Booking Terms and Conditions
- Your Contract
“railbookers” is a trading names of Railbookers Limited. Subject to clause 20 these are the conditions of the contract between you (“you”) and Railbookers Limited (“railbookers”), a company incorporated in England, registration number 4517531 and with its registered address at 14 Bonhill Street, London, EC2A 4BX. When you book a rail ticket or rail package a contract is formed as soon as full payment is made.
- Financial Protection
railbookers is a member of the Travel Trust Association Ltd, membership number U1138 which provides you with financial protection. All advance payments are held in a trust account which is supervised by an independent trustee. There is further protection from insurance cover provided by the Safe Seat Plan insurance scheme.
- Accommodation
railbookers have rated hotels according to a number of criteria including standard, facilities and location. While these may be the same ratings as those given by the appropriate tourist authority sometimes this is not the case since standards vary from country to country. railbookers does not warrant the availability of published or indicative amenities or facilities which are the responsibility of the relevant provider.
- Insurance
You must have suitable insurance cover for your trip.
- Amendments
If you want to change anything to do with your booking, we will do our best to help, but we cannot guarantee to make the changes you want or at all. Amendments are not permitted on Orient-Express or Trans-Siberian journeys, nor on any other rail journey once the tickets have been issued. In all other cases the following administration charges will be made:
More than 2 weeks prior to departure - £25 per person
Less than 2 weeks prior to departure - up to 100% of the total amount paid
- Cancellations
There is no refund permitted on Orient-Express or Trans-Siberian journeys, nor on rail tickets once they have been issued. Packages are subject to the following cancellation charges:
28 days or earlier prior to departure - 50% of package price
From 15 to 27 days prior to departure - 75% of package price
14 days or less prior to departure - 100% of package price
Depending on the reason for your cancellation, you may be able to reclaim these cancellation charges (less any applicable excess) under the terms of your own travel insurance policy. Claims must be made directly to the insurance company concerned. - Changes made by us
It is very unlikely that we will have to make any changes but occasionally it may be necessary to change your hotel to one of a similar category or change the time of your train ticket due to circumstances beyond our control. We will let you know as soon as possible about this type of change but we are unable to pay compensation. If we have to make what we consider to be a major charge to your booking such as an alteration to the departure time by more than 12 hours or a change of accommodation to a lower category we will inform you immediately and offer you the choice of a full refund or an alternative package. If you prefer to go ahead with the changed booking, you will receive compensation of up to £25.00 per person, except infants.
- Force Majeure
Compensation will not be paid nor will any refunds of any nature whatsoever be made when changes or cancellations occur as a result of war, threat of war, riot, civil strife, terrorism, strikes (including, but not limited to, strikes and official or unofficial industrial action by rail operators, train operating companies, track operators or otherwise), industrial disruption, natural disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire, government action or other events beyond our control.
- Transport
If transport suppliers make minor changes to the original schedule we will inform you as soon as possible but if you opt to cancel as a result, you will be liable for normal cancellation charges. The conditions of carriage of the transport carrier apply to your journey.
- Complaints and Disputes
If you are unhappy with the accommodation or any services we have provided, you should tell the owner or manager of the property immediately. If they fail to put things right and the enjoyment of your trip is affected, please contact us by phone on 0844 482 1010 so we can try to solve the problem while you are still on your trip. An emergency contact number (provided on your travel documents) is in operation outside office hours until midnight (UK time) every day. Any written complaints must be made to us within one month of your return from your trip.
- The 1998 Data Protection Act
Information you provide will be held in the railbookers database and may be used for booking information, insurance, market research, fraud prevention and for contacting you regarding any details of our products and services. We may also monitor and/or record your telephone conversations with railbookers reservations staff for security purposes and to ensure consistent customer service levels, including staff training.
- Obtaining Data
You can request copies of the data that we are holding on you from the Data Controller at Railbookers Limited’s registered office. There is an administration fee of £10 to provide this data.
- Conditions
Your contract with us is based on these booking conditions and all other information contained on our website, which are governed by the laws of England and Wales. If however, you have booked your trip in Scotland or Northern Ireland any disputes may be dealt with in those local courts and will be subject to the law of those countries.
- Passport and Visas
It is your responsibility to hold a valid passport. Visa requirements may differ for non-British passport holders. Please ensure you are in possession of the correct documentation for your travel. We cannot accept liability for any loss you may suffer because you are not in possession of the correct travel documents.
- Health
For the latest in health recommendations around the world we would advise you check www.fco.gov.uk
- Our Liability to You
We will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that the travel arrangements you book with us are supplied as described on our website/promotional material. We will always endeavour to ensure that any special requests you make are fulfilled, however we can never guarantee such requests. If any part of your travel arrangements is not provided as promised we will pay you appropriate compensation if we agree this has materially affected the enjoyment of your trip. We accept responsibility should you or any member of your party suffer death or personal injury solely as a result of any failure by us to perform our contract except where the failure to perform was due to:- Your own acts or omissions
- Those of a third party not connected with the provision of your trip and which were unforeseeable or unavoidable
- An event which could not have been foreseen or avoided even with all due care.
- Independent Contractors
Some services which you may take during your package may be provided by independent contractors. Railbookers accepts no liability of any kind to you for acts or omissions in connection with or arising out of arrangements with any such independent contractors.
- Corporate Travel
railbookers is a leisure travel agent and we cannot book or offer corporate travel facilities. We reserve the right to refuse or cancel any booking we believe is for corporate travel purposes.
- Special Requests
If you have any special request, you must advise us in writing at the time of booking. Although we will endeavour to pass any reasonable requests on to the relevant supplier, we regret we cannot guarantee any request will be met unless we have specifically confirmed this. For your own protection, you should obtain confirmation in writing from us that your request will be complied with (where it is possible for us to give this) if your request is important to you. Confirmation that a special request has been noted or passed on to the supplier or the inclusion of the special request on your confirmation invoice or any other documentation is not confirmation that the request will be met. Unless and until specifically confirmed, all special requests are subject to availability. We regret we cannot accept any conditional bookings, i.e. any booking which is specified to be conditional on the fulfilment of a particular request. All such bookings will be treated as “standard” bookings subject to the above provisions on special requests.
- Flights
For the avoidance of doubt where any part of any holiday or other booking includes a flight booking or constitutes an air holiday then the entirety of that booking shall be operated by Exclusively Europe Limited, a company which is ATOL protected by the Civil Aviation Authority (ATOL licence number 9040). Flight bookings are also ATOL protected except when tickets for scheduled flights are issued within 24 hours of payment being accepted, or where your payment is made direct to the airline. ATOL protection extends primarily to customers who book and pay in the UK. The terms and conditions under which Exclusively Europe Limited operates are available on request. railbookers cannot accept responsibility for any delays, cancellations or changes to flights (including but not limited to changes to aeroplane specifications, meal availability, configuration or estimated journey times). - Names and Ages
All names, titles and initials of those travelling must be correctly given at the time of booking. Name changes cannot be made at a later date without extra charges being incurred. Please note that correct ages are required for insurance cover within the following bands: (Under 3) (3-18), (Over 65). If you are purchasing or arranging a holiday on behalf of someone else you must ensure you have each passenger name as per their passport. If you provide us with incorrect passenger names, name changes will not be permitted and you will have to purchase a new ticket subject to availability.
