Surfing Holiday – Terms and Conditions 

These Booking Conditions, together with any other information brought to your attention before you booked your package, form the basis of your contract with Global Surf Adventures whose registered address is Global Surf Adventures, 7 Trerice, St Newlyn East, Newquay, Cornwall, TR8 4PH hereafter “Global Surf Adventures”, “we” or “us”.  Please read these Booking Conditions carefully as they set out our respective rights and obligations and all bookings are accepted by Global Surf Adventures subject to these Booking Conditions.

If you book a package holiday through us, once your package holiday has been confirmed we will accept responsibility for it in accordance with these Booking Conditions as an “organiser” under the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992.

1. Making your booking

All bookings are subject to availability.  The party leader must be at least 18 years at the time of booking.  By making the booking, the party leader confirms that he/she is so authorised and that all other party members agree that the booking is subject to these Booking Conditions.  The party leader is responsible for making all payments due to us.

If you did not see these Booking Conditions when you made your booking and you are not happy to proceed with the booking now that you have seen them please return all documentation to us within 7 days of receiving these booking conditions. Your booking will be cancelled and your monies will be returned in full, provided you have not commenced your travel. This clause does not apply if your booking was made within 10 weeks of travel.

A deposit of £100.00 is required at the time of booking.  You must pay for the balance of your trip at least 6 weeks before your departure.  If you book your package within 6 weeks of departure, you must pay the full cost at the time of the booking. After we have received your deposit payment and issued a confirmation invoice, a contract exists between you and us, effective from the date printed on the invoice. You will receive a confirmation invoice via email. As soon as your confirmation is received, you must check the details carefully.  If anything is not correct you should tell us immediately.

If you pay by PayPal we will make a charge of up to 3.4% plus 20 pence for each payment. If your payment is not honoured for any reason whatsoever, we are entitled to make an administration charge of £25.

If you fail to pay any remaining amount owed by the date it is due, we are entitled to cancel your booking and the cancellation charges set out in Clause 5 below will apply.

When you book a holiday with us, you accept responsibility, and accept responsibility on behalf of your party for any damage or loss caused by you or any member of your party. Full payment for any such damage or loss must be made at the time to ourselves or the third party concerned. If you fail to do so, you must indemnify us against any claims (including legal costs) subsequently made against us as a result of your actions. You must tell us of any defects to any equipment, particularly surfing equipment as soon as you notice there is an issue.

We take all reasonable measures to ensure that equipment is in a safe and good condition for use, customers are responsible for immediately reporting any damage caused to the equipment, or that becomes apparent whilst the equipment is in their possession.

2. Pricing

The price of your chosen arrangements will be confirmed at the time of booking.  As changes and errors occasionally occur, you must check all details at the time of booking. All prices quoted or otherwise advised to you include all charges and any UK taxes or governmental levies that apply to your holiday at the time of booking. The price of your confirmed holiday is subject at all times to changes in transport costs such as fuel; to cost changes arising from government action such as changes in VAT or any other government imposed changes; and to changes in currency exchange rates and to dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services all of which may result in a variation of your holiday price. We will absorb and you will not be charged for any increase equivalent to 2% of the price of your travel arrangements, which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges and/or additional services or travel arrangements. You will be charged for the amount over and above that, plus an administration charge of £1.00 per person together with an amount to cover agents’ commission. If this means that you have to pay an increase of more than 10% of the price of your confirmed  travel arrangements (excluding any amendment charges and/or additional services or travel arrangements), you will have the option of accepting a change to another holiday if we are able to offer one (if this is of equivalent or higher quality you will not have to pay more but if it is of lower quality you will be refunded the difference in price), or cancelling and receiving a full refund of all monies paid to us, except for any insurance premiums and any amendment charges and/or additional services or travel arrangements. Should you decide to cancel for this reason, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the issue date printed on your final invoice. There will be no change made to the price of your confirmed holiday within 30 days of your departure nor will refunds be paid during this period.

We will consider an appropriate refund of insurance premiums paid if you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy.

Should the price of your holiday go down due to the changes mentioned above, by more than 2% of your confirmed holiday cost, then any refund due will be paid to you. However, please note that travel arrangements are not always purchased in local currency and some apparent changes have no impact on the price of your travel due to contractual and other protection in place.

3. Your financial security

The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 require us to provide security for the monies that you pay for the package holidays booked in the unlikely event of our insolvency. Your financial security is guaranteed by Global Surf Adventures by way of a trust account with HSBC Bank Plc, 9 Bank Street, Newquay, Cornwall, TR7 1EG.

4. Changes by You

If you wish to change any part of your booking arrangements after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you must inform us in writing as soon as possible. This should be done by the person who made the booking. 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 any applicable rate changes or extra costs incurred. If you make the changes more than six weeks before your departure, you will have to pay an administration fee of £50 for each person whose booking has changed, and any further cost we incur in making this alteration. 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. If you make a change within ten weeks of your departure you may have to pay cancellation charges. You may be able to make changes to passenger names up to four weeks before departure at a cost of £50 for each name changed, however this is not guaranteed.  Where a transfer to a person of your choice can be made, all costs and charges incurred by us as a result together with the appropriate amendment fee as set out above must be paid before the transfer can be made.  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 and cancellation fees will be payable.

5.   If you cancel your booking

If you have to, or wish to, cancel your booking, the party leader must immediately contact us and then confirm your cancellation.  The day we receive your telephone notification of cancellation is the date on which your booking is cancelled.  Since we incur costs in cancelling your booking, a cancellation charge will be levied as shown in the following table.

Cancellation charge table

Where any cancellation reduces the number of full paying party members below the number of free places and/or concessions agreed for your booking we will recalculate these items and invoice you accordingly.  Please note that other service providers may impose higher cancellation charges. If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.

6. Cancellations or changes by us

It is unlikely that we will have to make changes to your booking arrangements but occasionally, as we make the arrangements for your bookings many months ahead, we may have to make changes both before and after bookings have been confirmed and/or cancel confirmed bookings. Whilst we always endeavour to avoid changes and cancellations, we reserve the right to do so at any time. Occasionally we have to make a “significant change” such as a change of property to that of a lower standard, changing the departure time by more than 12 hours or change of area. If a “significant change” or cancellation of your booking becomes necessary, we will inform you as soon as is reasonably possible before departure. All other changes are treated as “minor” in which case we shall have absolute discretion as to whether you are notified. If we have to make a significant change or cancel your booking, and provided that there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you three options:

a)                       Accepting the alternative booking arrangements as offered to you;

b)                       Transferring to an alternative booking (please note that the price may differ from your original booking); or

c)                       Cancelling your booking (together with a refund of any sums paid).

Following our offer of the alternative booking arrangements, you must notify us of your choice within a reasonable time. If you fail to do so we will assume that you have chosen to accept the alternative booking arrangements.

The above options are not available where any change is a minor one or where the changes or cancellation by us arises out of alterations to the confirmed booking requested by you. In addition, if we make a significant change or cancel your booking within 8 weeks before the date of departure we will pay you compensation as set out in the table below subject to the following exception: no compensation can be paid and no liability beyond offering you the above options (where applicable) can be accepted where we are forced to make a change or cancellation as a result of unusual or unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised. Such circumstances may include, but are not limited to those listed under “force majeure” at clause 10 below.

The above sets out the maximum extent of our liability under this clause and we regret we cannot meet any expenses or losses you may incur as a result of inconvenience suffered. Please note: where accommodation with a higher price than the original accommodation is offered by us and accepted by you, the difference in price will be deducted from any compensation payable

7. Complaints

If a problem occurs whilst you are abroad, you must inform the relevant supplier as well as us immediately so that the matter can be put right.  You should also complete a report form whilst at the surf camp. If the supplier cannot resolve the problem to your satisfaction at the time, you must also contact us immediately by informing the group leader, so that we are given the opportunity to help.

In the event that a complaint cannot be resolved at the time, you must write to us at Global Surf Adventures, 7 Trerice, St Newlyn East, Newquay, Cornwall, TR8 4PH within 28 days of return to the UK quoting the original booking reference and giving all relevant information. PLEASE NOTE: – Failure to take these steps will hinder our ability to resolve the problem and/or investigate it fully and in consequence, your rights under the contract may be affected.  We regret we cannot accept liability for any claims which are not notified to ourselves and/or our suppliers strictly in accordance with this clause.

8.  Our liability to you

We will accept responsibility for your holiday as an “organiser” under the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 as set out below.  Subject to the other provisions of this Clause 9, we accept responsibility for ensuring that your travel arrangements, which you book with us, are supplied as described by us. If, after departure, any part of your travel arrangements are not provided as promised, due to the fault of our employees, agents or suppliers, we will pay you appropriate compensation, if this has affected the enjoyment of your travel arrangements. However, our liability in all cases shall be limited to a maximum of twice the value of the element not supplied. The level of such compensation will take into account all relevant factors including the invoice price of the holiday, any steps it was reasonable for the client to take to minimise the inconvenience/damage suffered and the extent to which the deficiency or improper performance can have affected the client’s enjoyment of the package.

Please note that we will not be liable for any injury, illness, or death or consequent losses suffered by you or any member of your party, unless you are able to prove that such injury or illness was caused by lack of reasonable care and skill on the part of ourselves or our suppliers in the performance of our obligations under our contract with you. It is a condition of the payment of compensation that you notify us of any complaint or claim strictly in accordance with clause 7 and, further, assign to us any rights that you may have against any third party in connection with your claim. You must co-operate with us and our insurers in this regard.

If you suffer a personal injury, death or serious difficulties as the result of an activity which does not form part of the package you booked with us – including for example any additional services or facilities provided to you by a hotel or any other supplier which was not included as part of the original contract between us – we will not be liable to pay you any compensation but will offer you such advice and guidance as is reasonable in all the circumstances provided we are advised of the incident within 90 days of the occurrence.  We will not be responsible where you do not enjoy the holiday or suffer any other problems because of a reason which you did not make us aware of when the holiday was booked.

In all claims of whatever nature we will not be liable where the alleged loss or damage results from any of the following:

i.              the fault of the person affected or any members of their party or

ii.             the fault of a third party not connected with the provision of your holiday which we could not have predicted or avoided or

iii.            an event or circumstances which we or the supplier of the service in question could not have predicted or avoided even after taking all reasonable care or the fault of anyone who was not carrying out work for us (generally or in particular) at the time.

9. Important notice in respect of limits on liability.

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. You acknowledge that all of the terms and conditions contained in those ‘Conditions of Carriage’ form part of your contract with us, as well as with the transport company and that those ‘Conditions of Carriage’ shall be deemed to be included by reference 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.

The promises we give to you regarding the services we have agreed to provide or arrange as part of the contract, and the laws and regulations of the country in which your claim or complaint occurred, shall be used as the basis for ascertaining whether or not the services in question have been properly provided. If the services in question which caused the claim or complaint complied with the local laws and regulations applicable to those services at that time, the services shall be treated as having been properly provided. Such shall be the case even if the services did not comply with the laws and regulations of the UK which would have applied if those services had been provided in the UK.

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 and your party is £25 per person in total. We strongly recommend that you and your party take out adequate travel insurance for your particular needs whilst on holiday and for the purpose of these Booking Conditions you and your party are assumed to have done so.

10.  Force majeure

We will not accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our contractual obligations is prevented or affected, or you otherwise suffer any loss or damage due to circumstances that come under the definition of ‘force majeure’. In these booking conditions ‘force majeure’ means any event that we or the supplier of the services in question could not foresee or avoid even with all due care. Such events include but are not limited to war, the threat of war, insurrection, riots, strikes, civil action decisions by governments or governing authorities, natural disaster, bad weather, technical or maintenance problems with the transport, criminal and terrorist acts or similar circumstances beyond our control.

11.  Special requests

If you have any special requests you must advise us at the time of booking and confirm them in writing. Although we will endeavour to pass any reasonable requests on to the relevant Supplier, no guarantees can be given that any request will be met.  Confirmation that a special request has been noted or passed on to the Supplier, or the inclusion of the special request on your written confirmation or any other documentation, is not confirmation that the request will be met.  Failure to meet any special request will not be a breach of your contract.  Conditional bookings cannot be accepted i.e.: any booking which is specified to be conditional on the fulfilment of a particular request.

12. Cutting your holiday short

If you are forced to return home early, we cannot refund the cost of any services you have not used. If you cut short your holiday and return home early in circumstances where you have no reasonable cause for complaint about the standard of accommodation and services provided, we will not offer you any refund for that part of your holiday not completed, or be liable for any associated costs you may incur. Depending on the circumstances, your travel insurance may offer cover for curtailment and we suggest that any claim is made directly with them

13.  Accuracy of Promotional Material
All information contained in any of our promotional material, e.g. brochures, advertisements, mailshots, websites and e-shots, is based on information available at the time of publication. We reserve the right to change any information before your booking is confirmed and the amended information will then form part of your contract with us. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy at the time of printing, regrettably errors do occasionally occur. We reserve the right to correct errors prior to confirming your booking.

14.   Behaviour
We reserve the right within our reasonable discretion to terminate the holiday, without notice, if you/or your party’s conduct or behaviours are disruptive in any way and/or affects the enjoyment of other holidaymakers. We shall not accept liability for any extra costs incurred by you/or your party as a result of our doing so, and no refund will be paid to you.

15. Insurance

It is a condition of your contract with us that you have insurance cover for the duration of your trip, and that it is adequate for your needs and the type of activities you will be undertaking as part of your holiday, specifically but not limited to the activity of Surfing and Watersports. We do not check insurance policies; however we reserve the right to request written details (insurer’s name, policy number and emergency contact number) of your policy. You are responsible for indemnifying us in full in the event that we incur any losses or expenses arising out of your failure to take out adequate insurance cover.

16. Disabilities and medical problems

If you or any member of your party has any medical problem or disability that may affect your booking  in particular the ability to surf, please tell us before you confirm your booking and give us full details in writing as early as possible before you travel.  If we reasonably feel unable to properly accommodate the particular needs of the person concerned we reserve the right to decline or cancel the reservation.

17. Passports and visa information for package bookings

It is your responsibility to ensure that you and all members of your party 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 will not accept any liability if you or any members of your party are refused entry onto any transport or into any country due to the failure on the part of the person concerned to carry or supply correct documentation.  The following information is for guidance only and you must check the relevant websites to check the up to date advice before you travel.

The passport, visa and health requirements applicable at the time of printing to British citizens for the holidays that we offer are shown in our brochures, with up to date information provided through links from our website.  A full British passport presently takes approximately 4 weeks to obtain.  If you are 16 years or over and have not yet got a passport our recommendation is that you should apply for one at least six weeks before your holiday.  The UK Passport Service has to confirm your identity before issuing your first passport and from October 2006 will ask you to attend an interview in order to do this.  Requirements may change and you must check the up to date position in good time before departure, and provide and details if so required.  Information on the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is available at www.dh.gov.uk or from your local Department of Health office.  You can apply for an EHIC online at www.dh.gov.uk or by phone on 0845 606 2030 or by post from EHIC Applications, PO Box 1115, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE99 1SW 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 Embassy or Consulate of the country(ies) to or through which you are intending to travel.  Your specific passport and visa requirements, and other immigration requirements are your responsibility and you should confirm these with the relevant Embassies and/or Consulates.

If failure to have or supply 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.  We reserve the right to request any personal details, including passport numbers, if required to do so by the authorities or by law.

18.  Excursions
Excursion or other tours that you may choose to book or pay for independently before you travel or whilst you are on holiday are not part of your package holiday provided by us. For any such excursion or other tour that you book your contract will be with the operator of the excursion or tour and not with us. 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.

19. Risks

Surfing is not without risks. You must be adequately fit to undertake the program set out in the package you have chosen, and we ask that you are able to swim at least 50 metres.  Prior experience of surfing is not necessary as tuition can be provided.

The activity of surfing carries with it a degree of risk to both people and personal property, even if enjoyed under the proper supervision of qualified instructors. It is also a strenuous and physical activity that requires those taking part to have a reasonable standard of swimming ability and personal fitness. All course members must therefore make us aware of any medical conditions, illnesses or allergies that they have and any prescribed drugs or medication they are taking at the time of booking and upon with the group leader on arrival at their holiday destination

No-one should participate in surfing if they are suffering from a heart condition or if they are pregnant. If you are unsure as to whether or not any medical condition that you may have will be affected by the activity of surfing then medical advice must be sought before booking your holiday. Under no circumstances will our coaches teach any person who is under the influence of alcohol, drugs or medication which may adversely affect their physical/mental abilities of the Participant. We reserve the right to cancel the surfing element of their holiday for reason of Participant intoxication, this is the decision of the surf coachon the day. No refund will be payable in these circumstances.

Surfing is, by its nature, weather and swell dependent therefore we cannot guarantee that you will be able to surf at any given time or day on your holiday, although we will do our best every day to try and find a spot to surf or suggest other activities locally. No refund will be provided for in the event that the conditions mean it is not possible to surf.

20. Acceptance of risk

Your booking is accepted on the understanding that you realise the hazards involved in surfing.

You acknowledge that by the very nature of the activities you are exposed to an element of personal risk and that the activities are of a potentially hazardous and unpredictable nature above those associated with conventional holidays. You therefore accept and consent to the risks inherent in the implementation of this contract and accept as reasonable the limitations of the Company’s responsibility as set out in these terms and conditions. All Participants agree to abide by all instructions given and decisions communicated to the Participant by the Global Surf Adventures surf coaches to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all participants.

21. Governing law

These Booking Conditions and all matters arising out of them shall be construed and governed according to English Law.  The parties agree that any dispute(s) they may have will be exclusively dealt with by the Courts of England and Wales except in relation to any proceedings brought against the Company in any other jurisdiction which involve or concern, in whole or part, the Arrangements or the Services.