of part payment for another booking. Part cancellation of a booking may result in additional costs being payable by the remaining members of your party.
Cancellation by you due to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances:
You have the right to cancel your confirmed tour before departure in the event of “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” occurring at your tour destination or its immediate vicinity and significantly affecting the performance of the tour or significantly affecting the transport arrangements to the destination. In these circumstances, we shall provide you with a refund of the amount you have paid, less any non-refundable charges imposed by our suppliers, but we will not be liable to pay you any additional compensation. Please note that your right to cancel in these circumstances will only apply where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against travel to your destination or its immediate vicinity. For the purposes of this clause, “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” means warfare, acts of terrorism, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of serious disease at the travel destination or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or weather conditions, which make it impossible to travel safely to the travel destination.
5. Complaints
If you have a complaint about any of your trip arrangements while on the trip, you must first contact the travel consultant responsible for your trip via travelpods or email. The travel consultant will handle any issues related to the suppliers and travel arrangements at your destination. If you don’t complain on the spot this may affect your ability to claim compensation. If your complaint cannot be resolved on the spot you should notify us in writing via email within 28 days of the end of your trip.
6. Passports, visas and vaccinations
You are responsible for arranging, and must have, a valid, acceptable passport and any visas and vaccination certificates required for your entire journey and trip. Any information we give about these matters or related items (climate, clothing, baggage, personal gear, etc.) is given in good faith but without responsibility on our part. We regret we cannot accept any liability if you are refused entry onto any transport or into any country due to failure on your part to carry all required documentation. If your failure to have any necessary travel or other documents results in fines, surcharges or other financial penalty being imposed on us, you will be responsible for reimbursing us accordingly.
7. Travel and cancellation insurance
You must have personal travel insurance when you travel with us. You and your belongings are at all times solely at your own risk. You are wholly responsible for arranging your own insurance. You must ensure that you have personal travel insurance with protection for the full duration of the trip in respect of at least medical expenses, injury, death, repatriation, cancellation and curtailment, with adequate and appropriate cover including medical emergency helicopter rescue. If you make your own arrangements you should ensure that there are no exclusion clauses limiting or excluding protection for the type of activities included in your trip. You must ensure that all travel insurance purchased meets your particular requirements and you should arrange supplementary insurance if need be.
8. Trip participation and traveller responsibility
You agree to accept the authority and decisions of our team, travel consultants and trip guides whilst on trip with us. If in the opinion of any such person(s) or any other person in a position of authority, your health, level of fitness or conduct at any time before or during a trip is endangering or appears likely to endanger your health or wellbeing or any third party (including any other travellers on the trip) or the safe, comfortable or happy progress of the trip, you may be excluded from all or part of the trip without refund or recompense. Where you are excluded, we will have no further responsibility towards you (including any return travel arrangements) and we will not meet any expenses or costs incurred as a result of the exclusion. In the case of ill health, we may make such arrangements we see fit and recover the costs thereof from you. If you commit an illegal act (including, for example, causing any damage) you may be excluded from the trip and we shall cease to have responsibility to/for you as above. No refund will be given for any unused services. 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 (reasonably estimated if not precisely known) must be made direct to the accommodation owner or manager or other supplier or to us as soon as possible. If the actual cost of the loss or damage exceeds the amount paid where estimated, you must pay the difference once known. If the actual cost is less than the amount paid, the difference will be refunded. You will also be responsible for meeting any claims subsequently made against us and all costs incurred by us (including our own and the other party’s full legal costs) as a result of your actions. You should ensure you have appropriate travel insurance to protect you if this situation arises. If you have any medical condition or disability which may affect your active participation in your trip or the trip arrangements of any other person or have any special requirements as a result of any medical condition or disability (including any which affect the booking process), please tell us before you confirm your booking so that we can assist you in considering the suitability of the proposed trip and/or making the booking. In any event, you must give us full details at the time of booking and whenever any change in the condition or disability occurs.
You must also promptly advise us if any medical condition or disability which may affect your active participation in your trip or the trip arrangements of any other person in your party develops after your booking has been confirmed.
9. Trip cancellation or trip changes made by us
While we will do our best to operate all trips as advertised, we reserve the right to change and correct errors in any of the facilities, services or itineraries described on our website at any time before or after your booking is confirmed. Most changes are insignificant. Occasionally, we have to make a significant change. If a significant change has to be made we will inform you as soon as reasonably possible, if there is time before departure. Please note that most of our trips require a minimum number of participants to enable us to operate them. If any trip does not have the minimum number of participants required to make it commercially viable, we are entitled to cancel it. We will notify you of cancellation for this reason not less than 30 days before the start of your trip.
However, if a trip consists of a group size of 2-4 people, we reserve the right to substitute different services to adjust to a smaller group, such as utilising public transport and/or taxis for the whole or part of your trip instead of the advertised trip vehicle. Where this is the case, we will tell you as soon as we are able. Any such change(s) will not be a significant change. We appreciate that the group experience is important to many of our customers therefore in some cases where there is an opportunity to suggest an alternative departure date which affords you a wider group experience, we will offer this as a no obligation alternative.
A significant change is a change made before departure which we can reasonably expect to have a major effect on your trip (such as changing the dates of your trip). If we have to make a significant change, we will tell you as soon as possible and if there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of:
i. accepting the changed arrangements; or
ii. getting a refund of the entire payment; or
iii. accepting an offer of alternative travel arrangements of comparable or higher standard from us, if available (at no extra cost); or
iv. if available, accepting an offer of alternative arrangements of a lower standard, with a refund of the price difference between the original arrangements and the alternative arrangements.
You must notify us of your choice within 7 days of our offer. If we do not hear from you within 7 days, we will contact you again to request notification of your choice. If you fail to respond again we will assume that you have chosen to accept the change or alternative booking arrangements.
We regret we cannot meet any visa, vaccination or similar costs in the event of any change or cancellation by us. Similarly, as you are advised only to book fully flexible connecting transport and other arrangements (such as pre or post trip accommodation) which can be cancelled or changed without charge, we cannot pay any cancellation, amendment or other charges you may incur in relation to any arrangements which you have to change or cancel as a result of any change to your trip.
If we cancel your booking less than 14 days before the start of your trip and no alternative arrangements are available, we will give you a full refund of your payment.
10. Force majeure
Except where otherwise expressly stated in these booking conditions we will not be liable or pay you compensation if our contractual obligations to you are affected by “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances”, meaning any event beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Examples include warfare and acts of terrorism (and threat thereof), civil strife, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of serious disease including any mutation or variation of, and the ongoing effects of, Covid-19 or SARs-COV2, or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or weather conditions which make it impossible to travel safely to the travel destination or remain at the travel destination, the act of any government or other national or local authority including port or river authorities, industrial dispute, lock closure, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, chemical or biological disaster, unavoidable technical problems with transport and all similar events outside our or the supplier(s) concerned’s control.
11. Our responsibility for your trip
We will accept responsibility for the arrangements we agree to provide or arrange for you as a trip organiser, we are responsible for the proper provision of all travel services included in your package, as set out in your confirmation invoice. Subject to these booking conditions, if we or our suppliers negligently perform or arrange those services and we don’t remedy or resolve your complaint within a reasonable period of time, we will pay you reasonable compensation. The level of such compensation will be calculated taking into consideration all relevant factors such as but not limited to: following the complaints procedure as described in these conditions and the extent to which ours or our employees’ or suppliers’ negligence affected the overall enjoyment of your holiday. Please note that it is your responsibility to show that we or our supplier(s) have been negligent if you wish to make a claim against us.
(1) We promise to make sure that the trip 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 conditions and the other information which forms part of your contract with us, we will accept responsibility if, for example, you suffer death or personal injury or your contracted trip 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 trip arrangements. Please note, it is 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, travel consultants, 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 travel consultants and suppliers).
(2) We will not be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss (including loss possessions and loss of enjoyment), damage, expense, cost or other sum or claim of any description whatsoever which results from any of the following: - the act(s) and/or omission(s) you or any member(s) of your party or the act(s) and/or omission(s) of a third party not connected with the provision of your trip and which were unavoidable and extraordinary or ‘force majeure’.
(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 any supplier agrees to provide for you where the services or facilities are not advertised by us and we have not agreed to arrange them as part of our contract. Any optional excursions or activities booked during your holiday do not form part of our contract as these are all arranged for you directly by the suppliers concerned – please see clause 15: Optional excursions and activities below. In addition, regardless of any wording used by us on our website, in any advertising material 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.
(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. Please bear in mind that standards of, for example, safety, hygiene, and quality may vary throughout the destinations, services and transport your trip involves and may be lower than or different to those applicable in your home country. 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. The exception to this is where the claim or complaint concerns the absence of a safety feature which might lead a reasonable holidaymaker to refuse to take the trip in question.
(5) You must ensure you have appropriate travel insurance to protect your personal belongings.
(6) Please note, we cannot accept any liability for any damage, loss, expense or other sum(s) of any description (1) which 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 expenses or losses incurred by or relating to any business including self-employed loss of earnings.
(7) 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. 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.
9) Where it is impossible for you to return to your departure point as per the agreed return date of your package, due to “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances”, we shall provide you with any necessary accommodation (where possible, of a comparable standard) for a period not exceeding three nights per person. Please note that the 3 night cap does not apply to persons with reduced mobility, pregnant women or unaccompanied minors, nor to persons needing specific medical assistance, provided we have been notified of these particular needs in advance. For the purposes of this clause, “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” mean warfare, acts of terrorism, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of serious disease at the travel destination or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or weather conditions which make it impossible to travel safely back to your departure point.
12. Prompt assistance
If, whilst you are on holiday, you find yourself in difficulty for any reason, we will offer you such prompt assistance as is appropriate in the circumstances. In particular, we will provide you with appropriate information on health services, local authorities and consular assistance, and assistance with distance communications and finding alternative travel arrangements. Where you require assistance which is not owing to any failure by us, our employees or subcontractors, we will not be liable for the costs of any alternative travel arrangements or other such assistance you require. Any supplier, airline or other transport supplier may however pay for or provide refreshments and/or appropriate accommodation and you should make a claim directly to them. Subject to the other terms of these booking conditions, we will not be liable for any costs, fees or charges you incur in the above circumstances, if you fail to obtain our prior authorisation before making your own travel arrangements. Furthermore, we reserve the right to charge you a fee for our assistance in the event that the difficulty is caused intentionally by you or a member of your party, or otherwise through your or your party’s negligence.
13. Optional excursions and activities
We may provide you with information (before departure and/or when you are already on your trip) about optional activities and excursions which do not form part of your pre-booked travel arrangements and which are available in the area you are visiting. We have no involvement in any such activities or excursions which are not run, supervised or controlled in any way by us. They are provided by local operators or other providers who are entirely independent of us and they may or may not have their own public liability insurance.
They may require a waiver form to be signed. Optional excursions and activities do not form any part of your contract with us even where we suggest particular operators / providers and / or assist you in booking such activities or excursions in any way. When the travel consultant collects payment for or otherwise assists in booking any such activity or excursion for you, we and the travel consultant act solely as booking agent for the local operator / provider of the activity or excursion with whom you will have a contract. The local operator / provider’s terms and conditions will apply. We cannot accept any liability on any basis in relation to such activities or excursions and the acceptance of liability will not apply to them. We do not guarantee that any optional activity or excursion mentioned on our website or elsewhere will be available to book during your trip and / or will operate as advertised as these services do not form part of our contract and are not under our control. They may not be available for various reasons. Any prices given in advance are indicative only. We will not be liable if you cannot, for whatever reason, book any such activity or excursion or if the activity or excursion does not operate as advertised.
14. Transport / Delays
We cannot accept any liability for any change, cancellation or delay in your transportation from your country of departure to your country of destination or during your trip whether any change, cancellation or delay is caused by adverse weather conditions, rescheduling by a transport supplier, mechanical breakdown, industrial action or any other event or circumstance outside our control. If you incur payments for any services in the event of a delay, we will not accept responsibility for payment unless we have given our prior consent.
15. Late bookings
We emphasise the importance of making a booking at the earliest opportunity, because of the small group nature of our trips. For bookings received within 60 days of your trip start date (or at an earlier stage for certain trips), the contract between us and the traveller comes into existence as soon as full payment has been received by us.
