From the time we receive your signed booking form and initial payment, a contract exists between you and Martin Randall Travel Ltd.

You must be in good health, free of infectious illness, and have a level of physical and mental fitness that would not impair other participants’ enjoyment by slowing them down or by absorbing disproportionate attention from the tour leaders. Please read Fitness and take the self-assessment tests described there; by signing the booking form you are stating that you have understood what we are asking of you and are fit to participate. If you have a medical condition or a disability which may affect your holiday or necessitate special arrangements being made for you, please discuss this with us before booking – or, if the condition develops or changes subsequently, as soon as possible before departure. If during the tour it transpires, in the judgement of the tour leaders, that you are not able to cope, you may be asked to opt out of certain visits or to leave the tour altogether. This would be at your own expense. We reserve the right to refuse to accept a booking without necessarily giving a reason.

Before booking, please refer to the FCDO website to ensure you understand the travel advice for the places to which the tour goes. Non-UK citizens should look at the advice issued by their governments, which may differ significantly.

It is a requirement of booking that you have adequate holiday insurance cover. The insurance must cover, at minimum, medical treatment, repatriation, loss of property and loss of payments to us in the event that you cancel the tour. If you are making your own arrangements for international travel, please ensure you have insurance that protects you in the rare event of Martin Randall Travel cancelling the tour. Experience indicates that free travel insurance offered by some credit card companies is not to be relied upon.

British citizens must have valid passports for all tours outside the United Kingdom. The passport needs to be valid for six months beyond the date of the tour. For Schengen countries, your passport must have been issued less than 10 years before the date you enter the country and valid for at least 3 months after the day you leave. If visas are required we will advise UK citizens about obtaining them; nationals of other countries should ascertain whether visas are required in their case.

If you have to withdraw from a tour on which you had booked, there would be a charge which varies according to the period of notice you give:

– up to 57 days: deposit only

– between 56 and 29 days: 40%

– between 28 and 15 days: 60%

– between 14 days and 4 days: 80%

– within 72 hours: 100%

For cruises only

- up to 90 days: deposit only

- between 89 and 70 days: 40%

- between 69 and 50 days: 60%

- between 49 days and 30 days: 80%

- 29 days or fewer: 100%

Additional costs for individual arrangements (including but not limited to flight upgrades, flight amendments, extra nights at the hotel(s), room upgrades and airport transfers) are subject to the same cancellation charges, apart from in the instance where we have previously notified you that an additional cost is non-refundable.

If you cancel your booking in a double or twin room but are travelling with a companion who chooses to continue to participate in the tour, the companion would have to pay the single-occupancy price.

If you cancel a non-residential event (normally a Culture Day) we will return the full amount if you notify us 22 or more days before the event. We will retain 50% if cancellation is made within three weeks, and 100% if within three days.

We take as the day of cancellation that on which we receive written confirmation of cancellation.

We may decide to cancel a tour if there were insufficient bookings for it to be viable (though this would always be more than eight weeks before departure). We would refund you with everything you had paid us.

Cancellation may also occur if civil unrest, war, natural disaster or other circumstances amounting to force majeure arise in the region to which the tour was due to go. If the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against travel, we would either cancel or adjust the itinerary to avoid risky areas.

We have a safety auditing process in place and, as a minimum, request that all of our suppliers comply with local health and safety regulations. However, we operate tours in parts of the world where standards are lower than those you are used to at home, particularly in the areas of accessibility, handrails and seatbelts. We ask that you take note of the safety information we provide.

As principal, we accept responsibility for all ingredients of a tour, except those in which the principle of force majeure prevails. Our obligations and responsibilities are also limited where international conventions apply in respect of air, sea or rail carriers, including the Warsaw Convention and its various updates.

Circumstances might arise which prevent us from operating a tour or event exactly as advertised. We would try to devise a satisfactory alternative, but if the change represents a significant loss to the tour we would offer compensation. If you decide to cancel because the alternative we offer is not in your view an adequate substitute, we would give a full refund.

Any money you have paid to us for a tour which includes an international flight is protected by our Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (ATOL, number 3622). Payments for tours which do not include a flight from/to the UK are protected by ABTOT – The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited. So, in the (highly unlikely) event of our insolvency in advance of the tour, you would get your money back, or if we failed after the tour had begun, the tour would be able to continue and you would be returned to the UK at its conclusion. Clients living elsewhere who have arranged their own flights should ensure their personal travel insurance covers repatriation in the event of holiday supplier failure.

Financial protection – the official text:

We are required to publish the following. We provide full financial protection for our package holidays which include international flights, by way of our Air Travel Organiser’s Licence number 3622. When you buy an ATOL protected flight inclusive holiday from us you receive an ATOL Certificate. This lists what is financially protected, where you can get information on what this means for you and who to contact if things go wrong. Most of our flights and flight-inclusive holidays on our website and in our brochure are financially protected by the ATOL scheme. But ATOL protection does not apply to all holiday and travel services listed. Please ask us to confirm what protection may apply to your booking. If you do not receive an ATOL Certificate then the booking will not be ATOL protected. If you do receive an ATOL Certificate but all the parts of your trip are not listed on it, those parts will not be ATOL protected. In order to be protected under the ATOL scheme you need to be in the UK when you make your booking and/or one of the flights you take must originate or terminate in the UK with the group.

We provide full financial protection for our package holidays that do not include a flight, by way of a bond held by ABTOT – The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited.

We will provide you with the services listed on the ATOL Certificate (or a suitable alternative). In some cases, where we aren’t able do so for reasons of insolvency, an alternative ATOL holder may provide you with the services you have bought or a suitable alternative (at no extra cost to you). You agree to accept that in those circumstances the alternative ATOL holder will perform those obligations and you agree to pay any money outstanding to be paid by you under your contract to that alternative ATOL holder. However, you also agree that in some cases it will not be possible to appoint an alternative ATOL holder, in which case you will be entitled to make a claim under the ATOL scheme (or your credit card issuer where applicable). If we, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL certificate, are unable to provide the services listed (or a suitable alternative, through an alternative ATOL holder or otherwise) for reasons of insolvency, the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust may make a payment to (or confer a benefit on) you under the ATOL scheme. You agree that in return for such a payment or benefit you assign absolutely to those Trustees any claims which you have or may have arising out of or relating to the non-provision of the services, including any claim against us (or your credit card issuer where applicable). You also agree that any such claims maybe re-assigned to another body, if that other body has paid sums you have claimed under the ATOL scheme.

These conditions form part of your contract with Martin Randall Travel Ltd and are governed by English law. All proceedings shall be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

By signing the booking form, or by booking online, you are stating that you have read and agree to our Privacy policy.