Booking Terms and Conditions

The following Booking Conditions, together with all information relating to your chosen holiday contained on this Product Manual CD or website or in our relevant brochure, form the basis of your contract with DIETHELM TRAVEL LANKA (Pvt) Ltd. Please read them carefully as they set out our respective rights and obligations. By asking us to confirm your booking, we are entitled to assume that you have had the opportunity to read and have read these booking conditions and agree to them.

Making your booking

The Party Leader or Travel Agent is responsible for making all payments due to us as referred to in clause 2 below. Once we have received your booking and all appropriate payments, we will, subject to availability, confirm your holiday by sending a Booking Confirmation and Invoice to the Party Leader or Travel Agent. Everyone going on holiday must check all documents (including the Booking Confirmation and Invoice) carefully. Contact us immediately if any information which appears on any document appears to be incorrect or incomplete as it may not be possible to make changes later. Please note: not all of the advertised holiday prices published in our Product Manual, Brochures or on our Website include travel arrangements, for example flights. Please check at the time of booking

Payment

In order to confirm your chosen holiday, usually a deposit of 25% of the total (or full payment if your booking is received within 4 weeks of departure) must be paid at the time of booking. Please note: if you pay by credit card a charge will apply. This charge is currently 2.75% but we reserve the right to increase this at any time.

The balance of the holiday price must be received by us not less than 4 weeks prior to departure. If we do not receive all payments due (including any surcharge where applicable) in full and on time, we will send you a written reminder. If you do not pay all payments due in full within 7 days of receiving this reminder, we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled by you. In this case the cancellation charges set out in clause 7 below will be payable.

Insurance

We consider adequate travel insurance to be essential. Traveller(s) must give details of their policy (insurer and policy number) in writing at the time of booking. We will not accept your booking unless you provide these details. Please read your policy details carefully and take them with you on holiday. It is your responsibility to ensure that the insurance cover you purchase is adequate for your particular needs. We do not check alternative insurance policies. We will not accept liability for any damage, costs, losses or expenses which you incur as a result of your failure to comply with this clause.

Your contract

A binding contract between us comes into existence when we despatch your Booking Confirmation and Invoice to the Party Leader or Travel Agent.

The cost of your holiday

The price of your holiday was calculated using exchange rates quoted by Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (The representative governing body of Inbound Tour Operators in Sri Lanka). We reserve the right to make changes to and correct errors in advertised prices at any time before your holiday is confirmed. If there are any changes to the published prices, these will be confirmed at the time of booking. We will advise you of any error of which we are aware and of the then applicable price at the time of booking. Once the price of your chosen holiday has been confirmed at the time of booking then, subject to the correction of errors, we will only increase or decrease the price, subject to the conditions set out in this clause, if our costs increase or decrease as a result of transportation costs (e.g. fuel) or dues, taxes or fees payable for services such as hotels, entrance fees. We will not change the confirmed price of your holiday due to fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

You have 14 days from the issue date printed on the surcharge / supplementary invoice to tell us if you want to cancel for this reason. If you do not tell us that you wish to cancel within this period of time, we are entitled to assume that you do not wish to cancel and will pay the surcharge. Any surcharge must be paid with the balance of the cost of the holiday or within 14 days of the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice, whichever is the later.

Changes by you

Should you wish to make any changes to your confirmed holiday, you must notify us in writing as soon as possible. Whilst we will endeavour to assist, we cannot guarantee we will be able to meet any such requests. A change of holiday dates will normally be treated as a cancellation of the original booking and rebooking in which case cancellation charges will apply. Changes may result in the recalculation of the holiday price where, for example, the basis on which the price of the original holiday was calculated has changed.

If any member(s) of your party is/are prevented from travelling, the person(s) concerned may transfer their place to someone else (introduced by you) providing the following requirements are complied with. We must be notified of the transfer(s) in writing (giving full details of the original and substitute party member(s)) not less than two weeks before departure. A transfer will not be possible if there is a waiting list for places in which case the available place must be offered to the next person on that list.

Cancellation by you

Should you or any member of your party need to cancel your chosen holiday once it has been confirmed, the Party Leader or Travel Agent must immediately advise us by e-mail. Your notice of cancellation will only be effective when it is received by us at our offices. If we receive your notice of cancellation 8 weeks or more before departure, we will retain the full amount of your deposit.

If we receive it less than 8 weeks before departure, the following charges will be payable per person canceling, NB the charges set out below are shown as a percentage of the total cost of the holiday* payable by the person(s) canceling.

Period before departure within notification of cancellation is received by us	Cancellation charge per person cancelling
56 - 29 days	25%
28 - 15 days	50%
14 - 8 days	75%
7 days or less	100%

Where any cancellation reduces the number of full paying party members below the number on which the price, number of free places and/ or any concessions agreed for your booking were based, we will recalculate these items and re-invoice you accordingly.

See clause 6 "Changes by you" if any member(s) of your party are prevented from travelling.

Changes and cancellation by us

We start planning the holidays we offer many months in advance. Occasionally, we have to make changes to and correct errors in our Product Manual CD, Brochure, Website and other details both before and after bookings have been confirmed and cancel confirmed bookings. Please note, some of our holidays require a minimum number of participants to enable us to operate them. If the minimum number of bookings required for a particular holiday have not been received, we are entitled to cancel it. We will notify you or your travel agent of cancellation for this reason no later than 8 weeks before departure. Whilst we always endeavour to avoid changes and cancellations, we must reserve the right to do so.

Most changes are minor. Occasionally, we have to make a "significant change" before departure, such as: a change of accommodation to that of a lower official classification or standard for the whole or a major part of the time you are away, a change of accommodation area for the whole or a major part of the time you are away, a change of outward departure time or overall length of time you are away of twelve or more hours, alterations to your confirmed place of departure that add more than 100 miles to any single leg of your journey. If we have to make a significant change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible. If there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of the following options.

(a) Accepting the changed arrangements or

(b) Purchasing an alternative holiday from us, of a similar standard to that originally booked if available. We will offer you at least one alternative holiday of equivalent or higher standard for which you will not be asked to pay any more than the price of the original holiday. If this holiday is in fact cheaper than the original one, we will refund the price difference. If you do not wish to accept the holiday we specifically offer you, you may choose any of our other then available holidays. You must pay the applicable price of any such holiday. This will mean your paying more if it is more expensive or receiving a refund if it is cheaper or

(c) Canceling or accepting the cancellation in which case you will receive a full and quick refund of all monies you have paid to us.