Luxury Trains is a trading name of :
Westgate Travel, 91 Talbot Road, Talbot Green, Mid Glamorgan. CF72 8AE
- ABTA No. 90295
Agents for Venice Simplon-Orient-Express Ltd
Booking Conditions
Please note that all payments by credit card will attract a charge of 1.5% of the transaction value. American Express cards will attract a charge of 2%. There is no charge for UK debit / Switch cards or cheque payments.
When you book your journey/holiday the terms set out below and the Conditions of Carriage will form the basis of the contract between Venice Simplon-Orient-Express Limited and you and your party.
These conditions apply to bookings for nine persons or less travelling together. Special conditions apply to parties of 10 persons or more - please ask for details.
1. Booking and Confirmation
When you make a booking, you guarantee that you have the authority to accept, and do accept on behalf of all members of your party, the terms of these booking conditions. The first named person on the booking will be the party leader and will be responsible for making all payments due to us. He / she must be at least 18.
Luxury Trains consultants will be pleased to discuss your requirements and make a provisional reservation for you. Please call Luxury Trains on 0845 539 9712. To confirm this reservation, please complete a booking form and send it to Luxury Trains' office with a deposit of 15% of the total cost of the arrangements. Full payment is required for all bookings made within 70 days of departure.
After we receive your booking form and all appropriate payments, if the arrangements you wish to book are available, we will confirm your reservation in writing through Luxury-Trains - all correspondence will be sent to them.
NOTE THAT HOTELS AND FLIGHTS CANNOT BE BOOKED UNTIL A BOOKING FORM AND DEPOSIT IS RECEIVED AND ARE SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY UNTIL CONFIRMED IN WRITING.
The balance of the cost of your arrangements (including any surcharge where applicable) is due not less than 70 days prior to departure. If we do not receive this balance in full and on time, we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled by you in which case the cancellation charges set out in clause 4 below will become payable and no compensation will be paid.
Except for flight inclusive bookings, all monies you pay to Luxury Trains for your arrangements with us will be held by them on your behalf until we issue our confirmation invoice, after which they will hold the monies on our behalf. For all flight inclusive bookings, all monies paid to Luxury Trains for your holiday with us will be held on our behalf until they are paid to us or refunded to you.
2. Your Contract
A binding agreement will come into existence between us when we dispatch our written confirmation to 'Luxury Trains'. English Law will apply to our agreement and to any dispute or claim which arises between us out of it. Any such dispute or claim must be dealt with by the Courts of England and Wales.
Many of the services which make up your arrangements are provided by independent suppliers. Those suppliers provide these services in accordance with their own terms and conditions. Some of these terms and conditions may limit or exclude the supplier's liability to you, usually in accordance with applicable International Conventions as well as to any applicable law. Copies of these terms and conditions are available on request.
3. The Price of Your Arrangements
We reserve the right to amend or make corrections to the advertised prices prior to accepting your booking. However, once the actual price of your arrangements has been confirmed, no amendment will be made to it unless our costs change as a result of an increase or decrease in transportation costs, taxes or as a result of any changes in the exchange rates which have been used to calculate the cost of your arrangements. If the amount of the increase in the costs exceeds 2% of the total cost of your arrangements (excluding amendment charges), we may make an additional charge. If this additional charge is greater than 10% of the cost of your arrangements (excluding amendment charges), you will be entitled to choose one of options (a), (b) and (c) as set out in clause 5 below. If you do not inform us of your choice within 14 days from the issue date printed on our additional charge invoice, we are entitled to assume that you will pay within the advertised payment conditions.
4. If You Change or Cancel Your Booking
If you need to make any changes to your confirmed arrangements, you must request the change in writing as soon as possible, which we will endeavour to confirm, but this is not guaranteed. Where we can confirm your change, an amendment fee (as detailed below) together with any adjustment to costs will be payable.
If you or a member of your party needs to cancel your confirmed arrangements, the party leader must immediately advise us in writing. Your notice of cancellation will take effect when it is received at our offices and fees as set out in the table below will be charged. We reserve the right to request notification of consent from each party member of the party in respect of whom the cancellation is made.
You may be able to reclaim these charges (less any applicable excess) under the terms of your insurance policy.
Applicable to all Journeys/Holidays unless specified below.
Written notice received before |
Cancellation fee* |
Amendment Fee for each change* |
|---|---|---|
56 days or more |
15% (the deposit) |
One free†, then 10% |
21 - 55 days |
30% |
20% |
3 - 20 days |
70% |
60% |
Within 2 days of departure |
100% |
100% |
Reservations for UK Grand Tour
Written notice received before |
Cancellation fee* |
Amendment Fee for each change* |
|---|---|---|
120 days or more |
5% |
One free†, then 5% |
| 56 - 119 days | 25% (the deposit) | 25% |
21 - 55 days |
50% |
50% |
3 - 20 days |
70% |
60% |
Within 2 days of departure |
100% |
100% |
* Fees are expressed as a % of the journey / holiday price.
† Note: Certain travel arrangements may not be changed after a reservation has been made and any alteration request could incur a cancellation charge of up to 100% of that part of the arrangements.
If any member of your party is prevented from travelling, that person(s) may transfer their place to someone else (introduced by you) provided we are notified not less than two weeks before departure and you meet all costs and charges incurred by us and / or incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers. As name changes on flights are not allowed under our airline contracts, any flight tickets would need to be issued at the full cost of the flight.
5. Changes and Cancellations by us
Arrangements for journey/holidays are made many months in advance and we hope that no changes will be necessary, but we reserve the right to make changes and corrections at any time. We also reserve the right to cancel confirmed bookings for operational reasons or if minimum passenger numbers are not met. However, bookings will not be cancelled by us within 56 days of departure unless as a result of circumstances outside our control / "force majeure" as defined in clause 6 below.
Most changes are minor but, occasionally, we may have to make a "significant change". Examples of "significant changes" include the following when made before departure: a change of destination, or to a lower grade of hotel for the whole or a major part of your holiday, a change of UK departure and / or arrival point to the one which is more inconvenient to you or a change in the overall length of your holiday by twelve of more hours. For journeys wholly within the UK, timings are subject to change at any time and we do not consider this or a substitution between diesel and electric traction in the case of advertised steam haulage journeys as a significant change.
If we have to make a significant change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible before departure and we will offer you the choice of the following options:-
- (a) (for significant changes) accepting the changed arrangements; or
- (b) purchasing alternative arrangements from us, of similar standard to those originally booked if available with applicable adjustment in cost; or
- (c) cancelling or accepting the cancellation in which case you will receive a full and quick refund of all monies you have paid to us.
If we have to make a significant change or cancel 56 days or less before departure, subject to the exceptions below, we will pay you 5% of the total holiday cost as compensation. This does not apply in the event that we are forced to make a change or cancel as a result of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which we could not have avoided even with all due care.
We regret we cannot pay any expenses, costs or losses incurred by you as a result of our change or cancellation.
Very rarely, we may be forced by "force majeure" (see clause 6) to change or terminate your arrangements after departure. If this situation does occur, we regret we may not be able to make any refunds or pay you compensation or meet any costs or expenses you incur as a result.
6. "Force Majeure"
In these Booking Conditions, "force majeure" means any event which we or the supplier of the service(s) in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such events may include war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, actual or threatened terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire and all similar 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 agreement with you is prevented or affected by, or you otherwise suffer any damage or loss (as more fully described in clause 7 below) as a result of, force majeure.
7. Our Liability to You
We promise that your holiday arrangements will be made, performed or provided with reasonable skill and care. This means that we will accept responsibility if, for example, you suffer death or personal injury or your contracted arrangements are not provided as promised or prove deficient as a result of the failure of ourselves, our employees, agents or suppliers to use reasonable care in making, performing or providing your arrangements. Further, we will be responsible for what our employees, agents and suppliers do or do not do if they were at the time acting within the course of their employment or carrying out work we had asked them to do.
We will not be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss, damage, expense, cost or other claim of any description whatsoever which results from:-
- the act(s) and / or omission(s) of the person(s) affected or any member(s) or their party; or
- the act(s) and / or omission(s) of a third party not connected with the provision of your arrangements and which were unforeseeable or unavoidable; or
- any service or facility not arranged by us as part of our contract with you; or
- 'force majeure' as defined above.
Where any claim or part of a claim (including those involving death or personal injury) concerns or is based on any travel arrangements, the maximum amount of compensation we will have to pay you will be limited. The most we will have to pay you for that claim or that part of a claim if we are found liable to you on any basis is the most the carrier would have to pay under the international convention or regulation which applies to the travel arrangements in question. In any circumstances in which the carrier is liable to you by virtue of the Denied Boarding Regulation 2004, any liability we may have to you under our contract with you, arising out of the same facts, is limited to the remedies provided under the Regulation as if (for this purpose only) we were a carrier. When making any payment, we are entitled to deduct any money which you have received or are entitled to receive from the transport provider for the complaint or claim in question.
We limit the maximum amount we may have to pay you, if we are found liable for any claims you may make against us, as follows:-
- a) For loss of and / or damage to any luggage or personal possessions (including money) £2,500 per person affected.
- b) For any other claim (providing your claim does not involve death or personal injury) - three times the price (excluding amendment charges) paid by or on behalf of the person(s) affected in total. This maximum amount will only be payable where everything has gone wrong and you have not received any benefit at all from your holiday.
The services and facilities included in your holiday will be deemed to be provided with reasonable skill and care if they comply with any local regulations which apply or, if there are no applicable local regulations, if they are reasonable when compared to the local standards in practice.
We do not accept liability for (1) any damage, loss, expense or other sum(s) of any description which, based on the information you gave us at the time of booking, we could not have foreseen you would suffer or incur if we breached our contract with you; (2) any business losses.
8. Complaints and Problems
In the unlikely event that you have any reason to complain or experience any problems with your holiday arrangements whilst away, you must immediately inform our representative and the supplier of the service(s) in question so that the complaint can be rectified immediately. Any verbal notification must be confirmed in writing as soon as possible. However, if you remain dissatisfied, you must write to our head office within 28 days of your return giving your booking reference and full details of your complaint. If asked, you must also transfer to us or our insurers any rights you have against whoever is responsible for your claim. We regret we cannot accept liability for any complaints or claims which do not involve death, personal injury or illness, if you fail to notify the complaint or claim in accordance with this clause.
9. Special Requests and Medical Problems
If you wish to make a special request, you must do so at the time of booking. We will try to pass any reasonable requests on to the relevant supplier but we cannot guarantee that requests will be met. The fact that a special request has been noted on your confirmation invoice or any other documentation is not confirmation that the request will be met. Failure to meet any special request will not be breach of contract on our part unless the request has been specifically confirmed.
10. Financial Security
In respect of packages sold in the UK only, The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 require us to provide security for the monies that you pay for the package holidays booked from this website and for your repatriation in the event of our insolvency. We provide this security by way of a bond held by the Civil Aviation Authority under ATOL number 3141. In respect of all arrangements including flights you will receive a Confirmation invoice from us via Luxury Trains confirming your arrangements and your protection under our Air Travel Organiser's Licence. This means that in respect of all arrangements including flights, in the unlikely event of our insolvency, the CAA will ensure that you are not left stranded abroad or will arrange to refund any money you have paid us for an advance booking. For further information, visit the ATOL website at www.atol.org.uk. The price of our flight inclusive arrangements includes the amount of £1 per person as part of the ATOL Protection Contribution (APC) we pay to the CAA. This charge is included in our advertised prices.
NOTE: Not all holidays or travel services offered and sold by us will be protected by the ATOL Scheme. Non-flight inclusive arrangements are protected by a special account set up by our bankers and held in trust on your behalf. Non-package arrangements or arrangements not booked or departing from the UK are not protected by these arrangements. Please ask us to confirm what protection may apply to your booking.
11. Accuracy of Prices and Other Details
Important note: the information and prices shown may have changed by the time you come to book your arrangements. Although we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of information and prices at the time of publishing, regrettably errors do occasionally occur. You must therefore ensure you check the price and all other details of your chosen arrangements with Luxury Trains at the time of booking.
The marks of Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, Eastern & Oriental Express and Road To Mandalay and Northern Belle have been registered in various countries.
Orient-Express is a trademark of SNCF protected globally and held under exclusive and other licenses by Orient-Express Hotels Ltd and its subsidiaries.
© Venice Simplon-Orient-Express ltd whose registered and head office is at: Sea Containers House, 20 Upper Ground, London, SE1 9PF
Tel: +44 (0)20 7921 4000 Fax: +44 (0)20 7921 4186
Registered in England No 1551659
Web Site Accuracy
Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of descriptions and information contained on this web site. However, circumstances may subsequently change and in the event of any significant or long-term changes you will be informed of these at the time of booking or as soon as reasonably possible if there is time before your departure. Whilst we have taken every precaution in compiling this Internet site, it does not represent that the information accessible via this site is accurate, complete or current. Neither Luxury Trains nor Orient-Express nor any contributors to the site can be held responsible in any way for any action (or lack thereof) taken by any person or organisation wherever they shall be based as a result direct or otherwise of information contained in or accessed through this internet site.
