Your contract with us

Our Fair Trading Agreement together with the general information contained in our brochure form the basis of your contract with us. This sets out clearly and simply the responsibilities which we at SkiPlan have to you and which you in turn have to us. When signing the Booking Form for your tour you will sign on behalf of yourself and the others named in your party that you have read, understood and have accepted this Fair Trading Agreement and the tour information provided in this brochure. Your contract is entered into with SkiPlan Travel Ltd (the Company).

1. Payments

When you make your booking you must complete and sign a Booking Form, accepting on behalf of all your party the terms of this Fair Trading Agreement.
The appropriate deposits (see below) (or full payment if booking within twelve weeks of departure) must also be paid at the time of booking. If you wish to purchase the insurance policy we offer, all applicable premiums must also be paid at the time of booking (you must be insured - see clause 12). A full Passenger Names List is also required at the time of booking for submission to the Insurance Company.
You must then make additional payments in accordance with the following timetable.

First deposits: £100 ppp. Second deposits: £50 ppp no later than 4 weeks after 1st deposit. Third deposits: £100 ppp no later than 4 weeks after 2nd deposit.
Final balance due 12 weeks before departure.

Any monies paid to a Party Leader in respect of a SkiPlan tour are held by the Party Leader on behalf of party members until such times as the Company has dispatched written confirmation of your booking. Thereafter any money held by the Party Leader is held on the Company's behalf. A binding contract between us comes into existence when we despatch our confirmation to the party leader (see clause 1 of Our Promise to You). This contract and all matters arising out of it are governed by English law. We both agree that any dispute, claim or other matter which arises out of or in connection with this contract or your holiday will be dealt with under the ABTA Arbitration Scheme (see clause 4 of Our Promise to You) or by the Courts of England and Wales only.

2. Final Numbers Form

A Final Numbers Form for details of your group will be sent following receipt of all deposits in full or, at least 16 weeks prior to the departure of your tour. We ask you to return this to the Company no less than 14 weeks prior to departure.

3. You pay the balance

1. An invoice for the balance due (based on the information to date supplied to us) will also be sent to the person who signed the Booking Form with your SkiPlan Information Pack. The full amount outstanding must be received by us no later than 12 weeks before departure.
2. The Company also reserves the right at its discretion if your final balance is not paid in full by the due date at any subsequent time before Departure to treat the booking as cancelled by you, and charge cancellation charges in accordance with the scale set out in paragraph 6. There will be a £5 per person administration charge per weeks delay or part thereof (this does not apply to cancellations).
3. After receipt of balance of monies the Company will send your travel documents and tickets approximately three weeks before your departure.

4. Name Changes

We will request name details at the time of securing your flight seats. This is often at an early stage of the booking. It is the Party Leaders responsibility to ensure that ALL names given are in full and exactly as shown on the individuals' passport. We do not accept any responsibility for incorrect/abbreviated names submitted and any subsequent amendments will be dealt with as a name change. Once the airline have received and processed the names, any subsequent amendments or name changes will carry a minimum charge of £100 plus a payment of £39 per child or £59 per adult to cover the new Insurance premium.

Any name change alterations made by you within 8 weeks of departure will be treated as a cancellation of the original booking by you and a request for a new booking and will be subject to the cancellation charges set out in clause 6 and payment of the full cost of the new booking.
N.B. submitting names will not guarantee the cost of your tour.
For all name changes, where a name change can be made, all costs and charges incurred by us and/or incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers as a result together with the applicable amendment fee as stated above must be paid before the transfer can be effected. Most airlines do not allow name changes after tickets have been issued or in the case of low cost carriers once names have been received. In this instance the charge is usually the full cost of the flight. If your invoice settlement date is overdue at the time of requesting the change this also must be paid in full before the change can be made.

5. If you change your booking

If, after our confirmation has been issued, you wish to change your tour or your departure date, we will do our utmost to make the changes. Notification received at our offices from the person who signed the Booking Form within 14 weeks of departure must be accompanied by a payment of £20 per person to cover our administration costs. Any additional requests made by you within 10 weeks of departure are subject to a further amendment charge of £20 per person.

6. If you cancel your booking

You, or any member of your party, may cancel your booking at any time provided that cancellation is made by the person signing the Booking Form, and is communicated to the Company in writing at Head Office. A Cancellation or amendment is effective only when received in writing by the Company from the person signing the Booking Form. As cancellation by you incurs administrative costs we will retain your deposit and, in addition, apply cancellation charges up to the maximum amounts shown below.
Where the cancellation charge is shown as a percentage, this is calculated on the basis of the total cost payable by the person(s) cancelling excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges. Insurance premiums and amendment charges are not refundable in the event of the person(s) to whom they apply cancelling.

Period before departure within which written notice of cancellation is received	Amount of cancellation charge
More than 84 days	Deposits received
35 to 84 days	65%
15 to 34 days	75%
8 to 14 days or less	90%
7-Departure day or afterwards	100%

Note: You may be able to reclaim these charges if the reason for cancellation is covered under the terms of your holiday insurance policy.

7. If you have a complaint

Should you have a complaint which cannot be immediately resolved locally in resort please inform the Company using the contact procedure which will have been advised to you with your travel documents. The Company will do everything reasonably possible to help you. If the matter cannot be put right on the spot, you must write to the Company within 28 days of the date on which the tour ended. The Company normally expects to agree an amicable settlement of the few complaints received.

8. Conditions of Suppliers

Many of the services which make up your holiday are provided by independent suppliers. Those suppliers provide these services in accordance with their own terms and conditions. Some of these terms and conditions may limit or exclude the supplier's liability to you, usually in accordance with applicable International Conventions (see clause 5 of Our Promise to You). Copies of the relevant parts of these terms and conditions are available on request from ourselves or the supplier concerned.

9. Other Items

In signing the Booking Form the Party Leader or Organiser also accepts responsibility for the good conduct of all participants during the holiday and warrants that at least one responsible adult will be on active duty at all times to ensure that all participants behave well. Furthermore, it is the Party Leader's or Organiser's responsibility specifically to ensure that:

1. no participant under 21 years of age consumes alcoholic drinks unless written permission from a parent or guardian can be produced,
2. all local laws relating to the consumption of alcohol are at all times obeyed by participants,
3. no participant over 21 years consumes alcohol to excess,
4. no participant smokes in a hotel bedroom or in any other way causes a fire hazard,
5. participants act in a responsible fashion during the holiday and do not behave in a way likely to cause damage to property, or damage or offence to other people,
6. if in the reasonable opinion of the accommodation owner or manager, a senior member of our staff, coach driver or an airline pilot, consider there is a breach of clause 9, we or they are authorised to terminate the booking and require the applicants to leave the accommodation or mode of transport. In such event no refund shall be made of any part of the booking costs. We will have no further responsibility toward such person(s) including any return travel arrangements. When you book with us, the Party Leader accepts responsibility for any damage or loss caused by he/she or any member of your party. Full payment for any such damage or loss must be paid direct at the time to the accommodation owner or manager or other supplier. If the Party Leader fails to do so, he/she will be responsible for meeting any claims subsequently made against us (together with our own and the other party's full legal costs) as a result of his/her actions.

10. Passports and Visas

It is the responsibility of the party leader to ensure that all group members have a valid passport and any necessary visa documents required to travel. We cannot accept responsibility for any cost or fines incurred due to non-compliance with the above nor can we accept any liability if you are refused entry onto any transport or into any country due to failure on your part to carry correct documentation.

11. Medical Requirements

The Company recommends that all party members should read the information contained in the Department of Health leaflet T6 (Health Advice for Travellers) available from your local Department of Health office and most Post Offices. Heavenly groups: A Schools Release Form must be completed by the parent or legal guardian of each and every child of every group going to Heavenly Ski Resort. Children are not permitted to take part in a ski school program without having completed a form.

12. Insurance

We consider adequate travel insurance to be essential. Details of the policy we offer are shown on p.34 of our brochure. If you decide not to purchase this insurance, you must give details of your alternative policy (insurer and policy number) on our booking form. If you fail to do so, we will add the appropriate premiums for the personal travel insurance we offer to your confirmation invoice. These premiums must be paid as soon as possible as cover will not be effective until we receive all applicable premiums in full. Please read your policy details carefully. 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.

13. Accommodation

Adult Rooming: Adults travelling on free places will be allocated twin rooms. Paying Adults will incur a room supplement if not based in a quad room (prices on application).
Please Note that for Triple and Quad rooms 2 x Queen beds are used.

Our promise to you

1. We reserve your tour

After we have provisionally confirmed that we have available space on the tour of your choice, a written confirmation will be forwarded to you normally within 3 weeks of receipt of your signed Booking Form and all appropriate payments (see clause 1 of Your Contract with Us.) This confirmation will be sent to the party leader. Please check this confirmation carefully as soon as you receive it. Contact us immediately if any information on the confirmation or any other document appears to be incorrect or incomplete as it may not be possible to make changes later. We regret we cannot accept any liability if we are not notified of any inaccuracies in any document within ten days of our sending it out (five days for tickets). We will do our best to rectify any mistake notified to us outside these time limits but you must meet any costs involved in doing so. The only exception to this requirement to meet costs is where the mistake in question was made by us and there is good reason why you did not tell us about it within these time limits.

2. Our prices/Surcharge policy

We reserve the right to increase or decrease the prices of holidays at any time. Our prices are based on 4 persons sharing a room and special rates have been agreed for limited allocation on Scheduled flights. When these are all filled additional charges will apply and affect the selling price of our tours. It is strictly first come first served for the lowest tour prices. The price of your chosen holiday will be confirmed 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 the price in the following circumstances. Price increases after booking will be passed on by way of a surcharge. The price of your travel arrangements is subject to surcharges in the following circumstances: Increases in transportation costs e.g. fuel, scheduled air fares and any other airline surcharges which are part of the contract between airlines (and their agents) and the tour operator/organiser, Government action such as increases in VAT or any other Government imposed increases, adverse fluctuations in the exchange rates which have been used to calculate the cost of your holidays which result in our costs increasing.
Even in these stated cases, we will absorb increased costs up to a total amount equivalent to 2% of the cost of your confirmed holiday (excluding insurance premiums and any amendment charges). Only amounts in excess of this 2% will be surcharged.
If this means paying more than 10% of the tour price (excluding insurance premiums and any amendment charges), you will be entitled to cancel your tour with a full refund of monies paid to us except for insurance premiums and amendment charges. Should you decide to cancel because of this, you must exercise your right to do so within fourteen days from the issue date printed on the invoice.
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.

Canadian Airport Improvement Fee - Our prices exclude this fee which is added to your holiday cost prior to travel, it is no longer payable in local currency at your return airport as has been the case previously. The cost of this fee is currently £12 per person but it is variable, we will add the correct current charge to your invoice 10 weeks prior to departure (Airport Improvement Fee increase is not covered under the ABTA surcharge regulations).
We reserve the right to correct errors in both advertised and confirmed prices. We will do so as soon as we become aware of the error. Please note, changes and errors occasionally occur. You must check the price of your chosen holiday at the time of booking.
Passenger Protection Levy - In the event that a passenger protection levy is introduced it will be shown as a separate item on your invoice and will be subject to surcharges.
The prices printed in our brochure are valid at the time of publication prices are based on the cost of transport, accommodation etc; on the 09.09.04 the rates were as follows: £1 = USA 1.787 US$ and £1 = Canada 2.307 CAD$.
Adult Supplements: Adults travelling over the free place ratio will be charged a minimum supplement of £100 per person. This does not include ski tuition, which can be purchased in resort. Where groups comprise more than 15% full paying adults the tour price will be reviewed and automatically be subject to an increase.
Single Rooms: for accompanying adults are strictly subject to availability and always carry a supplement.

3a. If we change your booking

The arrangements for tours in this brochure are made many months in advance and changes are sometimes unavoidable. Occasionally, we have to make changes to and correct errors in brochure and other details both before and after bookings have been confirmed and we must reserve the right to do so. For the most part these changes will be minor. Where a significant change is necessary we will notify you. A significant change means the following changes when made before departure: one that involves altering your departure date by more than 24 hours, resort area, reducing the quality of your hotel or a change of tour itinerary which involves a destination being completely eliminated from the advised itinerary. This does not apply to single overnight hotels on touring or part-touring holidays. In the event of a significant change made by us after we have dispatched our written confirmation invoice 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:-

1. to continue with the holiday as altered by us or
2. to accept an alternative holiday which we may offer to you or
3. cancelling in which case you will receive a full and quick refund of all monies you have paid to us.

3b. If we cancel your booking

We reserve the right in any circumstances to cancel your tour. However, in no case will we cancel your tour less than 10 weeks before the scheduled departure date except for reasons of force majeure or failure by you to pay the final balance of your holiday cost in full and on time. Where we are forced to cancel less than ten weeks before departure for reasons other your failure to pay the balance of you holiday cost in full and in time we will offer you the choice of a) cancelling your holiday and receiving a full and prompt refund of all monies you have paid to us b) accepting an alternative tour offered by us of comparable standard. In addition we will also pay you compensation on a similar scale to that shown in "If we change your booking" (3a). NB
Compensation will not be payable and no liability beyond offering the above mentioned choices can be accepted where we are forced to make a change or cancel as a result of force majeure. No compensation will be payable if we cancel as a result of your failure to comply with any requirement of these booking conditions entitling us to cancel (such as paying on time). In all cases, our liability for significant changes and cancellations is limited to offering you the above mentioned options and, where applicable, compensation payments. We regret we cannot pay any expenses, costs or losses incurred by you as a result of any change or cancellation.
Very rarely, we may be forced by "force majeure" (see below) to change or terminate your holiday after departure but before the scheduled end of your time away. This is extremely unlikely but if this situation does occur, we regret we will be unable to make any refunds (unless we obtain any refunds from our suppliers), pay you any compensation or meet any costs or expenses you incur as a result.

Force Majeure

Except where otherwise expressly stated in these booking conditions, we regret we cannot accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our contractual obligations is prevented or affected by or you otherwise suffer any damage or loss (as more fully described in clause 5) as a result of "force majeure". In these Booking Conditions, "force majeure" means any event which we or the supplier of the service(s) in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such events may include war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, actual or threatened terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire and all similar events outside our control.

4. What happens to complaints

We undertake to acknowledge any written complaint within 14 days of receipt and to write to you in full within 28 days or to explain any delay. In any event you will receive a full reply within a maximum of 56 days. If we cannot agree an amicable settlement, you are entitled have your dispute referred for resolution by arbitration under a special scheme devised for the travel industry and administered by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. The scheme provides for a simple and inexpensive method of arbitration on documents alone that restricts liability on yourself in respect of costs. The scheme does not apply to claims for an amount greater than £5000 per person or £15000 per Booking Form or to claims which are solely or mainly in respect of physical injury or illness, or the consequences of such injury or illness. Where a claim includes in part a claim for personal injury or illness a limit of £1000 per person applies to that part of the claim. If you wish to have your dispute referred for arbitration, you must return a completed application for arbitration and Statement of Claim to the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators within nine months of completion of the return journey or of the events giving rise to the dispute, whichever is the later. The scheme provides for a right for either party to have the arbitrators decision reviewed and details are set out in the rules of the Scheme. Details of the scheme will be supplied on request.

5. Our responsibility to you

(1) We promise to make sure that all parts of the holiday we have agreed to arrange, perform or provide as part of our contract with you are performed or provided with reasonable skill and care. We will accept responsibility if any death, personal injury failure or deficiency of your holiday arrangements is caused by any fault of ours, or our agents or suppliers. When we talk about "fault" above, this means failure by ourselves or our agents or suppliers (as applicable) to use reasonable skill and care in performing or providing the service in question. Please note it is your responsibility to show that reasonable skill and care has not been used if you wish to make a claim. We will not be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss (for example loss of enjoyment), damage, expense, cost or other sum or claim of any description whatsoever which results from any of the following: - (a) the fault of the person(s) affected or any member(s) of their party or (b) the fault of a third party not connected with the provision of your holiday which we could not have predicted or avoided or (c) an event or circumstance which we or the supplier of the service(s) in question could not have predicted or avoided even after taking all reasonable care (see section on 'Force Majeure') (d) the fault of anyone who is not carrying out work for us (generally or in particular) at the time. In addition, we will not be responsible where you do not enjoy your holiday or suffer any problems because of a reason you did not tell us about when you booked your holiday. Any problems suffered that did not result from any breach of our contract or other any fault of ourselves, where we were responsible for them, our suppliers or agents or where any losses, expenses, costs or other sum you have suffered relate to any business. Please note, we cannot accept responsibility for any services which do not form part of our contract. This includes, for example, any additional services or facilities which your hotel or any other supplier agrees to provide for you where the services or facilities are not advertised in our brochure and we have not agreed to arrange them.

(2) The promises we make to you about the services we have agreed to provide or arrange as part of our contract - and the laws and regulations of the country in which your claim or complaint occurred - will be used as the basis for deciding whether the services in question had been properly provided. If the particular services which gave rise to the claim or complaint complied with local laws and regulations applicable to those services at the time, the services will be treated as having been properly provided. This will be the case even if the services did not comply with the laws and regulations of the UK which would have applied had those services been provided in the UK. The exception to this is where the claim or complaint concerns the absence of a safety feature which might lead a reasonable holiday maker to refuse to take the holiday in question.

(3) We limit the maximum amount we may have to pay you for any and all claims or parts of claims which do not involve personal injury, illness or death. Except where loss of and/or damage to luggage or personal possessions is concerned or a lower limitation of liability applies to your claim, the maximum amount we will have to pay you for such non personal injury claims if we are found liable to you on any basis is twice the price (excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges) paid by or on behalf of the person(s) affected in total. This maximum amount will only be payable where everything has gone wrong and you have not received any benefit at all from your holiday. Where we are found liable for loss of and/or damage to any luggage or personal possessions (including money), the maximum amount we will have to pay you is £40 per person affected as you are assumed to have taken out adequate insurance at the time of booking. Please also see clause 5(4) below.

(4) Where any claim or part of a claim concerns or is based on any travel arrangements (including the process of getting on and off the transport concerned) provided by any air, sea, rail or road carrier or any stay in a hotel, the maximum amount of compensation we will have to pay you will be limited. The most we will have to pay you for that claim or that part of a claim if we are found liable to you on any basis is the most the carrier or hotel keeper concerned would have to pay under the international convention which applies to the travel arrangements or hotel stay in question (for example, the Warsaw Convention as amended for international travel by air and/or for airlines with an operating licence granted by an EU country, the EU Regulation on Air Carrier Liability for national and international travel by air, the Athens convention for international travel by sea). When making any payment, we are entitled to deduct any money which you have received or are entitled to receive from the transport provider or hotelier for the complaint or claim in question.

(5) You must provide ourselves and our insurers with all assistance we may reasonably require. You must also tell us and the supplier concerned about your claim or complaint as set out in clause 5 above. If asked to do so, you must transfer to us or our insurers any rights you have against the supplier or whoever else is responsible for your claim or complaint (if the person concerned is under 18, their parent or guardian must do so). You must also agree to cooperate fully with us and our insurers if we or our insurers want to enforce any rights which are transferred.Injury, illness or death not resulting from the holiday arrangements. If you or any member of your party suffers illness, injury or death, through misadventure, as a result of an activity which does not form part of your contracted holiday arrangements, we will provide you with all reasonable assistance. This assistance may include our making a contribution towards your initial legal costs in taking action against the person(s) responsible providing you request this within 90 days of the incident in question. All assistance (financial or otherwise) is subject to our reasonable discretion and a maximum total cost to ourselves of £5,000 per booking form. If you are entitled to have any costs and expenses arising from such an incident met by or from any insurance policy or if you obtain a costs order against anyone in relation to the incident, you must repay to us the costs and expenses we spend in assisting you.We would draw your attention to the following circumstances which fall outside our direct control and for which we are not prepared to accept liability. Some amenities (e.g. hotel lifts, swimming pools, etc.) require servicing and cleaning and may therefore not be available at all times. Some services are also affected by weather conditions (e.g. availability of outdoor swimming pools, chair lifts, etc.) and their availability is at the discretion of the provider of the service. Entertainment (particularly live entertainment) provided by hotels is frequently subject to demand and its nature and frequency may be varied if there is a lack of demand or insufficient numbers in the hotel.

8. Delay

We regret we are not in a position to offer you any assistance in the event of delay at your outward or homeward point of departure. Any airline concerned may however provide refreshments etc.

9. Brochure Accuracy

We have done our utmost to ensure that this brochure provides honest and accurate information. Unfortunately it is inevitable that some of the details contained within this brochure may have changed since the brochure was printed and SkiPlan can accept no responsibility for changes which occur beyond our control. Amenities as described on the appropriate brochure page will normally be available for the enjoyment of our clients. However, please note that some amenities (lifts, swimming pools, etc.) may require servicing or cleaning and that we cannot therefore guarantee that they will always be available. Some suppliers of resort services (ski lifts, toboggan runs, ice rinks and other facilities) may wish to carry out maintenance and at certain times of the year or in certain weather conditions, these services may close down or become temporarily unavailable, often without our knowledge. We are therefore, unable to accept responsibility if such resort services are unavailable. If we are notified of any changes which would have an effect on your enjoyment, we will do our best to inform you in advance as part of our commitment to quality customer service.
Please note: some photography in this brochure has been used to create a general atmosphere of skiing, and may not be specific to a particular resort. The information and prices shown in this brochure may have changed by the time you come to book your holiday. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the brochure and prices at the time of printing, regrettably errors do occasionally occur. You must therefore ensure you check all details of your chosen holiday (including the price) with us at the time of booking. This brochure is our sole responsibility. It is not issued on behalf of and does not commit any independent organisation/carriers whose services are featured in it.

10. Validity Date

This Fair Trading Agreement has been produced in conjunction with our 2006/7 ski programme and is valid until 01 May 2007 unless previously withdrawn.

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