Please read the following notice as it is your contract with GR Travel Group Limited t/a China & Beyond and clearly lays out what you have agreed with us. GR Travel Group Limited accepts bookings subject to the following conditions:
1. Your holiday contract. This contract is between GR Travel Group Limited (“the Company”, "we", "us", "our"), Registered Company Number 5381495 whose registered office is at Boundary House Business Centre, Boston Road, London W7 2QE, United Kingdom, and the client (“the client” and “you” in these conditions), being any person travelling or intending to travel on a tour or any other travel arrangement operated by the Company. This contract (including all matters arising from it) is subject to English Law and the exclusive jurisdiction of English Court.
2. Your Financial Protection.
ATOL Protected
The flights inclusive holidays offered by the Company are ATOL protected, since we hold an Air Travel Organiser's Licence granted by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is 6801. In the unlikely event of our insolvency, the CAA will ensure that you are not stranded abroad and will arrange to refund any money you have paid to us for an advance booking.
When you buy an ATOL protected flight or flight inclusive holiday from us you will receive an ATOL Certificate. This lists what is financially protected, where you can get information on what this means for you and who to contact if things go wrong.
We, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL Certificate, will provide you with the services listed on the ATOL Certificate (or a suitable alternative). In some cases, where neither we nor the supplier are able to do so for reasons of insolvency, an alternative ATOL holder may provide you with the services you have bought or a suitable alternative (at no extra cost to you). You agree to accept that in those circumstances the alternative ATOL holder will perform those obligations and you agree to pay any money outstanding to be paid by you under your contract to that alternative ATOL holder. However, you also agree that in some cases it will not be possible to appoint an alternative ATOL holder, in which case you will be entitled to make a claim under the ATOL scheme (or your credit card issuer where applicable).
If we, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL certificate, are unable to provide the services listed (or a suitable alternative, through an alternative ATOL holder or otherwise) for reasons of insolvency, the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust may make a payment to (or confer a benefit on) you under the ATOL scheme. You agree that in return for such a payment or benefit you assign absolutely to those Trustees any claims which you have or may have arising out of or relating to the non-provision of the services, including any claim against us, the travel agent (or your credit card issuer where applicable). You also agree that any such claims may be re-assigned to another body, if that other body has paid sums you have claimed under the ATOL scheme.
Non-ATOL packages
Non-ATOL packages are protected by our insolvency insurance. In accordance with "The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992" all passengers booking with us are fully protected for the initial deposit and subsequently the balance of all monies paid to us, including repatriation if required, arising from cancellation or curtailment of your travel arrangements due to the unlikely insolvency of the Company.
3. Booking. We accept bookings in several ways: over the telephone, email or via our website. You must pay a deposit of 10% of your selected land-only travel arrangements (minimum 100 GBP) plus the offered flight ticket quote (for flight inclusive packages in order to secure the cheapest ticket price available). The person making the booking warrants that he/she is at least 18 years old and has full authority to enter into a contract on the basis of these conditions on behalf of all persons named on the booking and confirms that all such persons are fully aware of and accept these conditions. Clients booking over the phone, on the website, by email or facsimile will be deemed to have signed the Declaration on the booking form meaning that you (and any other person on whose behalf you book ) agree to accept all of these conditions and you acknowledge that you have read the relevant trip dossier on our website (our brochure). You also warrant that the information given by you on the booking form is complete and true. A booking is accepted and becomes definite only from the date the Company sends a confirmation invoice. It is at this point that a contract between the Company and the client comes into existence.
4. Acceptance of risk. Your booking is accepted on the understanding that (1) you realise and accept the risks and hazards potentially involved in travelling to your chosen destination and that (2) you are mentally and physically capable of undertaking your chosen trip. You must tell us if you have an existing medical condition or disability that might affect your travel arrangements before your booking. If, in our reasonable opinion, your chosen holiday is not suitable for your medical condition or disability we reserve the right to refuse your booking. You are responsible for bringing with you the proper clothing and equipment, which we advise you about in our trip dossier information. If you are unable, or choose not to complete an itinerary outlined for your travel arrangements, the Company is not liable to supply alternative itineraries, excursions, accommodations, services or staff for the period when the client is not present with the group. The outline itineraries given for each tour must be taken as an indication of what each group should accomplish, and not as a contractual obligation on the part of the Company. Please note changes in itinerary may be caused by local political conditions, flight cancellations, mechanical breakdown, weather, sickness border or other unforeseeable circumstances. It is a fundamental condition of joining any of our tours (including tailor-made travel arrangements) that you accept this flexibility and acknowledge that delays and alterations and their results, such as discomfort, inconvenience or disappointment are possible. At all times passengers are bound by local law and jurisdiction in their chosen destinations.
5. Payment for your holiday. You must then pay the balance of the holiday price not later than 56 days before departure. If you book less than 56 days before departure, full payment must be made on booking. If any balance remains unpaid, your travel documentation will not be issued and we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled and apply the cancellation charges set out in Section 7 below. Monies paid to an agent acting on behalf of the Company, for tours operated by the Company, are held by the agent on our behalf at all times.
6. Changes by you. We understand that sometimes your travel plans may change and we will do our best to assist you in altering your arrangements after booking but cannot guarantee this will be possible. If alterations can be made all further costs incurred will be charged to you. Any request for changes must be made in writing from the person who made the booking or your travel agent. You should be aware that costs incurred in changing a booking could increase the closer to the departure date they are made and you should therefore contact us as soon as possible. You should also note that changes to an airline ticket (change of name, dates, etc.) will usually incur a 100% cancellation charge and full rebooking fee.
7. Cancellation by you. You, or any member of your party, may cancel your travel arrangements at any time. Written notification from the person who made the booking or your travel agent on your behalf must be received at our offices. Cancellation charges as shown below will be applicable and are calculated from the day when the written notification is received by the Company or the agent. Cancellation charges displayed as percentage are calculated based on the price of the travel arrangements, including surcharges. The price does not include visas, visa support documents, visa processing fees, insurance premium which cannot be refunded under any circumstances. We strongly recommend you to take out insurance against irrecoverable cancellation costs.
| Period before departure within which notice of cancellation received by us |
AMOUNT OF CANCELLATION CHARGE |
| More than 56 days |
Deposit Only |
| Between 43 and 56 days |
25% |
| Between 29 and 42 days |
50% |
| Between 15 and 28 days |
75% |
| 14 days or less |
100% |
8. Changes by us. While the company will use its best endeavours to operate all tours as advertised, it reserves the right to change any of the facilities, services, prices or itineraries described on our website (our brochure) and we reserve the right to do so at any time. The day-to-day agenda and ultimate goal of the trip are taken as aims and not as contractual obligations. It is a necessary condition of your joining any of our tours that you accept this flexibility. Most of these changes will be minor and we will notify you or your travel agent of them at the earliest possible date. In the case of such changes there is no entitlement to cancel without penalty. If we have to make a major change to your holiday such as a change to your departure airport (except between London airports), major itinerary rerouting, a significant change in the duration of your holiday, a lower than expected standard of accommodation or a change of departure time (but not a flight delay) of more than 24 hours (12 hours for tours of 10 days or less) resulting in a significant inconvenience with regard to your travel arrangements, we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible, if there is time before departure. If advised of a major change before departure you will have the choice of (1) accepting the changes (at additional cost if applicable), (2) purchasing another available tour from the Company, or (3) cancelling the tour with a full refund. In the event that we notify you of a major change you must let us know within 3 days of such notification which option you would like to accept. We will also pay compensation as detailed below, unless the major change arises due to reasons of Force Majeure:
| Period of notification given to you |
AMOUNT OF COMPENSATION PER PERSON |
| More than 42 days |
Nil |
| 15 to 42 days |
25 GBP |
| 14 days or less |
50 GBP |
9. Cancellation by us. Whilst we hope we will never have to cancel your holiday, we reserve the right to do so. If we have to cancel your holiday, we will inform you or your travel agent as soon as reasonably possible and providing there is time before your departure. Should it be necessary to cancel your trip we will do our utmost to offer alternative travel arrangements of equivalent or similar standards. Alternatively we will provide a full and prompt refund (please note airline conditions of contract) and will pay you compensation on the scale shown in Section 8 above. Compensation will not be payable if we cancel your travel arrangements for (1) reasons of Force Majeure, (2) inadequate insurance cover, (3) consolidation due to minimum numbers not being attained or (4) failure by you to pay the final balance. You will not be entitled to make any further claim for compensation or damages for any loss, consequential damage, expenses, loss of time or inconvenience which may result from any such cancellation.
10. Force Majeure. We will not pay you compensation if we have to cancel or change your travel arrangements in any way because of war, riot, industrial dispute, terrorist activity, actions of government authorities, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions or other unforeseen circumstances that may amount to force majeure.
11. Airline conditions of contract. Any flights forming part of your trip will be subject the General Conditions of Carriage and Conditions of Contract of the airline concerned. Such flights will also be subject to international law which often limits the airline liability to passengers in respect of death or bodily injury, delay or damage to baggage.
If your flight is cancelled or delayed, your flight ticket is downgraded or boarding is denied by your airline you must pursue the airline for the compensation or other payment that is due to you.
12. Our liability to you. Our obligations, and those of our suppliers providing any service or facility included in the tour, are to take reasonable skill and care to arrange for the provision of such services and facilities and, where we or our supplier are actually providing the service or facility, to do so with reasonable skill and care. If you wish to make any claim you must show that reasonable skill and care has not been used. Standards of, for example, safety, hygiene and quality can vary throughout the transport and destinations that your holiday may involve. Sometimes these standards may be lower than those which would be expected to be found in the UK. The services and facilities included in your travel arrangements will be deemed to be provided with reasonable skill and care if they comply with any local regulations which apply or, in case there are no applicable local regulations, if they are reasonable when compared to the local standards and customs.
For claims which do not involve death or personal injury, we accept liability should any part of the tour arrangements booked with us not be supplied as described in the tour programme and should we/ our suppliers fail to satisfy the obligations detailed above. If we have liability we will pay you reasonable compensation (limited to the price paid for the trip) if your enjoyment of the tour is adversely affected.
For claims which involve death or personal injury as a result of an activity forming part of your tour, we accept, and will only have liability should we/ our suppliers fail to satisfy the obligations detailed above. If we have liability, we will pay you reasonable compensation.
We shall have no liability where the cause of the failure to provide, or failure in, your travel arrangements or any death or personal injury you may suffer is not due to any fault on our part or our suppliers, because: a) the reason for the failure in the tour arrangements was the client’s fault; or b) such failures are attributable to the actions of someone unconnected with the tour arrangements; or c) such failures are due to unforeseeable circumstances which could not have been avoided by the Company or its suppliers even if all due care had been exercised. We will also 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 booking your holiday.
If any international convention applies to or governs any of the services or facilities included in the tour arranged or provided by us, or provided by any of our suppliers, and you make a claim against us of any nature arising out of death, injury, loss or damage suffered during or as a result of the provision of those services or facilities, our liability to pay you compensation and/or the amount (if any) of compensation payable to you by us will be limited in accordance with and/or in an identical manner to that provided for by the international convention concerned (in each case including in respect of the conditions of liability, the time for bringing any claim and the type and amount of any damages that can be awarded). International conventions which may apply include: in respect of international air travel, the Warsaw Convention (including as amended by the Hague protocol 1955 and by any of the additional Montreal protocol 1975) or the Montreal Convention 1999, in respect of rail travel, the Berne Convention 1961, in respect of carriage by sea, the Athens Convention 1974, in respect of carriage by road, the Geneva Convention 1973; and, in respect of hotels, the Paris convention 1962.
If you chose to issue court proceedings in respect of a claim against us, you must do so within 2 years of your return from your tour or within 2 years of first discovering the matters giving rise to the claim, if this is later. If you don’t, then our liability to you will be limited in all cases to a sum of GBP100.
You must, if we are adjudged to have, or if we accept, liability for a claim that you make, assign to us or our insurers, as we require, all your rights that you may have against any of our servants, agents or suppliers which is in any way responsible for the failure of your holiday or any death or personal injury you may suffer. You must also cooperate with us in any claim we choose to bring against any third party which we, in our discretion, deem to be so responsible.
Other than as set out above, and as is detailed elsewhere in these booking conditions, we shall have no legal liability whatsoever to you for any loss, damage, personal injury or death which you may suffer arising directly or indirectly from any aspect of your holiday.
13. Postage and documents delivery. The customers are responsible for providing the correct delivery address. If you provide us a self-addressed prepaid envelope we will use it for your documents delivery and we always recommend using Royal Mail Next Day Special Delivery service. Otherwise we will endeavour to use the best available delivery option for sending your documents to the specified address. For passports delivery we normally use Royal Mail Next Day Special Delivery service. All claims / refunds related to documents delivery will be handled according to the terms and conditions of the relevant delivery supplier.
14. Independent arrangements/ excursions. Any independent arrangements that you make and which are not part of the tour are entirely at your own risk.
15. Land only clients. In respect of land-only clients (meaning those people not starting our tour from the UK), our responsibility does not commence until you have met our representative at the appointed time at the designated meeting point. If you fail to arrive there at the appointed time, we shall not be responsible for any additional expense incurred by you in order to meet up with the group.
16. Authority on the trip. You agree to abide by the authority and decisions of our employees, tour leaders, agents and suppliers during the trip. The decision of these people as to the conduct, itinerary and objectives of the tour is final and if, in their opinion your behaviour or physical condition is detrimental to the safety, welfare and well-being of the group as a whole (which are the paramount considerations), or they consider that your general well-being will be put at risk by continuing with the holiday, you may be asked to leave the tour without the right to any refund for unused services. We also reserve the right to terminate your holiday if your behaviour is likely in the opinion of us, our employees or our suppliers to cause distress, damage, annoyance or danger to our employees or any third party, or their property. In the case of ill-health we reserve the right to make such arrangements for your well-being as we deem necessary and to recover the whole of the costs thereof from you. If you commit an illegal act we shall cease to have responsibility to or for you.
17. Insurance. To take part in one of our tours you must be covered by adequate insurance for the complete duration of your trip. Clients together with their personal property including baggage are at all times solely at their own risk. Clients are wholly responsible for arranging their own insurance. Clients not taking out our specially arranged travel insurance are responsible for ensuring that they are in possession of private travel insurance for the full duration of the tour in respect of at least medical expenses, injury, death, cost of repatriation, helicopter evacuation and cancellation of the travel arrangements and curtailment, with adequate cover. Clients making their own arrangements should ensure that there are no exclusion clauses limiting protection for the type of activities included in the tour. You should satisfy yourself that any travel insurance arranged through the Company is what you require and should arrange supplementary insurance if need to be. We reserve the right to cancel your booking at any time before departure if we are not satisfied that adequate insurance for you is in place.
18. Your Holiday Price. In our website prices have been calculated in accordance with foreign currency exchange rates obtained on 30 September 2018. We reserve the right to change prices from time to time. The price can be varied due to changes in transportation costs such as fuel and fares, government action such as changes in VAT, and currency changes in relation to an exchange rate variation. In the case of any small variation, an amount equivalent to 10% of the price of your travel arrangements, will be absorbed or retained. Only amounts in excess of this 10% will be charged to you. If this means that you have to pay an increase of more than 10% of the price of your travel arrangements, you may cancel your travel arrangements and receive a full refund of all monies paid, except for any amendment and non-recoverable charges. Should you decide to cancel for this reason, you must exercise your right to do so within 7 days from the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice.
19. Passports, visas, permits, travel documents, vaccinations. We provide assistance in processing visas and visa fees are included in the cost of most of our trips as detailed in the relevant tour dossier or your tailor-made programme. Clients are responsible for arranging a visa to the travel destination and must be in possession of a valid passport and any visas required for the whole journey including correct entry and exit dates, and we accept no responsibility in the event that these are not secured in time for departure. You must also ensure that all your travel documents, including passports and vaccination certificates are valid for travel.
We cannot be held responsible if you are refused entry onto any transport or into any country due to failure on your part to carry correct documentation.
20. Group size. We normally operate small and medium-sized groups on our tours and state an average group size within the tour description. During high seasons (primarily, summer season) the group size may be more than the stated maximum and we always reserve the right to increase the group size above the stated maximum. We will make our best endeavours to split the group between the guides for your comfort however this might not always be operationally possible.
21. Information. Any information or advice provided by the Company on matters such as permits, visas, vaccinations, climate, clothing, baggage, special equipment, etc. is given in good faith but without responsibility whatsoever on the part of the Company. The client accepts responsibility for obtaining all necessary travel information and documentation required for the trip.
22. Specific requests. You must notify us of any specific request at the time of booking. We will inform the relevant supplier but regret that we cannot guarantee that these requests will be met. The Client will not be specifically notified if a special request cannot be met. The Company does not accept bookings which are conditional on the fulfilment of any special request.
23. Additional destination information. In addition to these general booking conditions, specific relevant destination information may be contained within the individual tour.
24. Complaints. If you have a problem during your holiday, you must report this immediately to our local representative or agent and the relevant supplier. If you do not report a problem or complaint which, if it had been reported at the time it occurred could have been resolved there and then we cannot accept any liability in respect of that problem or complaint. You must also obtain written evidence of the complaint while you are away. If your complaint is not resolved locally, please follow this up within 28 days of your return home by writing to us, giving your booking reference and all other relevant information. If you do not take these steps, you will deny us the opportunity of either resolving the problem on the spot or investigating if fully, and any entitlement you may have to compensation may be extinguished. We are also unable to consider any claim where the assistance or advice of our local representatives has been unsought, rejected or ignored.
25. Data Protection. We take full responsibility for ensuring that proper security measures are in place to protect your information. When you make a booking, you consent to all the information you provide being passed on to our suppliers, wherever they may be based. The information may also be provided to public authorities such as customs or immigration if required by them, or as required by law. Certain information may also be passed on to security or credit checking companies. Except where expressly permitted by the Data Protection Act 1998, the Company will only deal with the personal details you give to us as set out above unless you agree otherwise. We may make contact with you or members of your tour party by post, e-mail, or telephone for the purpose set out. We will also use your information to inform you of offers in the future or to send you brochures. If you do not wish to receive such approaches in the future then please let us know as soon as possible. If we do contact you by e-mail about our new brochures or special offers, you will also be able to unsubscribe from our database at this time.
Revised: 15 November 2018.