These terms and conditions have been laid out according to international rules to ensure that the agreement between SISU TOURS and the client are clear and fair to both parties. The general conditions clearly spell out our obligations to you and also your commitments when you book your holiday with us.
OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU
1. YOUR BOOKING
After you have paid your deposit (deposit on normal tours is €200 – non-refundable) the booking is considered confirmed and that you have read and understood these Terms and Conditions. We will reserve your tour. The deposit and the final payment can either be settled by cheque, cash, credit card or bank transfer. Where any discounts or special offers are applicable, credit card payments are not accepted. Your booking is considered confirmed for all other persons travelling with you, as well as for people in whose name you have made the booking. The people travelling with you are also considered to have read and understood the Terms and Conditions. Usually, a tour will be cancelled if there are not at least 30 people booked on the tour, in which case you will be informed at least 14 days before the departure date. When making a booking, it is important that the names you give us are exactly as shown on the passport. If the names given to us do not match the passport and an air ticket is issued erroneously there is a €50 charge to change the names. This fee is imposed by the airline. Where discounts and/or any special offers are applicable credit card payments are not accepted. Should one still wish to pay by credit card the discount/special offer will not be applied.
2. OUR PRICE POLICY
The prices indicated here are those set at the time of publication of the tours and are the price per person. Children’s rates apply provided the children share the room with 2 or 3 adults. It is possible that at the time of booking, the actual price of your chosen holiday may have increased from that shown in the program. In this case, we reserve the right to make such an increase in price. We guarantee that the price of your tour will not be subject to any type of additional payment, except for the following reasons: Once you have booked your tour and paid your deposit, the price will only change if there is a fluctuation in exchange rates or an increase in taxes or ‘levies’ or an increase in aircraft fuel prices, imposed by the airlines, or any other increase that affects the price directly or indirectly.
3. OUR ASSURANCE ON STANDARDS, DUTIES & OUR OBLIGATIONS
Our tours descriptions are based on the information obtained from hoteliers and other service producers. It is international policy that check-in of rooms is not done before 3 p.m. and that check-out from rooms has to take place by 9 a.m. SISU TOURS is not responsible for any theft that may occur in the hotel or the coach and that is why we insist on an adequate insurance cover. Unless otherwise specified, entrance fees to museums, shows, boat or train trips, and the use of cable cars are charged separately. Excursions (visits to places of interest) that are listed as ‘optional’ are charged separately and unless otherwise stated, these cover the cost of the coach transfer, while entrance fees are charged separately and no local guides will be provided. The prices are clearly listed in the price box on the programme. Only items listed in the section ‘Included in Price’ are in fact already paid for. Please note that the programs are published many months before and therefore there may be times when an advertised facility or entertainment or the availability of a performer/performers is not available. Bad weather, essential maintenance or cleaning, lack of support or demand, may all affect the actual availability of particular activities or facilities; so, for instance, can such things as local licensing laws, religious or local holidays, or local authority or government restrictions. Similarly, touring itineraries may have to be changed sometimes at short notice, due to weather, road or traffic conditions, mechanical breakdowns, police activity etc. Each group tour is escorted by a Maltese speaking tour leader who will be responsible for the implementation of the programme. The tour leader is under no circumstance responsible to carry out work (unless for emergency), over and above the official programme and is not obliged to accompany members of the group around shops, flea markets or theme parks. As a responsible tour operator, we feel it is important to mention these possibilities, although they are very rare. If you have a particular problem, please inform your tour leader in writing at the time, so that, if possible, it can be dealt with there and then. Having said all that, we want to give the following assurance about our liability to you. We have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that proper arrangements have been made for all the holidays which are advertised. You will appreciate, however, that we have no direct control over the provision of services to you by suppliers. SISU TOURS is not responsible if any activities are cancelled due to adverse weather, strikes or the indisposition of the protagonist or any other circumstance that is not in our direct or indirect control. SISU TOURS is not responsible for any flight delays that may occur and any other consequences that arise from such delays. We always try our utmost to communicate your requests, like rooms near each other or dinner seating, to our suppliers, however, we can never give a guarantee that these will be definitely confirmed since requests are always subject to availability.
4. IF WE CHANGE YOUR HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS
Before departure date – we plan our holidays to give you the maximum enjoyment. Although it is unlikely, we may occasionally have to change your holiday arrangements and we reserve the right to do so any time. For instance, flight timings may change, a hotel may close down or be overbooked, we may have to amend an itinerary, or sales of that holiday may not reach the level which would be economical for us to operate. If we have to make any changes, we will inform you or your Travel Agent as soon as is reasonably possible before departure has commenced, in which event we will do our best to maintain the overall standard of the holiday arrangements.
5. IF WE CANCEL YOUR HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS
We may occasionally have to cancel your holiday arrangements. For instance, sales of that holiday may not reach a level that would be economical for us to operate. This cancellation is made at the discretion of SISU TOURS. We reserve the right, in any circumstances, to cancel your holiday and, in this event, we will return to you all the money you have paid us or will offer you an alternative holiday to purchase, of comparable standard, if available.
6. YOUR FLIGHT
Details of your airlines we anticipate utilising is shown in the programme. The choice of airline is exclusively at the discretion of SISU TOURS. The right is reserved to substitute alternative airlines and/ or aircraft if necessary. Flight timings are subject to confirmation and some changes. Some flights may have intermediate stops en route and as factors affecting this are not always known before departure date, we cannot always notify you in advance. Flights are subject to the granting of permits and licenses by authorities both in Malta and overseas. In the event of your flight arrangements being changed or cancelled, as outlined in this section and sections 4 and 5, we accept no liability for extra costs or consequential loss arising, directly or indirectly, from independent contract arrangements between the client and a third party. SISU TOURS is not responsible for the service given by the airline, before, after and during the flight. SISU TOURS is not responsible if any part of a tour is lost due to flight delays, breakdowns or similar occurrences.
7. CONDITIONS OF DISCHARGE
Transport of any kind is subject to the conditions of carriage of the company providing that trip. These conditions are likely to embody the provision of the law of the country of the company concerned or are likely to be subject to international conventions with government (s), any of which may limit or exclude the liability of the carrier (airline, coach, ship etc).
8. HEALTH
Health facilities, hygiene and risk of disease vary worldwide. It is your responsibility to check if you are healthy enough to travel. In the event you fall ill, SISU TOURS is not responsible under any circumstance, although the Tour Leader will try his/ her very best to offer assistance. You must take all necessary advice regarding your health and specific can be taken within the stipulated time (this varies and could be necessary months prior to departure) in order for such treatment to be effective on the departure date. Our advise is that you contact your doctor or that you phone the ‘International Travel Vaccination Bureau’ on 21239260, Monday to Friday between 8.00am and 1.00pm.
9. FORCE MAJEURE
The tour programmes as described can be changed due to reasons of Force Majeure like technical faults on planes/ships/coaches/hotels, strikes, wars, closure of ports, quarantines. Bad weather etc. In such case neither SISU TOURS nor the owners of the ship/plane/coaches/hotels are held responsible.
10. COVID-19 CANCELLATIONS
If any tour is cancelled due to Covid – 19, guests will be offered a credit voucher (via email) equivalent to the monies paid by guests to SISU Tours, redeemable with any SISU future tour (without any conditions of time limits and number of persons). If instead of a credit voucher guests request a refund, they will receive their money back no later than 6 months from the day of cancellation.
YOUR COMMITMENT TO US
1. DEPOSIT PAYMENT & BALANCE OF PAYMENT
The deposit paid (€200 per person) when booking a tour is non-refundable by SISU TOURS. Balance due, must be settled up to six (6) weeks prior to departure or immediately in the event you have booked six (6) weeks prior to departure. If you book from a travel agent, ensure payment is made to the agent within reasonable time, in which case the agent can make payment to us in time. If for some reason we would not have received your payment in time, we reserve the right to cancel the booking.
2. IF YOU CHANGE YOUR BOOKING
Should you wish to change your holiday arrangements in any way, we will try our best to meet your wishes to the best of our ability. A handling fee for any such change to your booking within six (6) weeks of departure date will be levied., then we reserve the right to pass on any additional costs incurred over and above the standard handling fee above already charged. Where the price varies depending on the number of persons booked into the accommodation and you wish to change that number of persons, the price will be recharged on the basis of the new party size as shown on the tour program. Any increase in the price per person, payable as a result of a part cancellation (eg: for a hotel room under-occupancy, changing from twin room to single room) is not a cancellation charge.
3. IF YOU CANCEL YOUR RESERVATION
The cancellation will be valid from the date it is received in writing at our offices. All types of travel insurance are supposed to cover “cancellations” and for this reason we require that such travel insurance is purchased prior to travel. The insurance is to make good for any expenses incurred by the client who has to cancel their trip. Obviously, as in any other insurance, certain terms and conditions are applicable. In the event the client has not purchased insurance, SISU TOURS can only refund the balance that we have not yet paid or are obliged.
4. YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
It is your responsibility to ensure that you and those for whom you are booking are in possession of valid passport and any appropriate visas. Be sure to check passport and visa requirements with your Travel Agent, well in advance, particularly if you are a non-Maltese passport holder. You are responsible for any charges, fines etc. that may be levied by authorities in Malta or overseas for non-compliance of regulations in this area and any such amounts will be recharged to you. Similarly, it is your responsibility to check with your doctor as to what vaccinations or inoculations are advisable for your chosen destination. Airline/Seas regulations state that women 28 weeks or more into pregnancy, at the time of return travel, must have a medical certificate of fitness to travel. You must be responsible for a reasonable standard of behaviour by yourself and by those for whom you have booked. We reserve the right to decline to accept or retain any person as a client if their behaviour is, in our opinion, or in the opinion of the airline pilot, ship captain, hotelier or accommodation owner or manager or other person in authority, likely to cause distress, danger, damage or annoyance to other customers, employees and to other people or to property. You understand that we shall be under no liability to pay any refund or compensation to, or costs incurred by, any person whose behaviour is thus unacceptable. It is your duty to purchase Travel Insurance. We provide the service to sell Travel Insurance, although you are under no obligation to purchase such cover from us. It is important that you buy such insurance; in fact you will not be allowed to travel if you are not insured.
5. IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT
We do our best to give you an enjoyable, trouble-free holiday, but occasionally even the best-laid plans can go wrong. If you have a problem or complaint relating to the overseas part of your holiday, you must advise in writing our tour leader, representative or agent in your resort at the earliest opportunity, in order that it may be investigated and we have the opportunity to resolve the matter on the spot. Whoever books a holiday with SISU TOURS, is considered to have read the conditions and has accepted them without any reservations.
