1. YOUR HOLIDAY CONTRACT
At the time of confirming your holiday booking via our web site or our brochure, we will accept your emailed booking form as your confirmation to book your holiday or property rental. You must also sign a Booking Form accepting these booking conditions, and send it to us within 7 days of making your booking. Your contract is made on the terms of these Booking Conditions and is subject to English Law and the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales. We will send you a confirmation invoice. This acts as our acceptance of the holiday on the terms of the Booking Conditions. A binding contract is made as soon as we despatch a confirmation invoice to you. All holidays on our website are subject to availability.
2. PAYMENT FOR THE HOLIDAY
You pay a deposit of £100 per person plus insurance premium at the time of booking. This will be increased if you choose to fly with a Low Cost Airline or Scheduled Airline and this is non-refundable (unless claimed through your insurance). You must pay the balance at least 10 weeks before departure. If you don't, we have the right to treat your booking as cancelled, in which case you are liable to pay us cancellation charges as set out in No. 3. below. If you book within 10 weeks of departure date, the full amount must be paid at the time of booking. No additional monies will be due unless they relate to alterations made by you (see No. 3. below). A confirmation invoice will normally be sent to you within 7 days of booking. For holidays using Low Cost or Scheduled flights, the deposit required will be increased, and cancellation terms may be different to those shown below. Normally the total cost of your flight plus £50 per person is charged in the event of cancellation by you. A deposit to cover telephone, excess electricity and damage deposits will be payable for most properties. A surcharge of 1.5% will be applied to all payments by credit card (not debit cards).
3. IF YOU CHANGE OR CANCEL YOUR BOOKING
If you change any details of your booking (e.g. alter departure date, transfer to a different accommodation, name changes, etc), we will do our best to help. We will charge an Amendment Fee of £20 per amendment or per person for each detail of the booking changed. However, if within 10 weeks of departure, cancellation charges will apply (see below). When a change to a booking alters the number of adults travelling, this may affect the cost of the holiday and where applicable, an invoice will be raised showing the new charges for the holiday. Note that any increase due as a result of part cancellation is not a cancellation charge, and is not covered by your travel insurance.
IF YOU CANCEL (or any member of your party cancels) your booking, or part of it, once it has been confirmed (either verbally or in writing), cancellation will only be valid upon written instruction, mailed recorded delivery, and signed by the person who signed the booking form. We will accept emailed or faxed cancellation providing it is followed by above written instructions. All cancellations incur a charge payable by you to compensate us for our estimated losses and expenses, see table below :-
Period before departure date
within which written instructions
are received by us.
Amount of cancellation charge incurred
shown as % of total holiday price
excluding insurance premium
More than 70 days
Loss of Deposit
57 - 70 days
25%
43 - 56 days
40%
29 - 42 days
80%
0 - 28 days
100%
4. IF WE CHANGE OR CANCEL YOUR BOOKING
We must reserve the right to make changes, to holidays and website details, both before and after your booking is confirmed. As we plan these arrangements many months in advance, sometimes our suppliers may alter certain arrangements which may affect your holiday. Any changes or errata on this website will be notified to you before you make a booking, provided it is known to us at the time of booking. Changes are treated as minor or major. A major change is a change of your UK departure airport, (except between Gatwick and Heathrow), of your destination resort, of your accommodation to that of a lower category, or of your departure or return flights by more than 12 hours from the original timing. It must be remembered that flight schedules are planned many months in advance, and are subject to change by numerous circumstances, mostly beyond the control of Tour Operators or Airlines.
You should not make a booking if a changed of delayed departure or return flight may inconvenience your plans on the dates of travel.
A minor change is any other change, for example, we will not inform you if your flights change by less than 60 minutes. We have the right to make minor changes at any time and are not obliged to tell you of them before departure, or to pay you compensation. When we book flight seats on your behalf, the relevant booking conditions of the Flight Operator or the Airline will also form part of our contract and these booking conditions. Any major changes prior to departure will be notified to you as soon as possible, and we will offer you the following choice:-
(a) Accepting the changed arrangements as notified to you, or
(b) Purchasing another available holiday from us, or
(c) Cancelling your holiday.
If you choose (a) or (b), we will pay you compensation on the scale below.
If you choose (c), we will refund all monies that you have paid us, plus
compensation on the scale shown below :-
Period before scheduled departure within
which major change is notified to you
Compensation per person
More than 70 days
Nil
70 - 56 days
£5
55 - 29 days
£10
28 - 15 days
£15
14 - 0 days
£20
We reserve the right to cancel any holiday up to the date of departure if circumstances dictate, and any compensation will be limited to the above figures. We also reserve the right to accept or decline any customer without having to give a reason.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Compensation payments do not apply to changes caused by reason of war or threat of war, riots, civil strike, terrorist activity, industrial disputes, natural and nuclear disasters, fire, adverse weather conditions, as well as technical problems with transport, closure or congestion of airports and similar events beyond our control. Delay protection is included in Algarve Agency Insurance.
5. IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT
If you have a complaint, you must bring it to the attention of our representative or agent and supplier (e.g. Hotel) immediately, so that if possible, the matter can be resolved straight away. If it is not possible to resolve the matter, it is an express condition of booking that you complete an Irregularity Report immediately and hand a copy to our representative or agent in resort. We are sorry, but we are unable to consider complaints or requests for compensation, if this report is not completed and handed in at resort. You must then write to us, sending a copy of this report, within 28 days of returning from the resort. We will not accept liability for claims received after that date.
6. OUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR HOLIDAY
We accept responsibility for ensuring that all component parts of your holiday that you book with us are supplied to you as described on this website or in our brochure.
7. YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
In order that that you make the correct choice, please can we bring to your attention the information contained on our website or in our brochure. Please read carefully before signing or emailing the booking form. Any significant changes to holiday descriptions will be notified to you in writing, either at the time of booking, or as soon as possible afterwards.
8. BEHAVIOUR
We reserve the right to decline to accept or retain any person as a client, if their conduct is disruptive and affecting the enjoyment of other holiday makers and we shall be under no liability for any extra costs incurred by such person as a result of such behaviour. Aircraft Captains are legally entitled to deny boarding to any passengers presenting themselves at the aircraft, who, at the Captains absolute discretion, are unacceptable under the influence of drink or drugs. Any passenger who is denied boarding for that reason shall be deemed to have given notice of cancellation of their booking at that moment and the cancellation charges will apply.
9. YOUR ACCOMMODATION
The accommodation provided is only for the use of the number of passengers shown on the Confirmation/Final Invoice as confirmed by us. Subletting, sharing or assignment is prohibited.
10.FLIGHT TIMING AND TICKET CONDITIONS
When you travel with a Flight Operator or Air Carrier, you will be subject to their booking conditions and conditions of carriage, some of which may exclude liability. These conditions are the subject of International agreements between countries.
11. OUR ASSISTANCE TO YOU
We or our representatives will give you any assistance possible, due to unforeseen or unfortunate circumstances that you or any member of your party encounter, subject to the provisions of the Booking Conditions.
12. TRAVEL INSURANCE
To assist us in taking care of you and the other members of your party whilst on holiday, we insist that adequate Travel Insurance is taken out at the time of booking. If our comprehensive Insurance is not taken, then you must provide a copy of a valid policy of comparable insurance. Algarve Agency Insurance will be added to your invoice automatically unless you have indicated on the booking form that you have arranged acceptable alternative cover of comparable standard and can provide a copy for us within 7 days of booking.
13. PRICE GUARANTEE
Prices shown on this website or in our brochure are correct at the time of going to press
(October 2007). The price of your holiday is subject to increases for the following items: Local currency, government action, aircraft fuel, overflying charges, airport charges and increases in scheduled air fares. We will absorb the first 2% of the holiday price excluding insurance and any amendment charges. Only amounts in excess of this 2% will be invoiced. If this means the client paying more than 10% of the holiday price, you will be entitled to cancel your holiday with a full refund, excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges. Should you decide to do this, you must advise us within 7 days of the date shown on your revised invoice. we reserve the right to increase prices up to 30 days prior to departure as above, There will be no increase within 30 days of departure except for bookings made within this time when all increases may be passed on to the client. Brochure/Internet
prices are based on Sterling exchange rates £1 =
1.46
14. PASSPORTS, VISA AND HEALTH FORMALITIES
You will require a full ten year British Passport to visit Portugal. Children who are sixteen years of age before the return journey will not be able to travel on their parents passport and must obtain their own passport. No visas are required by British Citizens and no special health regulations are in force at this time.
15. THE ALGARVE AGENCY
Operated by Algarve Agency Limited - Registered in England No. 4204805.
