Terms, Conditions and Insurance
Introduction
1. “We” or “Us” or “Our” (with or without initial capital letters) or “the Company” refers to Sophie Hartman Limited or, where the context so admits, to an authorised representative of the Company.
2. “You” (with or without initial capital letters) refers to the person(s) who by making a Booking agree to accept Sophie Hartman Limited’s offer to provide travel services subject to these Booking Conditions. You further agree that these Booking Conditions are in all of the circumstances reasonable.
3. By facilitating the purchase of at least two different kinds of travel service for the purpose of the same trip or holiday, resulting in the conclusion of separate contracts with individual service providers, the Company is providing you with a “linked travel arrangement” as defined in Regulation 2(3)(b) of the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 (“the PTA Regulations”). The contract between you and the Company is not a “package travel contract” for the purposes of the PTA Regulations.
4. The information required by Regulation 26(8)(e) and (9)(a) and (b) of the PTA Regulations is set out at the Annex to these Booking Conditions.
Making a Booking
5. All of our tours are bespoke and the prices given on our website are indicative only. The actual price of the tour that you select (“your Tour”) will depend on your chosen itinerary, the extent to which you will be assisted and accompanied by us and prevailing exchange rates. These matters will be established in correspondence between you and the Company following which we will provide you with a Tour Itinerary and an Invoice.
6. The Invoice will specify the Total Price for your Tour, made up of a non-refundable Deposit of 50% of the Total Price, plus the balance of the Total Price. The Deposit is payable upon the issue of the Invoice, failing which we reserve the right to cancel your Booking. The balance will be payable as specified on the Invoice. If you are making a Booking less than eight weeks prior to departure the Company will issue you with an Invoice for the Total Price payable in full immediately.
7. Your Booking is complete when you pay the Deposit. In making your Booking you agree to these Booking Conditions, the Tour Itinerary and the sums specified in the Invoice as forming the contract between you and the Company and superseding any previous understanding or representation. Please make cheques payable to Sophie Hartman Limited.
What does the Total Price include?
8. The Total Price includes all of the travel, accommodation, meals, excursions, entrance fees and other such items that make up your Tour, including domestic (Indian) flights. The Total Price does not include international flights, visa costs, baggage surcharges, tips, alcoholic drinks, personal purchases, your insurance or items not set out in the Tour Itinerary.
Airlines, railways and buses
9. Sophie Hartman Limited does not make flight accommodation available to you and is not an agent for any entity that does make flight accommodation available to you. The Company facilitates the arrangement of your bookings with the Indian airlines, railways and buses that form part of your Tour. All such bookings are accepted by you subject to the terms, conditions and regulations of the carriers involved and to the laws of India or the Indian State involved. The Company can accept no liability for loss, damage or inconvenience suffered as a result of the acts or defaults of Indian airlines, railways or buses.
Passport, visas and health
10. You are responsible for ensuring that you have a valid passport, an appropriate visa and that you conform to health regulations made from time to time by the Government of India and the Governments of any state at which you may stop en route to India. We can advise you in applying for an Indian visa, but its cost and timing are your responsibility.
11. You are responsible for ensuring that you have all the vaccinations, prophylactics and medicines that are appropriate for a person of your age and medical history when travelling in India. Sophie Hartman Limited does not give medical advice and you are strongly advised to consult your GP in good time for your departure.
Baggage and personal effects
12. These remain your responsibility and risk at all times.
Travel insurance
13. You must take out suitable travel insurance to cover the entire period of your Tour. We reserve the right to require a copy of your policy and insurance schedule. If we are not reasonably satisfied with the terms of your travel insurance we have the right either to require you to take out further cover or to terminate your Booking if you fail to obtain adequate cover. Your cover must include, without limitation, emergency repatriation in the event of medical problems, medical, emergency and associated expenses, the costs of cancellation or curtailment, delayed or missed departure, personal accident and personal liability and loss of valuable goods.
Alterations and cancellations
14. We will do our utmost to ensure that the Tour Itinerary is adhered to, but must reserve the right to modify or cancel any excursion, flight, schedule, accommodation or arrangement if unforeseen circumstances require us to do so. In such circumstances we will inform you as soon as possible and will endeavour to make only such changes as are compatible and consistent with the Tour Itinerary and with the Total Price. If, however, we find that there is no reasonable alternative but to modify your Tour in a way that increases its cost we reserve the right to increase the total price by the minimum amount necessary and our supplementary invoice for this amount is payable in full within 10 days of its date of issue. We will not make any such modifications without discussing the situation with you in full.
15. If unforeseen Indian or international circumstances make it appropriate to cancel your Tour before departure from UK we will refund the monies that you have paid to us, less the actual cost of payments already made by us toward items on the Tour Itinerary, which may include domestic flights in India and hotel booking fees, plus a cancellation fee of £150. We shall not cancel any tour for reasons of political tension or natural disaster unless specifically recommended to do so by the Foreign Office.
16. We will do our best to accommodate any reasonable requests from you for alterations to the itinerary set out in the Tour Itinerary, subject to availability and to your paying for any increased costs resulting from your requests. Where your request for alteration(s) to the Tour Itinerary result in increased costs our supplementary invoice for the increased amount is payable in full within 10 days of its date of issue.
17. You may cancel your Tour at any time before it has started, provided that cancellation is communicated to us in writing by the person with whom the Tour Summary was negotiated. If you cancel your Tour eight weeks or more before your date of departure your deposit will not be refunded. If you cancel your Tour less than eight weeks before your date of departure a further cancellation charge will be payable, comprising a cancellation fee of £150 plus the actual cost of any payments that we have made in preparation for your Tour. This may include the cost of domestic flights in India and hotel booking fees.
Other tour operators
18. If you have chosen to include travel to parts of India other than those in which Sophie Hartman Limited has special expertise your Tour Itinerary may, at your request, include periods during which your Tour is the responsibility of another tour operator. The Tour Itinerary will make clear whether, where and when this is the case. Sophie Hartman Limited is not an agent for any other tour operators and cannot accept any responsibility for their acts or defaults or for problems experienced during that part of your Tour.
Our liabilities
19. Sophie Hartman Limited does not exclude or limit its liability to you in respect of death or personal injury resulting from its negligence (other than air and sea carriers performing any domestic internal or international carriage of any kind). Save as otherwise appears in these Booking Conditions we accept responsibility for ensuring that your Tour is as described and that the services provided by us or our authorised representatives or subcontractors are, in all of the circumstances, of a reasonable standard. For your part, you understand that you may encounter conditions and circumstances unlike those of Europe and you agree that the Company is not liable for discomfort or damage resulting from the vicissitudes of travel in India. We cannot assume responsibility for loss or expense due to war, riots, strikes, terrorist activities or natural disaster.
Other matters
20. We have measures in place to protect personal information held by us. Where required such information will be supplied to customs or immigration authorities and to the relevant carriers and accommodation providers. In making this Booking you give your consent to information about you held by us being passed to these parties.
21. If any of the provisions of these Booking Conditions are found to be inconsistent with the provisions of the PTA Regulations, unlawful or otherwise unenforceable by any court that/those provision(s) shall be deemed severed from the remainder of these Booking Conditions, which shall remain valid and enforceable. Headings shall not be taken into account in the construction of these Booking Conditions.
22. This contract shall be governed by the laws of England and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Company number 9374247
Version November 2019
Sophie Hartman Ltd trading as Holidays in Rural India is a company committed to customer satisfaction and consumer financial protection. We are therefore pleased to announce that, at no extra cost to you, and in accordance with ''The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018'' all passengers booking with Sophie Hartman Ltd trading as Holidays in Rural India are fully insured for the initial deposit, and subsequently the balance of monies paid as detailed in your booking confirmation form. The policy will also include repatriation if required, arising from the cancellation or curtailment of your travel arrangements due to the insolvency of Sophie Hartman Ltd trading as Holidays in Rural India. This insurance has been arranged by Towergate Travel through Zurich Insurance PLC.
Claims: In the unlikely event of Insolvency, you must Inform Towergate Travel immediately on +44 (0) 1932 334140 or by email at tcs@towergate.co.uk . Please ensure you retain the booking confirmation as evidence of cover and value.
Policy exclusions: This policy will not cover any monies paid for Travel Insurance or any claim relating to Air Flights. If you have booked flights as part of your travel, you should ensure that the company with which you booked the flights has the appropriate CAA/ATOL bonds in place.
Annex
THE PACKAGE TRAVEL AND LINKED ARRANGEMENTS REGULATIONS 2018, REGULATION 26 AND SCHEDULE 10
Information to be provided to the traveller, where the trader facilitates an online linked travel arrangement within the meaning of regulation 2(3)(b) and the trader is not a carrier selling a return ticket
If you book additional travel services for your trip or holiday via Sophie Hartman Limited, you will NOT benefit from rights applying to packages under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018.
Therefore, Sophie Hartman Limited will not be responsible for the proper performance of those additional travel services. In case of problems please contact the relevant service provider.
However, if you book additional travel services via this link/these links not later than 24 hours after receiving the confirmation of the booking from Sophie Hartman Limited, those travel services will become part of a linked travel arrangement. In that case Sophie Hartman Limited has, as required by the Package
Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, protection in place to refund your payments to Sophie Hartman Limited for services not fully performed because of Sophie Hartman Limited’s insolvency. Please note that this does not provide a refund in the event of the insolvency of the relevant service provider.
Sophie Hartman Limited has taken out insolvency protection with Zurich Insurance plc, administered by Towergate Travel. Travellers may contact Towergate Travel on +44 (0) 1932 334140 or by email at tcs@towergate.co.uk .Towergate Travel / Towergate Chapman Stevens are trading names of Towergate Underwriting Group Limited. Registered in England Company No. 4043759, Registered Office: 1 Minster Court, Mincing Lane, London, EC3R 7AA.
Note: This insolvency protection does not cover contracts with parties other than Sophie Hartman Limited, which can be performed despite Sophie Hartman Limited’s insolvency.
The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 may be found online at:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2018/9780111168479/contents
