The following booking conditions form the basis of your contract with Uncia Trails Private Limited (“we”, “us” and “our”). Please read them carefully as they set out our respective rights and obligations. By asking us to confirm your booking, we are entitled to assume that you have had the opportunity to read and have read these booking conditions and agree to them.
These booking conditions only apply to the trip arrangements you book with us in India and which we agree to make, provide or perform (as applicable) as part of our contract with you. All references in these booking conditions to “trip”, “booking”, “contract”, or “arrangements” mean such trip arrangements unless otherwise stated. References to “departure” mean the start date of these arrangements.
Booking your trip and payment details
To book, please follow the procedure on our website or ask our sales team for assistance. Each person travelling needs to complete the relevant application form. If you are under 18 when booking, the application form must also be signed by your parent or guardian or initiated online during the booking process. The completed booking form must then be sent to us with the payments to the address mentioned at the end of this document.
Where we have already confirmed the availability of your chosen arrangements, and you book within any applicable time limit for doing so, your booking will be treated as a firm, and a contract between us will come into existence as soon as we receive your completed application form and your deposit. We will then send you a receipt for all payments and our invoice. Where we have not confirmed availability, your booking will be treated as firm, and a contract between us will exist when we dispatch our invoice to you. Where you book through our website without prior confirmation of availability, any electronic acknowledgement of your booking is not a confirmation of it. Please check your invoice carefully as soon as you receive it. Contact us immediately if any information on the invoice or any other document needs to be corrected or completed.
If the balance (including any surcharge where applicable) is not received by the due date for any reason, we reserve the right to treat the booking as cancelled by you. Suppose we wait to cancel because you promised to make a payment. In that case, you must pay the cancellation charges shown in paragraph 10 depending on the date we reasonably treat your booking as cancelled.
The price quoted for any trip covers the cost of the planning, the organisation and carrying out of the trip, including group equipment, supplies, accommodation, administration and staff, except for the following, for which you must be responsible: vaccination fees, travel insurance, cost of travel to and from the start/return point of your trip including your international flights, cost of passport and visas, personal equipment and personal expenses while on the trip and any other costs expressly excluded on the trip description and invoice.
We reserve the right to change and correct errors in quoted prices at any time before your trip is confirmed. We will advise you of any mistake we are aware of and the then applicable price at the time of booking.
Once the price of your chosen trip has been confirmed at the time of booking, subject to the correction of errors, we will only increase or decrease the price in the event of any change in our transportation costs or dues, taxes or fees, or in the exchange rates used to calculate the cost of your trip.
You must have adequate and appropriate travel cover, including any adventurous activities such as trekking at altitude. Note that most of our trips are supervised and do not require climbing ropes. Having adequate insurance covering cancellation costs from the booking date and medical expenses (including evacuation and repatriation) is essential.
You are taken to confirm at the time of booking that you are in good health, physically capable of undertaking all aspects of the trip, and unaware of any reason why you may be unsuited to taking part or maybe likely to suffer illness or injury during the journey, taking into account its challenges and purposes. Suppose you cannot give this confirmation for any reason or have any medical condition or disability that may affect your trip. In that case, you must contact us before you submit your application form so that we can assist you in considering the suitability of the trip.
Please advise us of any special requests before making your booking. We will endeavour to meet or arrange for our suppliers to meet any such request. Confirmation that a special request has been noted or passed on to the supplier or the inclusion of the special request on your invoice or any other documentation is not confirmation that the request will be met. Unless and until expressly confirmed, all special requests are subject to availability. For your protection, you should obtain written confirmation that a special request will have complied (where it is possible to give this) and that it is essential to you.
Cancellations and changes
The party leader must notify us by letter or email as soon as possible of any booking cancellation. Your cancellation notice will only be adequate when we receive it in writing.
Cancellation Charges (% of total cost)
The tour may be cancelled due to unforeseen events or government restrictions. In such cases, you can reschedule your dates. However, no refund will be provided in any condition.
The booking amount (30% of the package amount) is non-refundable. However, you can adjust this amount with any other tour, trek, or activity Uncia offers after the booking date.
If you are prevented from travelling, you may transfer your place to someone else (introduced by you), provided we are notified at least 2 weeks before departure and subject to the practicality of changing certain bookings in your name. As a result, all costs and charges incurred by us and/or incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers must be paid before the transfer can be affected. Any overdue balance payment must also be received.
Changes to your confirmed trip can be considered depending on practicalities and availabilities, but there might be a cost associated with these changes. We do not charge an amendment fee for doing so. We will only pass on any extra costs in providing additional or alternative services incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers. A change of holiday dates will generally be treated as a cancellation of the original booking and rebooking, in which case cancellation charges will apply. Changes may result in the recalculation of the holiday price where, for example, the basis on which the cost of the original holiday was calculated has changed.
The itinerary is a guide to which we will attempt to adhere. Still, it may be necessary to alter this at short notice as a result of circumstances or events outside our control, such as adverse weather or road conditions or any of those amounting to force majeure, or due to the operating conditions imposed by owners and operators of accommodation, facilities and transport. Your itinerary will, however, be the same in content as far as is reasonably possible unless circumstances beyond our control make this impossible. Should weather conditions involve you in extra costs such as accommodation, transportation, and meals, these will be borne by mutual agreement between us.
As mentioned above, we may have to make changes to and correct errors in advertised and confirmed details and cancel confirmed bookings, which we must reserve the right to do. Please note that our trips may require a minimum number of participants to enable us to operate them. If the minimum number of bookings required for a particular trip has yet to be received, we can cancel it. We will notify you of cancellation at least 15 days before departure.
Most changes are minor. Occasionally, we have to make a “significant change”. A significant change is made before departure, which we can reasonably expect will significantly affect your trip. If we must make a significant change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible. If there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of the following options:-
Please note that the above options are unavailable for any minor change. Suppose we have to make a significant change or cancel. In that case, we will, where appropriate, pay you reasonable compensation depending on the circumstances and when the significant change or cancellation is notified, subject to the following exceptions. Compensation will not be payable, and no liability beyond offering the choices mentioned above can be accepted where:
we are forced to make a change or cancel as a result of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, such as force majeure, the consequences of which we could not have avoided even with all due care or
where applicable, we must cancel because the minimum number of bookings necessary to operate your trip has yet to be reached.
No compensation will be payable, and the above options will not be available if we cancel because you fail to comply with any requirement of these booking conditions, entitling us to cancel (such as paying on time) or when a change is minor.
Very rarely, we may be forced by “force majeure” to change or terminate your trip after departure but before the scheduled end of your time away. If this situation does occur, we regret we will be unable to make any refunds (unless we obtain any refunds from our suppliers), pay you any compensation or meet any costs or expenses you incur.
In these booking conditions, “force majeure” means any event that we or the service supplier (s) could not foresee or avoid, even with all due care. Such events may include, whether actual or threatened, war, riot, civil strife, terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire, and other events outside our control. Except where otherwise expressly stated in these booking conditions, we regret we cannot accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our obligations under our contract with you is prevented or affected by, or you otherwise suffer any damage, loss or expense of any nature as a result of “force majeure”.
Our Liability to you
We promise to ensure that the trip arrangements we have agreed to make, perform, or provide as applicable as part of our contract with you are made, performed, or provided with reasonable skill and care.
We will only be responsible for what our employees, agents, and suppliers do or do not do if they were acting within their employment (for employees) or carrying out work we had asked them to do (for agents and suppliers) at the time.
We will not be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss (including loss of possessions and loss of enjoyment), damage, expense, cost or other sum or claim of any description whatsoever which results from any of the following:
We cannot accept responsibility for any services that are not part of our contract. This includes, for example, any additional services that any supplier agrees to provide or arrange for you where we have not agreed to provide or arrange these services as part of our contract. Such additional services will include any activities that do not form part of your contracted trip arrangements that a supplier agrees to provide or arrange for you while you are away.
Also, regardless of any wording used by us on our website, in any advertising material or elsewhere, we only promise to use reasonable skill and care as set out above, and we do not have any greater or different liability to you. Many of your trip arrangements are provided by regional companies. These companies share our name under shared standards and branding due to our investment in them. Still, they are separate legal entities and are not subsidiaries of or otherwise legally connected with us other than as suppliers of services included in your trip. They operate independently of Uncia Trails Private Limited and have their terms and conditions.
Delays, behaviour, damage, and complaints
We regret we cannot offer you any assistance in the event of delay at your outward or homeward point of departure. You are responsible for ensuring you arrive at the departure location for your chosen tour; all costs associated with this are your sole responsibility. This is even the case where we assist you in making any necessary additional arrangements where, for example, your flights were delayed, and you missed your pre-booked transfer with us.
Suppliers, including transport operators, provide services under their terms and conditions. These terms may limit or exclude their liability to you in the event of death, personal injury, delay or loss/damage of personal possessions.
While the trip is in progress, all decisions are made by Uncia Trails staff or staff employed by our regional companies, and you must act per all reasonable instructions you are given. The team leader, trip guide or other members of our staff or staff employed by our regional companies may withdraw you from the trip at any time if they are of the reasonable opinion that your continued presence is prejudicing or is likely to prejudice the good order, discipline, safety or successful operation of the trip or the safety or well being of any individual participant(s) or other third party or if you break any law or regulation of any country where the trip takes place. We expect all clients to be considerate of different people. Suppose, in our reasonable opinion or the reasonable opinion of any other person in authority, you behave in such a way as to cause or be likely to cause danger, upset or distress to our staff or any third party or damage to property. In that case, we are entitled to terminate your trip without prior notice.
We or staff employed by Uncia Trails are entitled to withdraw you from a trip if the information on your application form proves materially inaccurate or incomplete. If you are withdrawn, you must leave the trip immediately, and we will have no further responsibility for you. No refunds will be made, and we will not pay any expenses or costs incurred due to the withdrawal. You will also have to indemnify us against any loss or expense that may be incurred due to your actions.
You accept responsibility for any damage or loss you have caused. Full payment for any such damage or loss (reasonably estimated if not precisely known) must be made directly to the accommodation owner, manager, other supplier, or us as soon as possible. If the actual cost of the loss or damage exceeds the amount paid where estimated, you must pay the difference once known. The difference will be refunded if the actual cost exceeds the amount paid. You will also be responsible for meeting any claims subsequently made against us and all fees incurred by us (including our and the other party’s total legal costs) due to your actions. You should ensure appropriate travel insurance to protect you if this situation arises.
You must ensure you own all necessary travel and health documents before departure and pay all costs incurred in obtaining such documentation. We regret we cannot accept any liability if you are refused entry onto any transport or into any country due to your failure to carry all required documentation. If failure to have any necessary travel or other documents results in fines, surcharges, or other financial penalties being imposed on us, you will be responsible for reimbursing us accordingly.
Complaints
Suppose you have any reason to complain or experience problems with your trip while away. In that case, you must immediately inform your trip guide, our local agent (if we have one), and the service(s) supplier in question. Any verbal notification must be put in writing and given to our trip guide / local agent and the supplier as soon as possible. Suppose any complaint or problem still needs to be resolved by the trip guide, local agent or supplier to your satisfaction. In that case, you must contact us in the UK using the contact details we provided during your trip, giving us full details and a contact number. We need to know about a complaint or problem before we can begin to resolve it. Most issues can be dealt with quickly. If you are still dissatisfied, however, you must write to us within 14 days of the end of your trip giving your booking reference and full details of your complaint. For all complaints and claims that do not involve death, personal injury or illness, we regret we cannot accept liability if you fail to notify the complaint or claim entirely following this clause.
The information on our website and other advertising material is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of 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 when booking.
In the unlikely event that you require assistance, please email us at [email protected]