Terms and Conditions.

To make a booking, our booking form must be completed. This must be signed by the party leader. The party leader must be at least 18 years of age and must be authorised to make the booking on the basis of these Booking Conditions by all persons named on the booking. The completed and signed form must then be sent to us together with the payments referred to below. Once we have received your Booking Form and all appropriate payments, we will, subject to availability, confirm your holiday by issuing a Confirmation of Booking. A contract will exist as soon as we issue this conformation. If any information given on the confirmation or any other document appears to be incorrect or incomplete, please inform us at once, as it may not be possible to make changes later. We regret that we cannot accept any liability if we are not notified of any inaccuracies in any document within 24 hours of our sending it out.

The prices shown on our website were calculated on 24 September 2020 on the basis of known costs and exchange rates of £1 = Euro 1.09, as shown in the ‘Financial Times Guide to World currencies’. We reserve the right to a) increase or decrease the prices of unsold holidays at any time; b) correct mistakes in advertised, quoted or confirmed prices. The price of your chosen holiday will be confirmed at the time of booking.

Once we have confirmed the price of your arrangements (errors or omissions excepted) it is fully guaranteed and will not be subject to any surcharges.

You are responsible for making all payments to Creative Escapes Ltd. You can make payment to us direct to our business account or by credit/debit card (we accept most types, including Maestro, Solo, MasterCard, Visa Credit, Visa Debit, Electron, JCB and various corporate cards) or by cheque. We take a 20% deposit (£100 only for bookings in 2021 received between 25 September 2020 to 31 December 2021) on booking to confirm your reservation, then the final 80% 56 days before departure. If you do not make full payment to us 50 days before the course commences, this will be a breech of the contract between us. In this event, and we do not receive your payment 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 the ‘Cancellations by You’ clause below will become payable.

Please read each of our booking documents carefully as soon as received and contact us immediately if any information appears to be incorrect or incomplete as it may not be possible to make changes later. If you should wish at any time to change your arrangements in any way, for example, your chosen departure date, we will do our utmost to accommodate your request but this will not always be possible. You must confirm in writing independent any requests for changes to be made. We reserve the right to make a £20 amendment charge per booking form and will pass on to you any costs we incur from our suppliers in making the alterations requested. You should be aware that these costs are likely to increase the closer to the departure date that changes are made.

Until 56 days prior to your date of departure the fees paid by any person who withdraws from your group may be transferred to another suitable replacement without financial penalty. From 56 days to your date of departure the price per paying guest, free place allowance, discounts and concessions are fixed. Since we incur costs in cancelling your arrangements, cancellation charges per paying person cancelling (without replacement) are as follows: More than 56 days before departure date: we refund the deposit without financial penalty. 56-22 days before departure: we retain 75% of the full price per paying person cancelling. 21 days or less: we retain 100% of the full price per paying person cancelling. The effective date of cancellation is the working day on which written notification is received in our office. See ‘Mandatory Insurance’ section for the list of cover we require as part of the condition of booking a holiday with us. By having cover for cancellation, you will be able to reclaim cancellation charges under the terms of your insurance policy. Claims must be made direct to your insurance company.

The arrangements advertised by us are given in good faith. As arrangements are planned so far in advance it may occasionally be necessary for us to make changes and we reserve the right to do so at any time. Since we mostly offer accommodation with a smaller room count, occasionally, we have to make a change of accommodation to that of a lower official classification or standard for the whole or a major part of the time you are away, or a change of accommodation area for the whole or a major part of the time you are away. We will endeavour to find ‘like’ accommodation as replacement, or where this is not possible, we will refund you the difference in accommodation cost if this is of a lower standard. If the minimum group size is not reached or the minimum number of clients required for a particular travel arrangement not reached, we may have to cancel your booking. Do not make any travel arrangements until we have confirmed with you in writing the group has reached the minimum group size.

If the trip is confirmed with minimum numbers and if it is necessary to cancel your travel arrangements we will pay to you compensation as set out in this clause. If we make a significant change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible.

Should we have to cancel or make a significant change to your booking at any time after it has been confirmed by us and before your tour is due to start for any reasons other than (a) your failure to pay the balance due on time or (b) your failure to advise us of all relevant details before the booking is confirmed (c) your failure to arrange valid travel insurance with no exclusions for the holiday from the time of booking (see ‘Mandatory Travel Insurance’ section for more information) or (d) reasons of force majeure or act of god, we will offer you the choice of the same tour with us on a different date (with a refund of any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value) or a refund.

In addition, if we cancel or significantly change your booking after it has been confirmed other than for the reasons given above, we will pay you compensation as shown below: Significant change or cancellation made by us more than 10 weeks before departure: We pay £10 compensation per paying member. 56 to 22 days before departure: we pay £20 compensation per paying member. 21 days or less: we pay £30 compensation per paying member.

Very rarely, we may be forced by reasons of force majeure to change or terminate your holiday. This is extremely unlikely but if this situation does occur, we regret we will be unable to make any refunds unless we obtain refunds from our suppliers, nor can we pay any compensation or meet any costs or expenses you incur as a result. Neither can we be held liable for any losses or costs, nor failure to perform or improper performance of the contract, due to force majeure or act of god. Such events may include war or threat of war, riot, epidemic, civil strife, terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire and all similar events caused by unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances. We do not carry a liability for these events and thus unable to obtain insurance to cover this. You must claim using your own travel insurance, as outlined in the ‘Mandatory Travel Insurance’ section within this document.

If you, or any member of your party, suffer death, illness or injury whilst overseas arising out of an activity which does not form part of your package travel arrangements or an excursion arranged through us, we shall at our discretion, offer advice, guidance and assistance. Where legal action is contemplated and you want our assistance, you must obtain our written consent prior to commencement of proceedings. Our consent will be given subject to you undertaking to assign any costs/benefits received under any relevant insurance policy to ourselves. We limit the cost of our assistance to you or any member of your party to £1,000.

Many of the services, which make up your tour arrangements 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, and may affect your rights to compensation This website is our responsibility, as your holiday operator. It is not issued on behalf of, and does not commit any organisations/suppliers/carriers whose services are featured in it.

If the contract we have with you is not performed or is improperly performed by us, or our suppliers we will pay you appropriate compensation if this has affected the enjoyment of your travel arrangements.

However we will not be liable where any failure in the performance of the contract is due to: you; or a third party unconnected with the provision of the arrangements and where the failure is unforeseeable or unavoidable; or unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised; or an event which we or our suppliers, even with all due care, could not foresee or forestall.

Our liability, except in cases involving death, injury or illness, shall be limited to a maximum of 100% of the holiday package cost as listed on this website.

Our liability will also be limited in accordance with and/or in an identical manner to a) The contractual terms of the companies that provide the transportation for your travel arrangements. These terms are incorporated into this contract; and b) Any relevant international convention, for example the Montreal Convention in respect of travel by air, the Athens Convention in respect of travel by sea, the Berne Convention in respect of travel by rail and the Paris Convention in respect of the provision of accommodation, which limit the amount of compensation that you can claim for death, injury, delay to passengers and loss, damage and delay to luggage. We are to be regarded as having all benefit of any limitation of compensation contained in these or any conventions. Under EU law you have rights in some circumstances to refunds and/or compensation from your airline in cases of denied boarding, cancellation or delay to flights. Full details of these rights will be publicised at EU airports and will also be available from airlines. However reimbursement in such cases will not automatically entitle you to a refund of your holiday cost from us. Your right to a refund and/or compensation from us is set out above. If any payments to you are due from us, any payment made to you by the airline will be deducted from this amount.

We will not, however, 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 circumstances which we or the supplier of the service(s) in question, could not have predicted or avoid even after taking all reasonable care. d) the fault of anyone who was 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 or where any problems you suffer did not result from any breach of our contract or other fault of ourselves or, 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. The promises we made to you about the services we have agreed to provide or arrange as part of your 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. 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.

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 below. 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.

If you have a complaint about any of your holiday arrangements, you must tell both the relevant supplier and our representative at the time. It is only if we and the supplier know about problems that there will be the opportunity to put things right. If you don’t complain on the spot this may affect your ability to claim compensation. If your complaint cannot be resolved on trip you should notify us in writing within 48 hours of the end of your trip.

All of our trips are run by a group leader. The decision of the group leader is final on all matters likely to affect the safety or well-being of any person participating in the trip. When you book with us you accept responsibility for any damage, loss or disruption caused by you or any member of your party. If, in our reasonable opinion, or the opinion of any person in authority, you or any members of your party behave in such a way as to cause danger, upset or distress to any third party, or damage to property, we are entitled, without prior notice, to terminate the holiday of the person(s) concerned. If you fail to comply with a decision made by a group leader, or interfere with the well-being or mobility of the group, the group leader may direct you to be absent from planned activities or leave the trip immediately, with no right of refund. In this event the person(s) concerned will be required to leave the accommodation or other service and we will have no responsibility towards such person(s), including any return travel arrangements. Any costs incurred through inappropriate behaviour of your or any member of your party will be payable by you. We may also elect not to carry you on any future trips booked. No refunds will be made and we will not pay any expenses or costs incurred as a result of the termination. You must at all times comply with the laws, customs, foreign exchange and drug regulations of all countries visited, and you also agree to travel in accordance with our responsible travel guidelines.

If you have any special request, you must advise us at the time of booking and clearly note it on you booking form. Although we will endeavour to pass any reasonable requests on to the relevant supplier, we regret we cannot guarantee any request will be complied with unless we have confirmed this in writing. Confirmation that a special request has been noted or passed on to the supplier or the inclusion of the special request on your confirmation or any other documentation is not confirmation that the request will be met unless and until specifically confirmed. All special requests are subject to availability. If you or any member of your party has any medical problem or disability, which may affect your holiday, please tell us before you confirm your booking so that we can advise as to the suitability of the chosen arrangements. In any event, you must give us full details in writing at the time of booking. If we reasonably feel unable to properly accommodate the particular needs of the person concerned, we must reserve the right to decline their reservation or, if full details are not given at the time of booking, cancel when we become aware of these details without compensation or liability.

The passport, visa and health requirements applicable at the time of printing to British citizens for the holidays are shown at Post Offices throughout the UK. Requirements may change and you must check the up to date position in good time before departure. Information on health is contained in the Department of Health leaflet T6 (Health Advice for Travellers) available from your local Department of Health Office and most Post Offices. For European holidays, you should obtain a completed and issued EHIC Card prior to departure. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are in possession of all necessary travel and health documents before departure. All costs incurred in obtaining such documentation, must be paid by you. We regret we cannot 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. If you or any member of your party is not a British citizen or holds a non British passport, you must check passport and visa requirements with the French Embassy. If failure to have any necessary travel or other documents results in fines, surcharges or other financial penalty being imposed on us, you will be responsible for reimbursing us accordingly. For all travel abroad we recommend you take FCO advice.

With increasing holiday disruption occurring in recent years, from ash clouds, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, civil unrest, strikes and disruptive weather patterns, to name but a few, it is more important than ever to have the highest level of travel insurance to cover any eventuality from initial booking, before or during your holiday with us to avoid issue.

We therefore require as a condition of booking a holiday with us that you are fully covered by extensive travel insurance for all and any incidences. You must ensure that your personal travel insurance provides protection from booking through the full duration of the trip in respect of medical expenses, injury, theft, death, repatriation, cancellation and curtailment, personal accident, cover in case of force majeure or Act of God, insolvency/financial failure, end supplier failure, personal belongings, delay, personal accident and liability, delayed or missed departure, loss of passport or other documentation, legal assistance, disaster cover, with adequate and appropriate cover including medical emergency repatriation. You should ensure that there are no exclusion clauses limiting or excluding protection for the type of activities included in your trip and relating to the country you are visiting. You must ensure that all travel insurance purchased meets your particular personal requirements and you should arrange supplementary insurance if need be. Please check your current travel insurance package when booking to make sure you are fully compliant with these requirements. If you are not complaint with the requirements listed, please purchase additional insurance to ensure you have full cover. It is your responsibility to ensure that the insurance you purchase provides adequate cover. We do not check insurance policies and cannot be liable for any expenses incurred as a result of your not having adequate, appropriate or valid insurance cover. We require that you and all members of your party are adequately insured as soon as you book your holiday as this ensures that your deposit is protected. Travel insurance for the duration of your booking is your responsibility. Please read the details carefully. It is your responsibility to ensure that the insurance cover is adequate for your needs, covering both activities arranged and not arranged by us. Adequate and valid travel insurance as stated is mandatory for all customers while on one of our holidays. You are required to purchase adequate insurance to cover you, your belongings and your photography equipment against any possible risk and you are required to carry proof of insurance with you and produce it if reasonably requested by Company employees or suppliers; failure to do so may result in your being prevented from participating in certain activities without the right to any refund.

The requirements and standards of the country in which any services are supplied are those, which apply to those services. As a general rule these requirements and standards will not be the same as in the UK and may sometimes be lower.

Please be assured that we have measures in place to protect the personal booking information held by us. This information will be passed on to the principal and to the relevant suppliers of your travel arrangements. 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 to security or credit checking companies. We will only pass your information on to persons responsible for your travel arrangements. This applies to any sensitive information that you give us such as details of any disabilities or dietary / religious requirements. If we cannot pass this information to the relevant suppliers, we maybe unable to provide your booking. In making this booking you consent to this information being passed on to the relevant persons. Full details of our policy data protection are available upon request.

The information included on our website and in our other advertising material is believed correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of printing or publication. However, errors may occasionally occur and information may subsequently change. You must therefore ensure you check all details of your chosen trip (including the price) with us or your travel agent at the time of booking.

We emphasise the importance of making a booking at the earliest opportunity, because of the small group nature of our holidays. For bookings received within 6 weeks of your trip start date (or at an earlier stage for certain trips), the contract between the Company and the client comes into existence as soon as full payment has been received by us or our authorised travel agent.

The timings of air, sea, road or rail departures are estimates only. Subject to clause “Changes and cancellation by us”, we cannot accept any liability for any change, cancellation or delay in your transportation from or to your home country or during your trip whether any change, cancellation or delay is caused by adverse weather conditions, rescheduling by a transport supplier, airline or airport authority, action by air traffic controllers, mechanical breakdown, industrial action or any other event or circumstance outside our control. Where long flight delays result in lost trip time, no refunds are given by hotels or suppliers. Similarly, except where the Denied Boarding Regulations apply, airlines do not offer compensation for flight delays. It is in recognition of the above that many travel insurance policies offer compensation for flight delays over 12 hours (not applicable to flights within a tour itinerary). However, at their discretion your carrier will endeavour to reduce the inconvenience of any delay by providing meals and accommodation, as appropriate for the time of day or night (dependent on local availability), if you are delayed for more than 12 hours. If you incur payments for any services in the event of a delay, we will not accept responsibility for payment unless we have given our prior consent.
If your flight is cancelled or delayed, your flight ticket is downgraded or boarding is denied by your airline, depending on the circumstance, the airline may be required to pay you compensation, refund the cost of your flight and/or provide you with accommodation and/or refreshments under the EC Regulations No 261/2004 – the Denied Boarding Regulations 2004 where applicable you must pursue the airline directly for the compensation or other payments due to you. All sums you receive or are entitled to receive from the airline concerned by virtue of these Regulations represent the full amount of your entitlement to compensation or any other payment arising from such cancellation, delay, downgrading or denied boarding. This includes any disappointment, distress, inconvenience or effect on any other arrangements. The fact a delay may entitle you to cancel your flight does not automatically entitle you to cancel any other arrangements even where those arrangements have been made in conjunction with your flight. We have no liability to make any payment to you in relation to the Denied Boarding Regulations or in respect of any flight cancellation or delay, downgrading of any flight ticket or denial of any boarding as the full amount of your entitlement to any compensation or other payment (as dealt with above) is covered by the airline’s obligations under the Denied Boarding Regulations. If for any reason, we make any payment to you or a third party which the airline is responsible for in accordance with the Denied Boarding Regulations, you must, when requested, assign to us the rights you have or had to claim the payment in question from the airline. If your airline does not comply with these rules, you should complain to the CAA at caa.co.uk.