BirdGuides Travel: Terms and Conditions
Warners Group Publications plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincs. PE10 9PH
Published: February 2025
A. Definitions
In these terms and conditions, ‘you’, ‘your’, ‘traveller’, and ‘tour participant’ means each person named on the booking form (including individuals added or substituted at a later date). ‘We’, ‘us’, ‘our’ and ‘BirdGuides Travel’ mean BirdGuides, operated by Warners Group Publications plc. Our main website is at www.warnersgroup.co.uk . We are registered in England and Wales under company number 2572212 and VAT no GB 638 3492 15 and our registered office is at The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire, PE10 9PH.
B. Your Tour Contract
1. When you make a booking, you guarantee that you have the authority to accept, and do accept, on behalf of your party the terms of these booking conditions. A contract will exist as soon as we issue our confirmation invoice. This contract is made on the terms of these booking conditions, which are governed by English Law and both agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the English Courts at all times.
C. Your Tour Price
1. When you make your booking, you must pay the deposit as set out by us unless agreed otherwise. The balance of the tour cost must be paid as set out in section D below.
D. Payment of Balance
1. When you receive your confirmation invoice you will be issued with a payment deadline for the remaining balance. Please note we do not send balance payment reminders. We accept BACS payments, or debit/credit card payments.
2. The usual time for payment of balances is 60 days prior to commencement of the tour. For some tours, there will be a different balance payment date which you will be informed of when you receive your confirmation invoice.
3. Failure to pay the balance by the due date may result in us, at our absolute discretion, treating your booking as having been cancelled by you. In those circumstances we reserve the right to levy any cancellation charges as set under ‘If You Cancel Your Tour’ below.
4. If it is necessary for us to change your balance due date for your tour, we will contact you as soon as possible to advise of a new payment deadline.
E. Changing Your Booking
1. If, after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you wish to make a change to your tour arrangements (such as room requirements), we will at our absolute discretion seek to accommodate this. Please note that there will be an administration fee for doing so. You should be aware that these costs will increase the closer to the departure date that changes are made and therefore you should contact us as soon as possible. Note: Certain travel arrangements cannot be changed after a reservation has been made and any alteration request will incur a 100% cancellation.
F. If You Cancel Your Tour
1. You, or any member of your party, may cancel your tour arrangements at any time. Written and dated notification from the person who made the booking must be made by emailing us at [email protected] . If you cancel your tour arrangements, you will have to pay the applicable cancellation charges.
2. The following cancellation charges will apply:-
60 days or more before the day of departure your deposit and any additional services incurred on your behalf will be forfeited.
59 – 31 days before the day of departure 80% of total tour costs and any additional services incurred on your behalf will be forfeited.
30– 0 days before the day of departure 100% of total tour costs and any additional services incurred on your behalf will be forfeited.
3. If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges from your insurance company.
4. Please note that if you have paid by card, then any refund owed to you under these terms due to a cancellation made by you will be made by bank transfer.
G. If We Change or Cancel Your Tour
1. It is unlikely that we will have to make changes to your tour, 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 insignificant and we will advise you at the earliest opportunity. For instance a change of hotel and birding itinerary would be examples of insignificant changes.
2. Should significant changes to the tour characteristics occur, you will be advised as soon as possible in writing of this change including any impact on the price of the tour and will be given 7 days to consider the following options:-
a) You may accept the changes and continue with the package booked.
b) If there is a suitable substitute tour we will inform you of it. If the cost is higher, you will be responsible for paying the difference. If however the cost is lower, the difference will be refunded to you.
c) You may terminate the contract and in those circumstances we will refund all payments made.
3. We do reserve the right in any circumstances to cancel your tour. For example, if the minimum number of clients required for a particular tour is not reached, we may have to cancel it. The deadline for cancellation of the tour by us due to insufficient numbers being reached (i.e. not a guaranteed departure) will be shown in your confirmation invoice. In any event, we will not cancel your tour except for reasons of force majeure or failure by you to pay the final balance, less than 48 hours before departure date for tours lasting between 2 and 6 days.
4. If for reasons of force majeure we have to make any changes to a tour in progress, an early termination of a tour in progress or to cancel a tour before the departure date, then we will have no liability to you for any additional costs incurred by you nor will you be entitled to any compensation or refund from us. Force majeure includes but is not limited to events beyond our control such as weather delays, strikes, acts of war, natural disasters, outbreak of serious disease, acts of god, terrorism, financial failure of airlines.
H. Travel Insurance
1. We strongly recommend you take travel insurance for UK tours. It should include insurance against costs arising from cancellation by you, force majeure and repatriation from potentially remote locations, in order to protect yourself against potentially costly medical expenses should you fall ill on tour.
2. It is your responsibility to ensure that the cover you purchase is adequate for your particular needs. Please read your policy details carefully and take them with you on holiday. If you do travel without adequate insurance cover, we will not be liable for any losses however they arise, in respect of which insurance cover would have been available.
3. Please note that travel insurance policies seldom cover optical/photographic equipment, and you should add this to your home insurance contents policy instead as a specified item.
I. If You Have a Complaint
If you have a problem during your tour, please inform the tour leader immediately so that they can endeavour to put things right. If you fail to do this, we may be deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were on the tour and this may affect your rights under this contract. If your complaint is not rectified locally, please follow this up within 14 days of your return by writing directly to our Customer Service Department at BirdGuides Travel, Warners Group Publications plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire, PE10 9PH, giving your booking reference and all other relevant information. Please keep your letter concise and to the point. This will assist us in quickly identifying your concerns and speed up our response to you.
J. Our Liability to You
1. BirdGuides Travel will take all reasonable steps to ensure that all services provided are supplied as described in our marketing. Whilst every care is taken in the preparation of our marketing material, mistakes can and sometimes do occur. Unless the published error or omission results in a significant change to the tour arrangements then there are no grounds to claim for a price reduction.
2. We cannot accept any liability for any damage, loss (including business losses), or expenses (i) which on the basis of the information you gave us about your booking before we accepted it, we could not have foreseen you would incur if we were in breach of our contract with you or (ii) which did not result from any breach of contract or fault by BirdGuides Travel, our employees, or any suppliers for whom we have direct control and responsibility.
3. You will not be entitled to compensation from BirdGuides Travel for any injury, illness, death, loss (including loss of enjoyment), damage, expense, or cost which results from (i) your own act or omission, or the acts or omissions of any members of your party; (ii) acts and/or omissions attributable to a third party not connected with the provision of your holiday and which were unforeseeable or unavoidable; or (iii) events or occurrences which are attributable to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances to include force majeure as defined in G4 above.
4. Birding tours as an outdoor activity by their nature involve an element of risk. This includes walking on steep, rocky, slippery and/or icy trails or otherwise uneven terrain. We can supply information regarding each individual tour on request and will highlight any particularly dangerous elements in the pre-tour information, and we are always happy to discuss the type and amount of physical exertion needed for each tour. We would encourage you to contact us to discuss this before booking particularly if you have reduced mobility or health concerns. Ultimately participants must ensure they are physically fit enough to undertake the tour activities and we cannot accept responsibility for any injuries sustained as a result of lack of fitness or undisclosed mobility or health concerns. If you have any concerns about safety or your ability to undertake a particular element of a tour then you must speak with your tour leader. All participants must follow the advice and instruction of our tour guides when it comes to the issue of safety of them or other members of the tour group.
5. In relation to your physical fitness and health, a Heath Questionnaire will be sent to you prior to your tour and it will need to be completed by each member of your party. When completed, this will be shared with our tour leader prior to the tour so that they are aware of any medical or health requirements you may have. In the event that the Health Questionnaire is not completed prior to the tour, one will be required to be completed before the tour can commence so that the tour leader is aware of anything that may be of relevance.
6. Due to the nature of our tours, these are generally not suitable for persons under the age of 16 years.
K. TOUR PROTOCOL
1. The birds and other wildlife listed in the itineraries are meant as a guide only and are not guaranteed to be present. Some birds not listed may also occur. When watching wildlife, we ask all our guests to be courteous to other members of the party and to put the welfare of the bird or animal first. We cannot tolerate ‘flushing’ of wildlife in order to obtain photographs.
2. We prefer to leave tips and gratuities on our tours purely to your personal discretion. Where some larger tips for example to local guides and drivers are included in the tour cost, this will be identified in the pre tour information.
3. Tour participants spend a long time in each other’s company during a tour. Inevitably a wide variety of political, religious and cultural beliefs will be held by participants. Relaxed exchanges and the ability to speak freely are the hallmark of a good trip. However, tour participants are asked to be considerate to the beliefs and sensitivities of others. If in the opinion of the tour leader a particular conversation becomes too controversial, divisive or otherwise upsetting to one or more participants, he or she will request that the conversation is terminated. There are no circumstances in which we shall tolerate racist or discriminatory comments.
4. If any tour participant is concerned about the behaviour or comments of another then to allow us the opportunity to resolve or tackle the issue we ask that they speak in confidence with the tour leader, to share those concerns. The tour leader will discuss the concerns and seek to agree steps to resolve the issue.
5. Participants are requested not to smoke whilst in tour vehicles, hides and when in close proximity to other group members.
Change Log
19/2/2025 – first version 1.0 published
