The contract between us
The contract will consist of an agreed itinerary and your acknowledgement of acceptance of these booking conditions. The contract between us becomes binding at the point at which you issue instructions to us to go ahead with making reservations for the agreed itinerary, and pay the deposit.

Bonding arrangements
As a licensed international tour operator, we are legally bound to maintain a substantial bond in a holding account for your protection. This will be used to compensate you in the event of business failure or our failure to carry out any or all of the terms of the contract, subject to the conditions that follow. We have listed our full registration, licence and bond details on our web site at “About us”. It’s an easy matter to request confirmation of a company’s legitimacy from VNAT (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism). Its contact details are:

Liability
We accept responsibility for carrying out the terms of the contact and for the performance of our employees, sub-contractors and suppliers. If we fail to comply with the terms of the contract, we will compensate you for any loss that you incur. We will not be liable to pay compensation if the failure to carry out the terms of the contract is neither our fault nor that of our employees, sub-contractors or suppliers because the failure is caused by:

yourself,
a third party, unconnected with the contract, whose actions we could not have reasonably foreseeable or avoided, or an event or circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided by us, our employees, sub-contractors and suppliers despite all due care being taken. This includes postponements and/or cancellations where national carriers disclaim liability.
Our liability in this regard is contingent upon your early notification of your dissatisfaction to us, our guide or one of our employees, in time for us to rectify the error or omission. If we are unable to rectify the error or omission, we will make appropriate compensation.

For technical reasons, compensation must be made in Vietnamese Dong (VND), but you will be able to exchange them, and any other VND you have left over, into US dollars at the prevailing exchange rate at most branches of State Banks, or at the airport. Compensation or refund payments are limited to the total amount that you have paid.

alterations by you, or
Because we operate on a tailor-made basis, you can request alterations to any aspect of your holiday without surcharges. We will advise you of the cost or saving resulting from proposed alterations and, if it is acceptable to you, incorporate it into the price.

alterations by us
Your booking will be accepted based on your understanding that the tourism infrastructure in Vietnam is substantially less than that in developed countries.

Sometimes, close to your time of departure, we receive information about circumstances beyond our control affecting your holiday: potential travel disruption, road works, major events, predicted adverse weather conditions and so on. In such circumstances, we will contact you and, if possible, suggest alternatives to solve any problems that might arise.

All such alterations will be subject to your approval and agreement. If you agree to such alterations, and they involve additional cost, this must be borne by you.

If alterations become necessary during your holiday because of the failure of a third party contracted by us to provide the required services, and we are unable to provide an equivalent alternative, we will compensate you for any losses incurred and seek redress from our sub-contractor later. If we offer you a more expensive alternative, the extra cost will be borne by us.

During your holiday, if alterations are necessary because of circumstances beyond our control occurring at short notice, such as unforeseen weather conditions, postponements, cancellations or overbooking by national carriers, government action or mechanical breakdowns.

In the case of an alreration beyond our control, we will do our best to find satisfactory alternatives and minimise inconvenience, but cannot be held liable for any losses incurred. If such alterations involve additional cost, this must be borne by you.

Acceptance of booking
We reserve the right to decline your booking without explanation if we have cause to believe that you might pose a threat to public safety and/or security in Vietnam.

Our acceptance of your booking is conditional upon your understanding that we cannot be held liable for any accidents, illnesses, thefts or losses occurring during your holiday and caused by circumstances beyond our control, or resulting from your failure to take common-sense precautions or to follow instructions given by us or our guides, party leaders or persons with official authority.

We require you to take out travel insurance and any other necessary insurances adequate to meet your needs, and will assume that you will have done so before your arrival in Vietnam.

The price of your holiday
The price is the total cost of the holiday including all elements specified in the itinerary, unless stated otherwise. As our holidays are individually designed, the price will vary according to changes made in the vacation programme. At the point at which you decide to make full payment, all agreed changes to the price will be included in the invoice that we send you.

Credit card payments
Apart from payments by bank transfer and cheque (cheque payment is only applicable to UK clients), we accept all major credit and debit cards except American Express. Please note that card payments will incur a 2% fee calculated at the time of card processing.

Deposit
As we develop the itinerary for your holiday, we will check the availability of hotels and, if possible, make provisional bookings. To do this, we will need early notification of your flight details. Once we have agreed the itinerary and the price, and received your instruction to proceed, we will ask you to transfer a minimum 15% deposit to our bank to cover our costs if you cancel thereafter. Upon receipt of your deposit, we will make firm bookings and confirm them to you.

Please note that, in several areas, hotels become fully booked well in advance because there are few adequate alternatives, or sometimes none at all. It is therefore in your interests to pay the deposit as early as possible to secure the best availability. At this stage, you may choose to pay the full price rather than a deposit, thereby avoiding a second transfer fee.

Final Payment
Full payment of the balance must be paid in time to arrive in our account in the State Bank no later than 40 days before your departure for Vietnam.

In the event of the full payment not reaching our account by the due date, we reserve the right to cancel all bookings and the contract between us.

Please note that, as a practice of international transactions in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, we usually price in United States dollars. Where price equivalents in VND or any other currency are given, they are for guidance only and must not be taken as firm prices. Both deposit and final payment must be made in US dollars or in your chosen international currency. If you choose to pay in a currency other than US dollars, the price in the invoice will be at the exchange rate prevailing on the day we issue it.

If you ask for changes to be made after you have paid in full, but before your date of departure, any increase in the price must be settled by cash or credit card upon your arrival in Vietnam. If changes result in a reduction of the price, you will be reimbursed in VND upon arrival less any costs that we have reasonably incurred.

If you ask for changes to be made during your time in Vietnam, we will advise you of the extra cost and only proceed on your instruction. Any extra costs that you have incurred by altering your itinerary while you are in Vietnam must be settled no later than three days before your departure from Vietnam.

If the alteration involves a reduction, we will refund you the saving in VND, less any costs that we have reasonably incurred, before you leave Vietnam. No refunds will be made for any unused elements of the itinerary.

Cancellation by you
The date of cancellation will be the date on which we receive your notification of your wish to do so.

If you cancel your contract at any time up to 40 days before your departure for Viet Nam you will lose your deposit.

If you cancel your contract at any time after 40 days before your date of departure for Vietnam, all monies that you have paid will be returned less 40% of the total price of your holiday and the transfer fees levied by our bank.

If, rather than cancel, you wish to transfer your booking to another person, we can arrange this subject to your instruction, and the transferee providing his or her full details, confirmation of acceptance of the terms of the contract, agreement to pay our costs incurred in making the transfer and any outstanding balance of the total price, and there being sufficient time to allow a new visa to be issued.

Cancellation by us
We reserve the right to cancel the contract between us for any reason prior to your payment of the full price of the holiday, whereupon we will refund any monies that you have paid us in full. After full payment has been made, we will only cancel the contract if circumstances beyond our control make it unavoidable.

In the unlikely event that such circumstances should arise, we will contact you immediately and offer you the choice of an alternative of equivalent quality or a full refund of all monies paid. No additional compensation will be paid over and above the total sum received from you.

Insurance
Travel insurance and medical precautions are essential. We do not give specific advice on these matters as we are expert in neither, and individual circumstances differ.

We advise you to tell us the name of the company and its contact details so that we can give notification on your behalf if you are unable to do so in the unlikely event of an accident occurring.

If you are intending to engage in any activity that could be considered ‘hazardous’ in any way, you should check your insurance carefully to make sure that you will be covered in the case of an accident.

Medical precautions
You should ensure that you are fully up to date with vaccinations required for Vietnam.

If your itinerary means you may be involved in strenuous activities, such as cycling, trekking, etc., you should check with your medical practitioner if you are in any doubts about your fitness to do so.

If you are prone to recurring illnesses, allergies or have any other disabilities or health problems relevant to your holiday, you should inform us well in advance. The same applies to specific dietary requirements, either for medical or religious reasons.