Booking Conditions
These Booking Conditions, together with our Privacy Policy and where your holiday is booked via our website, our Website Terms of Use, together with any other written information we brought to your attention before we confirmed your booking, form the basis of your contract with Alfa Travel Limited, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 02326610 and registered office Alfa Building Euxton Lane, Euxton, Chorley, Lancashire, PR7 6AF (“we”, “us”, “our”). Please read them carefully as they set out our respective rights and obligations. In these Booking Conditions references to “you” and “your” include the first named person on the booking and all persons on whose behalf a booking is made or any other person to whom a booking is added or transferred.
1. Financial Protection
When you book a coach or self drive holiday with us, the money you pay us will be protected by Bonded Coach Holidays (BCH) and the Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT), this is a Government approved consumer protection scheme. The scheme will also ensure your repatriation in the event the company becomes insolvent. Furthermore, for complete peace of mind, all monies received for holidays and self drive breaks booked directly with Alfa Travel Limited, are held in a trust administered by an independent trustee until your holiday is complete. Our Trading Charter and Booking Conditions set out clearly and simply the responsibility we have to you and in turn, you have with us, when a contract is made.
2. Insurance
Adequate travel insurance to cover your holiday is a condition of your contract with us, either through our scheme or an equivalent travel policy. You must be satisfied that your insurance fully covers all your personal requirements including pre-existing medical conditions, cancellation charges, medical expenses and repatriation in the event of accident or illness. If you choose to travel without adequate insurance cover, we will not be liable for any losses however arising in respect of which insurance cover would otherwise have been available. Please note: We are unable to transfer holidays within 14 days of departure as the costs associated with your holiday have already been committed at this stage and we are bound to pay our suppliers for the cost of your holiday. Should you need to cancel within 14 days, you will need to make a claim against your insurance policy to cover any monies paid.
3. Booking and Paying For Your Arrangements
If you wish to confirm the booking you must pay
- A non-refundable deposit at £50 per person
- Your insurance premium, should you wish to purchase our insurance
- The cost of any tickets if your holiday includes a ticketed event
You must ensure you pay the balance of monies due (without any further reminder from us) 42 days before departure. If we do not receive this balance in full and on time, we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled by you in which case the cancellation charges set out in clause 9 will become payable.
Your booking is confirmed when we issue you with a booking confirmation. If your booking confirmation or any other document is incorrect you must advise us within 3 days.
You will receive your travel tickets in the post approximately 7- 10 days prior to departure. Since local pick up times are occasionally re-scheduled, it is essential that you check the time shown on your travel ticket and do not rely on your initial confirmation for your pick up time.
4. Accuracy
We endeavour to ensure that all the information and prices both on our website and in any advertising material that we publish are accurate, however, occasionally changes and errors occur and we reserve the right to correct prices and other details in such circumstances. You must check the current price and all other details relating to the travel arrangements that you wish to book before you make your booking.
5. Special Requests
Any special requests must be advised to us at the time of booking e.g. dietary requirements, room location, etc. Whilst every effort will be made by us to try and accommodate requests made, these cannot be guaranteed and they do not form part of your contract with us. Where a payment is made for additional facilities (for example a view room), our liability shall be limited to the brochure price of that supplement.
6. Fitness to Travel and Medical Conditions
We are not a specialist disabled company, however we will do our utmost to cater for any special requirements you may have. If you or any member of your party is mobility impaired or has any medical circumstances or disabilities which may affect your holiday you must contact us on 01257 248000 so that we can ascertain if your chosen hotel is able to satisfy your needs. Please note we do not have any vehicles fitted with wheelchair lifts, so it is essential that all customers are able to manage the steps necessary to board a coach either unaided or with the assistance of members of their own party. Due to weight restrictions on our coaches, we cannot accommodate scooters, either on the outbound or inbound journey. However, passengers may be able to hire scooters during their stay and they are able to take these on the excursions, so long as the heaviest piece weighs no more than 15kg and the scooter has a brake which can be applied when the coach is moving. Please note that the passenger will be responsible for the scooter and drivers cannot be held responsible for the loading and unloading. Should you wish to hire a scooter, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01257 248000 and we will be happy to check if the hotel can accommodate scooters and to provide you with hire details for companies local to the hotel.
7. Minimum Number of Passengers
For all of the holidays that we offer, we require a minimum of 20 passengers to have booked in order for us to be able to operate it. If we do not receive this number of bookings in respect of your chosen holiday, we may unfortunately be unable to go ahead with providing that holiday and may be required to cancel your holiday as a result. We will always endeavour to inform you at least 6 weeks before the date of travel and will offer you an alternative choice of holiday. If we choose to cancel in such circumstances, whilst we are not liable to pay you any additional compensation, we will provide an equivalent tour at a discount in accordance with the amounts set out in the Package Travel Regulations, which depend on the amount of notice given.
8. If You Change Your Booking & Transfers of Bookings
If you wish to change any part of your booking after our booking confirmation has been issued, you must inform us in writing as soon as possible. Whilst we will do our best to assist, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to meet your requested change. Where we can meet a request, all changes will be subject to payment of an administration fee of £20 per person per change if made more than 42 days prior to departure or £40 per person per change if made 42 days or less prior to departure. You should be aware that these costs could increase the closer to the departure date that changes are made and you should contact us as soon as possible.
Please note that we are unable to transfer holidays within 14 days of departure as the costs of your holiday have already been committed at this stage. If your holiday stays at a preferred partner hotel, we are unable to transfer your booking within 6 weeks of departure. Where we are unable to assist you and you do not wish to proceed with the original booking we will treat this as a cancellation by you. A cancellation fee may be payable in accordance with clause 9.
9. If You Cancel Your Booking Before Departure
If you or any other member of your party decides to cancel your confirmed booking you must notify us as soon as possible. Should one or more members of a party cancel, it may increase the per person holiday price of those still travelling and you will be liable to pay this increase. Since we incur costs in cancelling your arrangements, you will have to pay the cancellation charges as follows:
| Period before departure in which you notify us | Coach holidays and self drive |
| More than 43 days prior to departure | Loss of non-refundable deposit |
| 29 to 42 days prior to departure | 40% |
| 15 to 28 days prior to departure | 55% |
| 8 to 14 days prior to departure | 75% |
| Less than 8 days prior to departure | 100% |
Please note that any amounts paid in respect of insurance premiums, tickets and amendments charges are not refundable in any circumstances.
10. If We Change or Cancel
As we plan your holiday arrangements many months in advance we may occasionally have to make changes or cancel your booking and we reserve the right to do so at any time.
Changes: If we make a minor change to your holiday, we will make reasonable efforts to inform you or your travel agent as soon as reasonably possible if there is time before your departure but we will have no liability to you. Examples of minor changes include change of accommodation to another of the same or higher standard or changes of carriers, or a change in advertised excursion as a result of circumstances beyond our control.
Occasionally we may have to make a significant change to your confirmed arrangements. Examples of “significant changes” include the following, when made before departure:
- A change of accommodation area for the whole or a significant part of your time away
- A change of accommodation to that of a lower standard or classification for the whole or a significant part of your time away
- A change to your departure time of more than 12 hours
Cancellation: We will not cancel your travel arrangements after the balance due date for your holiday, except for reasons of force majeure, failure by you to pay the final balance, or where the minimum 20 clients required for a particular travel arrangement is not reached.
If we have to make a significant change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible and if there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of:
- accepting the changed arrangements; or
- having a refund of all monies paid; or
- if available and where we offer one; accepting an offer of alternative travel arrangements (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value)
11. Complaints
We make every effort to ensure that your trip runs smoothly but if you do have a problem during your tour, please inform the relevant supplier (e.g. your driver/hotelier as applicable) immediately who will endeavour to put things right. If your complaint is not resolved locally, and you wish to complain further, please write to: The Customer Care Team, Alfa Travel Limited, East Terrace, Euxton, Chorley PR7 6AF within 28 days of the end of your stay, giving your booking reference and all other relevant information or email [email protected]. Failure to follow the procedure set out in this clause may affect ours and the applicable supplier’s ability to investigate your complaint, and will affect your rights under this contract.
Should you wish to pursue the complaint further, BCH ABTOT offer an Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme and full details are available from them. Please contact them at The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited, 7th Floor, 69 Leadenhall Street, London, EC3A 2BG.
12. Our Responsibility for your Booking
1. Subject to the remainder of this clause, we have a duty to provide the services making up your booking with us with reasonable skill and care. We have no liability to you for the actual provision of the services, except in cases where it is proved that we have breached that duty and damage to you has been caused.
2. We will not be responsible or pay you compensation for any injury, illness, death, loss, damage, expense, cost or other claim of any description if it results from:
- the act(s) and/or omission(s) of the person(s) affected; or
- the act(s) and/or omission(s) of a third party unconnected with the provision of the services contracted for and which were unforeseeable or unavoidable; or
- unusual or unforeseeable circumstances beyond ours or our supplier(s) control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised; or
- an event which either ourselves or suppliers could not, even with all due care, have foreseen or forestalled.
3. We limit the amount of compensation we may have to pay you if we are found liable under this clause:
- Loss of and/or damage to any luggage or personal possessions and money. The maximum amount we will have to pay you in respect of these claims is £25 per person in total because you are assumed to have adequate insurance in place to cover any losses of this kind.
- Claims not falling under (a) above and which do not involve injury, illness or death. The maximum amount we will have to pay you in respect of these claims is twice the price paid by you 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 booking.
4. It is a condition of our acceptance of liability under this clause that you notify any claim to ourselves and our supplier(s) strictly in accordance with the complaints procedure set out in these conditions.
5. Where any payment is made, the person(s) receiving it (and their parent or guardian if under 18 years) must also assign to ourselves or our insurers any rights they may have to pursue any third party and must provide ourselves and our insurers with all assistance we may reasonably require.
6. Please note, we cannot accept any liability for any damage, loss or expense or other sum(s) of any description: (a) which on the basis of the information given to us by you concerning your booking prior to our accepting it, we could not have foreseen you would suffer or incur if we breached our contract with you; or (b) relate to any business.
7. We will not accept responsibility for services or facilities which do not form part of our agreement or where they are not advertised on our website. For example any excursion you book whilst on the tour, or any service or facility which your hotel or any other supplier agrees to provide for you.
13. Force Majeure
Except where otherwise expressly stated in these Booking Conditions we will not be liable or pay you compensation if our contractual obligations to you are affected by “Force Majeure”. For the purposes of these Booking Conditions, Force Majeure means any event beyond our or our supplier’s control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Examples include warfare and acts of terrorism (and threat thereof), civil strife, changes as a result of the UK’s decision to leave the EU (if travelling to Ireland), significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of serious disease at the travel destination or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or weather conditions which make it impossible to travel safely to the travel destination or remain at the travel destination, the act of any government or other national or local authority including port or river authorities, industrial dispute, labour strikes, lock closure, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, chemical or biological disaster, unavoidable technical problems with transport and all similar events outside our or the supplier(s) control.
14. Visa, Passport and Health Requirements
If you are travelling to the Isle of Man or Republic of Ireland, it is your responsibility to check and fulfil any passport, visa, health and immigration requirements. Up to date travel advice can be obtained from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, by visiting https://www.gov.uk/travelaware. We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel, or incur any other loss because you have not complied with any passport, visa, immigration requirements or health formalities.
We want all our customers to have a happy and carefree holiday. All our customers are expected to conduct themselves in an orderly and acceptable manner and not to disrupt the enjoyment of others. If in our opinion, your behaviour or that of any member of your party is causing or is likely to cause distress, danger or annoyance to any other customers or any third party, or damage to property, or to cause a delay or diversion to transportation, we reserve the right to terminate your booking with us immediately. In the event of such termination our liability to you and/or your party will cease and you and/or your party will be required to leave your accommodation or other arrangements immediately. We will have no further obligations to you and/or your party. No refunds for lost accommodation or any other arrangements will be made and we will not pay any expenses or costs incurred as a result of termination. You and/or your party may also be required to pay for loss and/or damage caused by your actions and we will hold you and each member of your party jointly and individually liable for any damage or losses caused by you or any member of your party. Full payment for any such damage or losses must be paid directly to the hotel manager or other supplier prior to departure. If you fail to make payment, you will be responsible for meeting any claims (including legal costs) subsequently made against us as a result of your actions together with all costs we incur in pursuing any claim against you.
We cannot be held responsible for the actions or behaviour of other guests or individuals who have no connection with your booking arrangements or with us.
16. Smoking
Smoking is prohibited by law on all coaches and in the public areas of all hotels throughout the UK. Most hotels, including all Leisureplex Hotels, also prohibit smoking in hotel bedrooms and treat electronic cigarettes and vaping devices as though they were cigarettes made from tobacco and therefore prohibit their use inside the hotel. Failure to follow smoking prohibitions will be considered unreasonable behaviour and the provisions of clause 15 above shall apply.
17. Infectious and Contagious Diseases
If you develop an infectious or contagious disease and in our reasonable opinion your presence on the coach represents a serious risk of infection to other customers we reserve the right to refuse to allow you to travel. In such circumstances, we will make every effort to assist with alternative means of returning you to your point of origin but responsibility for the costs incurred in such alternative transport will be yours. If you have taken the insurance policy offered by us at the time of booking, we will ensure all necessary arrangements are made. If you have insurance through another insurer, it is your responsibility to make contact with your insurer but we will make every effort to assist if requested. Please contact us on our emergency number 01257 248002 to request such assistance.
18. Animals
Animals (other than registered assistance dogs) are not allowed on our trips. If you have a registered assistance dog you must advise us at the time of booking and you must carry with you the dog’s registration number or a letter from the Charity who provided the dog, which confirms their assistance dog status, whilst on holiday.
19. Hotel Amenities
Some facilities (e.g. lifts) are not always available due to sudden breakdowns or the need to service them. Other facilities (e.g. outdoor swimming pools) are only available when weather permits. The nature and frequency of entertainment is also subject to demand and is at the discretion of the hotel.
20. Our Coaches
We will always use best endeavours to provide a coach to our specification, although some facilities may not always be available in the case of sudden breakdown. At certain times of the year we supplement our Alfa Coach fleet, with preferred coach party operators, who are all required to meet the standards we set out. Specific seats are not allocated on coaches and vehicles operating a feeder service between joining points and main holiday departure points.
21. Late Arrival by Passenger and Passengers in Difficulties
We will be unable to delay departures where you arrive late at any of the stops en route, during your trip, or where you are late to arrive at the departure point and where you miss a pick up you shall have no claim against us for any losses you incur as a result. We will, however, make every effort to assist passengers who get into difficulty through circumstances beyond their control where you notify us and request such assistance by telephoning our emergency number: 01257 248002.
22. 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 which will form part of your contract with us. Some of these terms and conditions may limit or exclude the supplier’s liability to you, usually in accordance with applicable International Conventions. Copies of the relevant parts of these terms and conditions are available on request from us or the supplier concerned.
23. Excursions
Excursions or other tours that you may choose to book or pay for whilst you are on the trip are not part of your contracted arrangements with us. For any excursion or other tour that you book, your contract will be with the operator of the excursion or tour. We are not responsible for the provision of the excursion or tour or for anything that happens during the course of its provision by the operator.
24. Luggage
Each passenger is allowed one medium suitcase measuring no more than 69cm x 28cm x 46cm (27in x 11in x 18in) and weighing no more than 20kg (44lb). Passengers are not able to combine their luggage allowances. In the interests of the health and safety of our employees and agents, we ask customers to strictly observe this weight limitation on individual suitcases and customers will be refused porterage facilities for suitcases which exceed the weight limit. Due to the high incidence of overweight cases, for departures on or after 1 January 2024, a £5 per kg excess weight charge will be payable at the hotel for each full kilogram that a case weighs over 20kg. You will also be required to ensure that your case is under the 20kg weight limit for the return journey.
Published July 2023
