TOUR PRICES • • •
Tour prices are per person, based on two persons sharing a room. If you request a single room, a single supplement is added to the regular tour prices.
RESERVATIONS, DEPOSITS AND INSTALLMENT PAYMENTS • • •
To reserve space on any tour that includes its itinerary, dates and price, you are required to fill out a Tour Registration Form online, indicate that you have read and agree with the Hands on Travel Terms and Conditions and make a refundable conditional deposit of US $500 per person. Your tour will be confirmed when its minimum number of persons is met. When this happens, your deposit becomes non-refundable. The date of tour confirmation will be the date of your deposit (first payment) that becomes non-refundable. From time to time, you can make installment or additional payments toward the balance amount due. At times, HOT will require additional or installment payments to be made between the time the tour is confirmed and the deadline for full payment. The deposit and all installment or additional payments can be paid by check or credit card. Payments by credit card via PayPal will carry a surcharge of 3%. Full payment of the balance is due 90 days before the first day of the tour.
IF YOU CANCEL YOUR RESERVATION • • •
If you find it necessary to cancel your confirmed tour reservation, you must notify HOT about it by e-mail. You may transfer your space to another suitable person or request us to seek replacements. If your replacement is found, HOT will, at its discretion depending on the time frame, refund your deposits/payments or apply it towards a future Hands on Travel tour that is to be taken no more than 3 years after the dates of the original tour. If your replacement is not found, the cancellation of your reservation will become effective and the following charges will apply: (a) if cancelled more than 90 days before the first day of the tour, all installment or additional payments will be refunded to you minus the non-refundable deposit of US $500 per person and any non-refundable payments that HOT has made to suppliers. (b) if cancelled less than 90 days before the first day of the tour, no refunds will be made.
IF YOU CHANGE YOUR RESERVATION • • •
If you find it necessary to switch from one tour to another, we will do our best to accommodate your changes. This becomes more difficult, though, the closer we are to the tour date, thus we reserve the right to apply a surcharge of the tour price to cover cancellation charges and other administrative costs.
IF WE CHANGE AN ITINERARY • • •
Running a tour is a complex process, with many decisions made “behind the scenes” in order to maintain a high quality of service. In light of this, we reserve the right to alter our suggested itineraries when required by circumstances such as, but not confined to, closing days of museums and restaurants, flooded trails, strikes, disruptions of service by one of our service providers, participant nap schedules, sick monks, etc. etc. If such a change becomes necessary, we will make every effort to provide substitutions in kind to thereby maintain the same quality originally stipulated in our itineraries.
PARTIAL REFUNDS • • •
Since tour prices are quoted as a package, no partial refunds can be made for the unused portion of any tour including lodging, meals, or any other items that are included in the tour price. This does not apply to those who wish to participate in only a portion of a tour. In this case, we can pro-rate costs for the unused days.
TRANSPORTATION • • •
Tour prices do not include international airfares from the United States of America to and from your chosen destinations overseas. Once the participant confirms his/her flight information, he/she is responsible to ensure correct arrival and departure dates/times. Hands On Travel LLC will not be responsible for errors and/or omissions in flight reservations made by participants or independent third parties. Furthermore, we do not accept liability incurred by any participant’s purchase of an international airline ticket. If Hands on Travel LLC provides a rental tour vehicle for transportation of participants and luggage, only persons authorized by Hands on Travel LLC can drive the tour vehicle.
TRAVEL PROTECTION • • •
Hands on Travel recommends that you purchase a travel protection plan to help protect you and your travel investment against the unexpected. Travel protection plans include coverage for Trip Cancellation, Trip Interruption, Emergency Medical and Emergency Evacuation/Repatriation, Trip Delay, Baggage Delay and more. To learn more about how to help protect you and your trip investment, visit the following link: TRAVEL PROTECTION.
TRAVEL ADVISORIES / WARNINGS • • •
Hands On Travel LLC has no special knowledge regarding the financial condition of its suppliers, unsafe conditions, health hazards, weather hazards, or climate extremes in the countries or locations in which you may travel. To obtain health and medical information related to travel destinations, we advise you to contact the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) at (877) FYI-TRIP or visit their website at www.cdc.gov/travel. To obtain information on unsafe country conditions, you are advised to contact the Travel Warnings Section of the U.S. State Department at (202) 647-5225 or visit their website at www.travel.state.gov. You assume full and complete responsibility for investigating and verifying any and all passport, visa, vaccination, or other entry requirements of the countries in which you will travel, and all health, safety and security conditions in those destinations.In the event of an active State Department or CDC warning against travel to the specific destination(s) of the trip, should the participant still choose to travel, notwithstanding any advisory or warning, the participant assumes all risk of personal injury, death or property damage that may arise out of the events like those advised or warned against.
RISKS • • •
There are certain inherent risks in adventure travel of the type involved here. These include, but are not limited to: hiking, walking safaris, climbing injuries and altitude sickness, and in all trips: dangers of animals, inaccessibility to medical attention and difficulty in evacuation from remote locations in the case of a medical emergency. Except for acts or omissions of gross negligence or willful misconduct caused by Hands On Travel LLC, Participant assumes all such risks with regard to these possibilities and is hereby given notice that hospital and/or health facilities/personnel for treatment of serious medical problems are often unavailable, and further that evacuation, if available, can be prolonged, difficult and expensive. Hands on Travel LLC assumes no liability regarding provision of medical care or evacuation services. You, hereby, understand and acknowledge that any of our staff or contractors who may provide emergency medical care in the field may not have had formal medical or first-aid training and would be acting only as “Good Samaritans.”
MEDICAL CONDITIONS • • •
As a tour company that caters to the hearing impaired community, we make our best effort to accommodate any special requirements that our customers may have. If you have a medical problem or disability which may affect your participation in a tour, you must provide us with full details of your condition before we confirm your booking so that we can try to advise you as to the suitability of your chosen tour. We may require you to produce a doctor’s certificate certifying that you are fit to participate in the tour. Acting reasonably, if we are unable to properly accommodate your needs, we will not confirm your booking or if you did not provide us with full details of your condition at the time of booking, we will cancel it and impose applicable cancellation charges when we become aware of these details.
PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEOS • • •
Hands On Travel LLC reserves the right to take photographs and videos during tours and of participants and to use those photographs and videos in our promotional materials without compensation. We will ask for your permission before using a recognizable photo of you. If later you find that you don’t like a particular use of a photograph or video of you in our materials, please notify us. In the case of electronic media (e.g. website or social media), we will remove it immediately. In the case of printed material (including CDs/DVDs), we will not include it in future printings.
TOUR INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTS • • •
After your tour is confirmed, you will receive an updated invoice including the tour price, travel protection information, a suggested clothing and equipment list, a copy of handy tips on traveling, rendezvous instructions, hotel contact information, and a reading list. In addition we are always reachable if you have any questions or concerns regarding the tour.
LIMITS OF LIABILITY • • •
Hands on Travel LLC acts only as an agent for the supplier with respect to transportation, lodging and other services from various independent suppliers and exercises every care possible. As a result we are not liable for any negligent or willful act of any such person or entity or of any third person in connection with the provision of goods or services. In addition and without limitation, Hands On Travel LLC is not responsible for any injury, loss, death, inconvenience, delay or damage to personal property in connection with the provision of any goods or services whether resulting from but not limited to acts of God, illness, disease, acts of war, civil unrest, insurrection or revolt, animals, strikes or other labor activities, criminal or terrorist activities of any kind, overbooking or downgrading of services, food poisoning, mechanical or other failure of aircraft or other means of transportation or for failure of any transportation mechanism to arrive or depart on time or other causes beyond our control. All such losses and expenses will have to be borne by the participant, as tour prices include arrangements only for the time stated. Excepting only liability that directly arises from the gross negligence or willful misconduct of Hands On Travel, you, individually, and on behalf of your heirs, successors, assigns, and personal representatives, hereby release and forever discharge Hands On Travel LLC, its employees, agents, servants and contractors, from all claims of liability for personal injury, death or property loss arising out of or resulting from an incident that occurs during a tour in which you are a participant. All tour itineraries and prices are subject to change, which would not be cause for refund. We also reserve the right to amend typos and misprints in pricing and other trip information. The right is reserved to cancel any tour prior to departure, in which case the entire payment will be refunded without further obligation on our part. If a tour participant fails to make payment, then we reserve the right to cancel that reservation without any obligation to refund or make alternative arrangements. We also reserve the right to decline to accept or to retain any person as a member of the tour, or to require a tour participant to withdraw from the tour at their own expense when such an action is determined by tour staff to be in the best interest of the participant’s health and safety, and that of the group in general.
ARBITRATION AGREEMENT • • •
The laws of the State of Arizona shall govern the rights and obligations of the parties to this Agreement and the interpretation, construction and enforceability thereof. Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating in any way to these Terms and Conditions, to the Limits of Liability clause, or any information relating in any way to the tour, or to the tour itself, shall be settled solely and exclusively by binding arbitration in Arizona, USA, in accordance with the rules of the Arbitration Association then existent. In the event an action or proceeding is initiated by the Participant in an improper venue outside of the State of Arizona, the participant agrees to pay Hands On Travel LLC’s costs and reasonable attorney fees associated with defending such action or proceeding in the improper venue.
SEVERABILITY • • •
If any term of this Agreement is to any extent illegal, otherwise invalid, or incapable of being enforced, such term shall be excluded to the extent of such invalidity or unenforceability. All other terms hereof shall survive and remain in full force and effect. Notwithstanding, to the extent permitted and possible, the invalid or unenforceable term shall be deemed replaced by a term that is valid and enforceable and that comes closest to expressing the intention of such invalid or unenforceable term.
Last Updated October 16, 2018.