Terms & Conditions

These are the standard Booking Conditions of GTS Tours Limited, part of the GTI Travel Group.

1. Contract
By contracting with GTS Tours Limited (referred to in these booking conditions as "we or us") you will be accepting these booking conditions on behalf of yourself and all other persons using our services pursuant to a booking made by you.

2. Payment
A deposit of £30 or 25% of the total tour value (whichever is greater) will be required to secure a Group Booking. The deposit is non refundable. Full payment for all groups is required 6 weeks prior to travel. For bookings confirmed where the departure date is less than 6 weeks from the date confirmation received, we will require full payment immeadiately to confirm the booking. We accept payment by credit or debit card. We can also accept payment by cheque, BACS, CHAPS or cash. Full payment is required before your booking can be confirmed.

3. Financial Protection
As members of the Travel Trust Association (number U335X), we offer 100% financial protection in the event of our becoming insolvent. This means that you would receive a guaranteed full refund should we cease trading. Our protection is provided in 2 ways.

All credit or debit card payments are electronically deposited into the GTS Tours Travel Trust Association Client Trust Account, which is held at Natwest Bank (UK). We will deposit any other payments received into the same account. This ensures that your money is correctly held in “Trust” in accordance with British law and the European Package Travel Regulations. We are only allowed to have access to your payment after your tour has been completed.
You will be issued a Fidelity insurance policy for your group shortly after your booking has been made*. This provides additional cover to the value of £11,000 per person, should there be insufficient funds to provide you with a refund from the GTS Tours Travel Trust Association Client Trust Account.
If you are booking with an agent or re-seller, it is your responsibility to check that they provide Financial Protection, in accordance with the Package Travel Regulations. Our financial cover only extends to clients or companies who have contracted directly with us. This means we cannot provide cover should your agent or re-seller experience financial difficulties or cease trading. In such circumstances, we would treat affected bookings as cancelled.

4. Insurance
You are advised to take out insurance, which would cover you and your group in the event that you have to cancel your booking or compensate you for delays and/or damage to your property. GTS are happy to provide a quote for this.

5. Check-in/Departures
It is your responsibility to leave ample time for your journey to the nominated departure point. Please ensure that you are at your stated departure point at least 15 minutes prior to the departure time. We cannot refund or rebook for you missing tours, trips or services as a result of delays on other transport services such as traffic, underground, buses and/or railways.

6. Travel Documentation
You are responsible for ensuring that you are in possession of the required travel documentation such as visas and passports and that they are valid and effective for all countries passed through en-route. We cannot be held responsible for expenses incurred if travel documentation does not meet the required criteria. If you are in doubt, please contact the relevant embassy or consulate.

7. Refunds/Cancellations Policy
You must inform us in writing (by post/fax or email) as soon as possible if you wish to cancel a group tour or cancel individual members of the group. Your notice of cancellation will only be effective from the moment we receive it in writing. On cancellation the charge per person will be:

6 weeks prior to departure date - deposit lost
6-4 weeks prior to departure date - 40% of tour cost
4-2 weeks prior todeparture date - 80% of tour cost
Less than 2 weeks prior to departure date - 100% of tour cost

9. Variation of Brochure
We reserve the right, before you book, to vary the services described in our brochures, including prices and departure dates and times and characteristics and categories of transport. You will be notified of these changes before you are committed to the tour.

10. Alterations
If we must change your hotel or other details of the tour, which may be for reasons beyond our control, we will notify you as soon as possible and give you the information as to the alterations. If the change significantly alters an essential term of the contract, you will have the right to withdraw from the contract in which event we will repay all money already paid by you to us or the appropriate proportion if only some of the party withdraw. Alternatively you will have the option to:
a) Take a substitute tour of equivalent or superior value if we are able to offer you such a substitute,
b) to take a substitute tour of lower value if we are able to offer you one, when we will reimburse or allow you the difference in price of the tour contracted for and that of the substitute tour.

You undertake to let us know as quickly as possible your decision in the event of our having to advise you of any such alteration.

11. Force Majeure
Where we cancel the whole tour before departure because of unusual or unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, then we will refund all money already paid by you but you will not be entitled to any compensation for the loss of the tour. Where the tour is interrupted to a significant extent by circumstances beyond our control we will refund what is deemed to be a fair proportion of the cost of the tour.

12. Behaviour
You will be responsible for the conduct of yourself and all members of your party and you will indemnify us against any liability for damage caused by you or any members of your party. We reserve the right to terminate the tour in the event of behaviour deemed to be unreasonable by our staff.

13. Complaints
Should you have a complaint during your tour, contact your tour leader and our staff will do their best to rectify your problem. If we cannot resolve your complaint at the time, you should make a written record of your complaint and hand it to your tour manager or send it to us at GTS Tours Ltd, 301 Northdown Road, Margate, Kent, CT9 3PA within 21 days of the end of the tour. We will not be able to deal with any complaints unless we are told in that way and by that time.