VillaSelect Booking Conditions

Villa Select Booking Conditions

Please read these Terms & Conditions carefully along with “How to Book” and “What’s Included in Your Holiday” they contain important information, which form your holiday contract with Villa Select Ltd.

1. CONTRACT
Your contract is with Villa Select Limited of Arden Court, Arden Road, Alcester, Warwickshire B49 6HN, referred to as “we” or “us” in this contract. A binding contract is only entered into when we issue a confirmation invoice. By contacting us, and/or your travel agent, to make a booking you accept that you have the authority to bind all members of your party to these terms and conditions. It is essential that you check the travel details on the confirmation invoice and inform us immediately of any errors. Your booking is also subject to the conditions of carriage of your chosen airline.

2. YOUR FINANCIAL PROTECTION
When you buy a holiday package from us, 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 brochure and our website and ensure that your money is refunded or that you are repatriated in the unlikely event of our insolvency (for all UK citizens, except residents of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man).

If the holiday you buy from us is an ATOL-protected air holiday package you will receive a Confirmation Invoice from us (or via our authorised agent through which you booked) confirming your arrangements and your protection under our Air Travel Organiser’s Licence number 10361. 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 booking. For further information visit the ATOL website at www.atol.org.uk

All package holidays that you buy from us that do not include a flight or for other individual travel elements that you buy from us (eg: accommodation only, car hire etc) are also protected. Your security is provided by way of a bond held by ABTA. For further information visit the ABTA website at www.abta.com.  Protection applies to all UK citizens , except residents of Channel Islands and Isle Of Man / or whose journey commence from these points.

3. ABTA
We are a member of ABTA, membership number Y294X. We are obliged to maintain a high standard of service to you by ABTA’s Code of Conduct.

4. PAYMENT FOR YOUR HOLIDAY
A minimum deposit of 25% of the cost of your villa holiday is required at the time of booking. We reserve the right to vary the deposit as appropriate. The balance is due 10 weeks prior to departure. If the booking is made less than 10 weeks before departure, the full amount is due at the time of booking. If any balance remains unpaid, travel documentation will not be issued and we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled and apply the cancellation charge set out below. Final travel documents will be sent to you approximately 2 weeks before departure either by email or by post depending on the nature of the documents. Your Travel Agent will hold all money paid to them on our behalf.

Payment must be made in the currency of the invoice and you are responsible for any payment charges levied by your bank. If you choose to pay the deposit or balance of your holiday by credit card a 3% levy will be charged (4% for AMEX cards). No charge is levied for payment by debit card.

In some cases quotations which include airfares will be based on instant purchase, limited availability non refundable airfares and full payment of the total airfare cost must be made at the time of booking. Full details will be given at the time of enquiry and booking.

Balance payments should be made in sufficient time for cleared funds to reach our bank account by the due date.  Payments made after the due date will be subject to a late payment fee of £10 per day, this will continue to accrue until 8 weeks before the start of your holiday, at this point we reserve the right to cancel all unpaid elements of the booking without further notice.

5. INFORMATION

Whilst we make every effort to ensure that the information in our brochure is as accurate as possible, it is published many months before your holiday takes place. We reserve the right to make changes to the brochure and any information it contains. You will be informed of any material changes before booking. Villa Select are only responsible for information contained within our own publications and websites. We are specifically not responsible for third party information (from tourist boards and hotels for example) contained in any other brochures or websites.

6. AMENDMENT AND CANCELLATION BY YOU
(A) AMENDMENT
We will do our best to assist you in altering your arrangements after booking but cannot guarantee this will be possible. If alterations can be made you will be responsible for all extra charges and costs and we reserve the right to charge a £75 administration fee per person plus any applicable charges levied by our suppliers. We also reserve the right to treat any amendment less than ten weeks prior to departure as a cancellation and apply the cancellation charges set out below.
(B) CANCELLATION
All cancellations must be made in writing by the person who made the booking, this will be the lead name on the confirmation invoice, and are effective on the day we receive this written confirmation of cancellation. As we incur substantial costs and losses on a cancellation, we will apply the following cancellation charges:

The penalties are in addition to the non-refundable elements of the booking (such as flights, credit card fees and administration charges) that have been contracted on your behalf and notified to you.

If we are able to recover any of our losses from our suppliers, we will refund those to you subject to a reasonable administration fee.

Agents or third party organisations acting on our behalf are unable to amend or change the contract or terms and conditions within it.

7. AMENDMENT AND CANCELLATION BY US
(A) AMENDMENTS
It is occasionally necessary for us to make changes to advertised products and services and we reserve the right to make such changes. In exceptional circumstances we may have to modify your villa holiday after booking. If the change is minor we will do our best to notify you in advance but are not obliged to do so and no compensation is payable. If the change is material (for example, a change of flight time by more than 12 hours, change of destination or to a lower standard of accommodation), we will notify you as soon as practically possible and offer you the choice of (i) accepting the alternative arrangements or (ii) arranging an alternative holiday with us or (iii) cancelling your holiday. Whichever option you choose we will pay you compensation unless the change has been caused by force majeure.

(B) CHANGES DURING THE HOLIDAY
If we are unable to provide a significant proportion of your villa holiday whilst you are away, suitable alternative arrangements will be made for you at no extra cost to you, or, alternatively, you will be returned to your point of departure and given a pro-rata refund for any part of the holiday not received. This does not apply to minor changes in your accommodation, itinerary or transportation.
(C) CANCELLATION BY US
Whilst we hope we will never have to cancel your holiday this does very occasionally happen and we reserve the right to do so. Should it be necessary to cancel your holiday we will endeavour to offer alternative travel arrangements of equivalent or similar standards, together with a price refund, if appropriate. Alternatively we will provide a full and prompt refund of all service purchased directly from us, this excludes pre-purchased non-refundable air travel booked for you by us as an additional service.
(D) FORCE MAJEURE
Compensation will not be payable in any cases where an amendment, change or cancellation is due to “force majeure”, being unusual or unforeseeable events or circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which neither we nor our suppliers could avoid. These include, but are not limited to, war, threat of war, riot, civil disturbance or strife, terrorist activity (actual or threatened), industrial disputes, technical or maintenance problems with transport, machinery or equipment, power failure, water supply failure, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, flood, drought, adverse weather conditions, levels of water in rivers, acts of God, closure of airports, changes of schedules or operational decisions of transport providers.

(E) LOW BOOKINGS
Compensation is not payable if a holiday or tour does not take place because a required minimum number of passengers to enable the holiday or tour to take place has not been reached and you were informed of that requirement at the time of booking.

8. PRICES
All prices advertised or quoted are per villa per week and are in pounds sterling unless otherwise shown and are subject to change, up or down, until the booking is concluded. After that, we will only increase the price in limited circumstances to reflect increases in transportation costs (including fuel and airfares), dues, and government approved taxes (including VAT), both in the UK and overseas, fees chargeable for services (including landing taxes and embarkation and disembarkation and security fees at airports), Government action or exchange rate variation. If the surcharge would increase the cost of your holiday by 10% or more, you may cancel your holiday and receive a full refund, excluding third party non-refundable flight bookings and insurance premiums. We will absorb, and you will not be charged, for any increase equivalent to up to 2% of the original price of your holiday (excluding insurance premiums and amendment fees). No surcharges will be made within 30 days of departure. Prices in this brochure were calculated on the exchange rate of £1 = €1.15.

9. OUR RESPONSIBILITIES TO YOU
We take care to ensure that all parties involved in the preparation and supply of your holiday maintain the highest standards. Please remember that the appropriate standards will be those prevalent in your destination, which may not be the same as developed international standards.
(a) We will pay reasonable compensation (subject to (c) below) if the product supplied to you is not of the standard described or contracted for by you. This compensation will be limited (except in the case of death or injury) to no more than twice the holiday price of the person affected.
(b) Should failure in your holiday arrangements relating to you or any member of your party being killed, injured or becoming ill during or as a result of, carriage by aircraft, ship, train or coach as part of the holiday arrangements organised by us our liability to pay compensation is limited in accordance with the liability of the carrier/service under any international convention which governs such services.
(c) Our liability to you does not apply if you or any member of your group is at fault; if the failure is the fault of someone else not connected with providing the services which form part of our holiday contract with you; the failure is due to any unusual or unexpected circumstances beyond our control, which we could not have avoided even if we had used all care possible or the failure is due to any event which we or the supplier of any service could not help, expect or prevent.
(d) Any acceptance of liability is subject to you agreeing to assign to us your rights against any third party responsible for the events leading to your claim and to you affording us all necessary assistance in pursuing that claim.

10. COMPLAINTS
If you have a problem during your holiday, please inform our resort representative/managing agent immediately who will endeavour to put things right. They are there to help and can often solve a problem and enhance your holiday enjoyment. If you feel your complaint is not resolved locally and you wish to take the matter further you must detail your complaint in writing within 28 days of completion of your holiday with us to our Customer Services Department at 5 Arden Court, Arden Road, Alcester, Warwickshire, B49 6HN, giving your booking reference and all other relevant information.
We are unable to accept any complaint or responsibility after this date has passed or consider any complaint relating to your accommodation, which has not been reported to our representative in resort. It is strongly suggested that you communicate any complaint to our representative without delay and complete a report whilst in resort.
If you fail to follow this procedure we will have been deprived of the opportunity to fully investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were in resort and this may affect your rights under this contract.

It is unlikely that you will have a complaint that cannot be settled amicably between us. We can also offer you an arbitration scheme for the resolution of disputes arising out of, or in connection with this contract. Further information on the Code and arbitration can be found on ABTA’s website www.abta.com

The arbitration scheme is arranged by ABTA and administered independently by IDRS, part of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. It provides for a simple and inexpensive method of arbitration on documents alone with restricted liability on you in respect of costs. Full details will be provided on request or can be obtained from the ABTA website.

The scheme does not apply to claims for an amount greater than £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 that 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.

The application for arbitration and Statement of Claim must be received by IDRS within nine months of the date of return from the holiday. Outside this time limit arbitration under the Scheme may still be available if the company agrees, but the ABTA Code does not require such agreement.

For injury and illness claims, you may like to use the ABTA/Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Mediation Procedure. This is a voluntary scheme and requires us to agree for mediation to go ahead. The aim is to help you resolve your dispute in a quick and cost effective way. Details on request or from www.abta.com.

11. YOUR HOLIDAY ENVIRONMENT

We are unable to accept responsibility for any discomfort or inconvenience caused by the weather and climate conditions in your resort and will endeavour to resolve any situation caused as a result of adverse weather conditions promptly. In addition we ask you to consider the location of many of our villas where you may be aware of environmental noise including farm animals such as cockerels, dogs, goats and donkeys. In isolated cases small mice and rodents may also be seen in the natural environment surrounding your villa. During the summer months flies, ants and wasps are naturally occurring and we encourage you to follow basic food hygiene procedures including disposal of food waste including regularly placing rubbish in the bins located close to your villa. We do not accept responsibility or consider compensation for naturally occurring environmental conditions including resort and road noise.

12. BUILDING WORK

Building work in the general area adjoining our villas can occur during the season without prior notice to Villa Select. We will always inform you of any building work we are aware of in advance of your holiday, if you become aware of building work during your holiday please report this to our representative. Such work is beyond the control of our local agents, owners, and ourselves, however, we will make every effort to have the work stopped if possible. Alternatively, if this is not possible we will offer you alternative accommodation, of the same or higher standard, strictly subject to availability. Unfortunately we do not receive advance notice when building works will begin, or in some cases recommence, where third parties over whom we have no control are carrying this out. Whilst we will always do our best to minimise any inconvenience or interruption to your holiday, we regret that this is a "Force Majeure" and we do not accept any liability or pay any compensation in respect of this.

13. AIR CONDITIONING AND ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES

Air-conditioning where stated in your villa description is provided for your convenience at no additional charge. A breakdown of the units can often occur where the units are operated for protracted periods of time and/or where doors and windows are left open. Air-conditioning is intended for use while you are present in the villa and doors and windows remain closed. In the event of a breakdown a specialist engineer is often required. These third party engineers often have a call out pattern which may take up to seven days before a visit can be arranged or essential parts are sourced. Villa Select will not pay compensation due to the failure of any air-conditioning unit or electrical appliance. We will of course use our best endeavours to repair any malfunctioning equipment.

14. SWIMMING POOL AND UTILITIES

On infrequent occasions there can be interruption to water and electricity supplies and very rarely the use of swimming pool. Our local agent and suppliers will endeavour to resolve the problem within 24 hours or on the next working day. Please contact our local representative promptly if you experience loss of service.

15. TERMINATION AND INDEMNITY
You must accept responsibility for the proper conduct of yourself and any members of your party whilst on holiday. In cases of serious misconduct, we reserve the right to terminate your holiday or that of any member of your party. If we do so, we shall have no further responsibility or liability to you. If you or any member of your party wilfully, recklessly or negligently cause any damage to any accommodation, property or person, you agree to indemnify us against any loss suffered by us (including legal costs), arising from such damage.

16. BREAKAGES

A minor breakage and accidental damage charge will be added to all bookings (the amount will vary subject to the standard of property booked). The amount will be shown on your confirmation invoice and is payable at the time of your balance payment. The charge is non-refundable and covers accidental damage to minor fixtures and fitting and breakages to crockery and glassware. This does not cover malicious damage or misuse of the fixtures and fittings or structure of your villa.

On certain villas we also ask for a refundable security deposit which will be of varying amounts subject to the villa booked, this fee is refundable upon your return from holiday subject to a breakages / additional cleaning / loss inspection on departure.

Your acceptance of these booking conditions makes it your responsibility for the proper conduct of yourself and any members of your party including care and respect of the villa accommodation, pool and gardens during your stay.

All of our villas are inspected by our local staff on arrival and departure of each guest and we ask you to leave the property in the condition you found it on your arrival and report any damages or breakages caused during your stay.


17. PASSPORTS, VISAS AND OTHER ESSENTIAL DOCUMENTATION
It is your responsibility to ensure that all necessary passports are machine readable. You should also ensure that all necessary visas, international driving licences, vaccinations and other health documents are in order. All passports must have a validity of at least six months from your scheduled return date to the UK. You will generally need clear/clean pages for visas, as required, to be inserted. You must read all documentation that is supplied to you and ensure that all information contained within is correct. Failure to do so may incur amendment charges, which are your responsibility.

Some countries and airlines now require additional passenger information (API). We will inform you which countries and/or airlines require this information. This information is compulsory and is required by authorities. It is essential that all clients provide the API prior to travelling. Failure to provide this information may result in you being denied boarding for your flight. No refund will be permitted and any additional costs will be borne by the named clients.

18. TRAVEL INSURANCE
Your villa holiday package with us does NOT include travel insurance and it is your responsibility to ensure you have adequate insurance cover. In accordance with normal industry practice, we will require you to have adequate travel insurance to provide accident and medical cover before your holiday departs. Such insurance should ideally be valid from the date of booking, be valid throughout the holiday duration and financially cover any probable loss through cancellation, amendment, accident or health related problems. You should ensure you are covered for all activities you are planning on your trip. If you do not already have travel insurance policy, you can visit our website to purchase excellent value single-trip and annual policies provided by Travel & General Insurance Company plc. For any assistance with insurance please call the insurers helpline directly on 0845 408 0583.

19. SPECIAL REQUESTS
Whilst we will endeavour to comply with any special requests such as airline seating, diet and room requirements, we can only do so on a “goodwill” basis. As these are usually only provided at the discretion of the relevant supplier, we cannot guarantee availability and cannot be held responsible if they are not provided.

20. EXCURSIONS AND ACTIVITIES
We are only responsible for excursions and activities sold by us, which form part of your holiday contract.

21. JURISDICTION
This contract is governed by English Law and is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

22. DATA PROTECTION POLICY
In order for us to process your booking we need to store and record your information, including data as supplied. This may include transfer of such information outside of the European Economic Area to parties involved in the arrangements of your holiday. Equally we use such information for updating our mailing lists and from time to time you may receive travel related information from us or from other companies related to Villa Select. Should you not wish to receive such literature you must advise us in writing.

23. UK FOREIGN OFFICE ADVICE ON OVERSEAS TRAVEL
It is now assumed that British citizens are at risk of terrorism attack, be it in the UK or when travelling overseas. History has shown us these attacks can either be spontaneous or premeditated. For your guidance we suggest you visit the website of the Foreign Office on: www.fco.gov.uk or tel: 0845 850 2829. The website is regularly updated and provides you with country-specific information, including advice on terrorism and general matters on health and safety.

24. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
In addition to these general booking conditions, specific relevant destination information may be contained within the individual brochures and websites.

We do not accept pets in any of our properties.

All our properties are designated non-smoking.

Registered in England Number: 3033166
Registered address: 4 Red Lion Court, Hounslow,TW3 1JS

© Villa Select Ltd
All rights reserved.
Date of issue: November 2010