2. Your holiday price
The price of your travel arrangements is subject to surcharges however there will be no charge within 30 days of your departure. Changes in transportation costs, including the cost of fuel, ferry surcharges, which are part of the contract between ferry companies and the tour operator, Government action such as increases in VAT or any other Government imposed increases, currency in relation to adverse exchange rate variations may result in a surcharge being levied. We will absorb an amount of 2% of your holiday arrangements, which excludes insurance premiums, map purchase and any amendment charges. You will be charged for the amount over and above that, plus an administration charge of £1 together with an amount to cover agents’ commission. If this means paying more than 10% of your travel arrangements, you will have the option of accepting a change to another holiday if we are able to offer one (if this is the same price you will not have to pay any more but if it is a lower price you will be refunded the difference) or canceling and receiving a full refund of all monies paid except any amendment charges. 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 you decide to cancel for this reason, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the issue of the date printed on your final invoice. Should the price of your holiday go down due to the changes mentioned above, by more than 2% of your 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. The prices in this brochure are based on known costs and exchange rates quoted in the “Financial Times Guide to World currencies on (3/03/2006).

3. Brochure information
Every effort is made to ensure that the information in our brochure is correct but as the brochure is prepared well in advance of the season, there may be occasions when facilities advertised by ourselves are altered or withdrawn for reasons outside of our control.

4. Paying your deposit
When you make your booking you must pay a deposit of £100 per unit of accommodation plus any insurance premium due. An extra £100 deposit will be required for holidays which include a Motorail booking. Should you decide to cancel, we must receive written confirmation from you within 10 days of our confirmation invoice being posted to you. If the deposit and insurance premium are not paid within 10 days of its being posted to you, we reserve the right to treat the booking as cancelled by you and you may be liable for cancellation charges. All monies you pay to Vacansoleil are held by us on your behalf at all times.

5. Paying the balance
The final balance is due 8 weeks before departure date. If this amount is not paid in full on or before this date you may be liable for cancellation charges of up to 100% of the total invoice value as we reserve the right to treat the booking as cancelled by you at any time up to the date of departure. It is therefore most important that you make full payment 8 weeks before departure or cancellation charges as outlined in paragraph 12 may be incurred. We also reserve the right to charge interest of 1% per month plus recharge any costs incurred in the collection of seriously late payments.

6. Special requests
Special requests can be made and there will be a charge of £3.50 for each preference request. This will be noted on your invoice. Whilst we make every effort to accommodate special requests, no guarantee can be given. Should you have a special need due to a medical problem then we will do our best to guarantee this is possible but there will be a charge of £20.

7. Your journey
It is your responsibility to allow sufficient time for the journey to reach your holiday destination. Vacansoleil will not make refunds for unused accommodation where delays of any nature have occurred.

8. Ferry and Eurotunnel Travel
Vacansoleil acts as agent for the relevant operator and as such cannot accept any liability for any delay or change to your crossing in your crossings to or from the UK that are instigated by the operator. Any refunds given by the operators as a result of such changes will be passed on to Customers. You will be bound by the terms and conditions of the relevant operator, copies of which are available on request.

9. Travel documents
It is your responsibility to be in possession of a valid passport and any visa that may be required for the countries you are visiting. British citizens, including children and infants, will require a full 10 year passport. Your Vacansoleil travel documents must be in the same name as your passport and so it is essential that you advise us of any spelling errors or changes. If your tickets have already been issued there will be a charge of £30 for the amendment to be made and tickets re-issued.

10. Campsite rules
All customers will be expected to abide by the campsite rules as stipulated by the site management. We cannot be held responsible in any way should customers be expelled from the campsite for failing to abide by these rules.

11. If you alter your booking
If, after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you wish to alter your travel arrangements in any way, we will do our best to accommodate your requests but it may not always be possible. Any request for changes to be made must be in writing from the person who made the booking. You will be asked to pay an administration charge of £15 plus any further costs we incur in making this alteration. Please note that changes to accommodation and hotel bookings, be this a change of dates, campsite or hotel, will incur extra costs that can often be as much as a cancellation and rebooking. 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. Where it is not possible to make the requested alterations, Vacansoleil will explain fully the reasons why. Any alterations made within 6 weeks of departure will incur the cancellation charge as set out in paragraph 12. Your revised holiday will be treated as a new booking.

12. If you cancel your holiday
You, or any member of your party, may cancel your travel arrangements at any time and written notification from the person who made the original booking on your behalf must be received at our offices. If you cancel your holiday before final payment is made, you will forfeit your deposit. Once final payment has been received, the following cancellation fees are payable:

Period of % of total
notification holiday cost
from departure

within 42 days 40%

within 28 days 70%

within 14 days 100%

NOTE: If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.

13. ‘Selling’ your holiday
If for some reason you are unable to take your holiday but have friends or family who wish to go instead, we will be happy to alter the names on the reservation for a fee of £20. There may be an extra charge from the ferry company concerned or you may even have to rebook the ferry crossing in the new names but we will advise you of this at the time. Whatever, we will do our best to help if we can.

14. If we alter your holiday
It is unlikely that we will have to make any changes to your travel arrangements, but we do plan the arrangements many months in advance. Occasionally, we may have to make changes and we reserve the right to do so at any time. Most of these changes will be minor and we will advise you of them at the earliest possible date. In the event of a minor change no compensation is payable, nor do you have the right to cancel or change your holiday arrangements without paying our usual charges. If we are forced to make major changes to your holiday arrangements you will have the option of accepting the change or booking any other available holiday from our brochure. If the chosen holiday is more expensive you will be asked to pay the difference, if the holiday is less expensive, we will refund the difference. Alternatively you may cancel the holiday in which case you will receive a full refund of all monies paid to us (excluding insurance premiums). A significant change includes a change of campsite to another in a different region and in cases such as these we will pay you the following compensation if you agree to the alterations. This compensation does not apply to changes for reasons beyond out control as outlined in paragraph 15.

Period of Compensation per booking
notification given to you in
% of total holiday cost.

more than 56 days nil
43-56 days 10%
42-29 days 15%
28-15 days 20%
14-0 days 25%

Please note that carriers such as ferry companies used in the brochure may be subject to change. Such a change is deemed to be a minor change. Other examples of minor changes include alteration of your outward/return crossing by less that 12 hours, changes to carrier type, change of accommodation to another of the same standard.

15. Force Majeure and changes beyond our control
Vacansoleil cannot accept liability for cancellations or changes to your holiday in any way because of war, riot, industrial dispute, terrorist activity, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions or any other unforeseen circumstances that may amount to force majeure. Some changes are necessary because of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances which neither we nor our suppliers could avoid, even with all due care. These circumstances include unavoidable technical transport problems, closure or congestions of ports or airports, road blockades, epidemic or disease or similar events. In these circumstances, you will not be entitled to compensation.

16. If you have a problem or complaint
Should you have a problem with your accommodation, you must report it to our on site representative and/or the campsite reception immediately or at the latest within 72 hours of your arrival or when the problem was noticed. If the problem is not rectified to your satisfaction, you should notify Vacansoleil by telephone or fax. Should you fail to register your complaint whilst at the campsite, thereby allowing us the opportunity to rectify the problem so that it does not spoil your holiday, we will not consider ourselves liable. Our maximum liability will be no greater that 200% of the total cost of your holiday (excluding insurance premiums).

It is unlikely that you will have a complaint that cannot be settled amicably between us. However, disputes to do with this contract, which cannot be settled amicably, may (if you wish) be referred to Arbitration under a special scheme arranged by the Association of British Travel Agents, but is administered quite independently by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

The scheme provides for a simple and inexpensive method of Arbitration on documents alone with restricted liability on you in respect of costs. The scheme does not apply to claims for any amount greater that £1,500 per person or £7,500 per booking form. Also it does not apply to claims which relate to physical injury or illness. If you choose to proceed to Arbitration under this scheme, you must send a written notice of you decision to ABTA within 9 months after your scheduled date of return.

Full details of the scheme are available from the Association of British Travel Agents at 68-71 Newman Street, London W1P 4AH.