Fair Isle Knitting Holidays Limited - Booking conditions
Fair Isle with Marie, Taft, Fair Isle, Shetland, Scotland, ZE2 9JU -Telephone: +44 7470 497 893
These Booking Conditions, together with our Privacy Policy and any other written information we brought to your attention before we confirmed your booking, form the basis of your contract with FAIR ISLE KNITTING HOLIDAYS LIMITED, incorporated in Scotland with company number SC746219 and registered office address Taft Cottage, Fair Isle, Shetland, Shetland Islands, Scotland, ZE2 9JU (“we”, “us”, “our”). Please read them carefully as they set out our respective rights and obligations. In these Booking Conditions references to "you" and "your" include the first named person on the booking and all persons on whose behalf a booking is made or any other person to whom a booking is added or transferred.
By making a booking, the first named person on the booking agrees on behalf of all persons detailed on the booking that:
he/she has read these Booking Conditions and has the authority to and does agree to be bound by them;
he/she consents to our use of personal data in accordance with our Privacy Policy and is authorised on behalf of all persons named on the booking to disclose their personal details to us, including where applicable special categories of data (such as information on health conditions or disabilities and dietary requirements);
he/she is over 18 years of age;
he/she accepts financial responsibility for payment of the booking on behalf of all persons detailed on the booking.
1.Booking & Paying For Your Holiday
A booking is made with us when you pay us a deposit (or full payment if you are booking within 90 days of arrival) and we issue you with a booking confirmation. We reserve the right to return your deposit and decline to issue a booking confirmation at our absolute discretion. A binding contract will come into existence between you and us as soon as we have issued you with a booking confirmation that will confirm the details of your booking. If you believe that any details on the booking confirmation or any other document we send you are wrong, you must advise us immediately as changes can not be made later and it may harm your rights if we are not notified of any inaccuracies in any document.
The balance of the cost of your holiday (including any applicable surcharge) is due not less than 90 days prior to your scheduled arrival. 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 we shall retain your deposit.
We only accept payment by bank transfer, and we will provide the relevant bank details along with our invoice.
2.Accuracy
The price of the holiday is as displayed on the website at the time the booking form is submitted and will be confirmed on the invoice. You must check the current price and all other details relating to the holiday that you wish to book before you make your booking.
3.Insurance
Adequate travel insurance is a condition of your contract with us. You must be satisfied that your insurance fully covers all your personal requirements including pre-existing medical conditions, cancellation charges, medical expenses and repatriation in the event of accident or illness. If you choose to travel without adequate insurance cover, we will not be liable for any losses howsoever arising, in respect of which insurance cover would otherwise have been available.
4.Jurisdiction & Applicable Law
These Booking Conditions and any agreement to which they apply are governed in all respects by Scottish law. We both agree that any dispute, claim or other matter which arises between us out of or in connection with your contract or booking will be dealt with by the Courts of Scotland only. You may however, choose the law and jurisdiction of England and Wales or Northern Ireland if you live in those places and if you wish to do so.
5.Weather Disruption
i. Weather can sometimes disrupt transport to and from Fair Isle. In order for it not to impact your experience with us, we are flexible and will start your holiday on the first available day for you to reach the island, by plane or ferry. Your holiday will start from the time you or the first person booked on the holiday arrive on Fair Isle, Shetland. In the event of disruption, we will contact you to discuss the available options. You must be reachable by phone or email and respond promptly so that we can make a plan.
ii. Arrival: If you are not able to reach Fair Isle due to the cancellation of public transport from Shetland to Fair Isle on the scheduled start date of your holiday with us, we will delay the start date of your holiday for up to 7 days. Your 7 night holiday will begin from the day that you arrive on Fair Isle (no more than 7 days later than the scheduled start date). However, if you are taking part in a group knitting holiday, the holiday will start on the first day that it was reasonably possible to arrive by publicly available transport (and no more than 7 days later than the scheduled start date). We are unable to give refunds for any portion of the holiday you miss in the event that you arrive after the start date. In the event of such disruption we will contact you to discuss your options.
iii. Departure: At the end of your 7 night holiday, if you are unable to depart from Fair Isle, additional nights at the Bird Observatory hotel will be chargeable at their standard bed and breakfast rate. No available tuition or activities will be available with us after the end of your 7 night holiday.
iv. Alternatively, if you decide to leave Fair Isle early to avoid predicted weather disruption, we will not refund any portion of the holiday cost for services you have missed (please see condition 6). We recommend you plan for a week holiday in Lerwick/ Shetland after your stay on Fair Isle, so you can remain flexible in your travel plans. We don’t want you to miss your connecting flight when you depart Shetland.
7. Cutting Your Holiday Short
If you decide to leave the holiday early, we cannot refund the cost of any accommodation or other services you have not used. If you cut short your holiday and return home early in circumstances where you have no reasonable cause for complaint about the standard of accommodation and services provided, we will not offer you any refund for that part of your holiday not completed, or be liable for any associated costs you may incur. Depending on the circumstances, your travel insurance may offer cover for curtailment and we suggest that any claim is made directly with them.
8. If You Change Your Holiday & Transfers of Holiday
If you wish to change any part of your booking after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you must inform us in writing by email as soon as possible. This should be done by the first named person on the booking. Whilst we will do our best to assist, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to meet your requested change. Where we can meet a request, all changes will be subject to payment of an administration fee of £50 per change. Where we are unable to assist you and you do not wish to proceed with the original booking we will treat this as a cancellation by you. A cancellation fee may be payable in accordance with condition 9.
Transfer of Holiday:
If you or any member of your party is prevented from travelling, that person(s) may transfer their place to someone else, subject to the following conditions:
i. that person is introduced by you and satisfies all the conditions applicable to the holiday;
ii. we are notified not less than 7 days before departure;
iii. you pay any outstanding balance payment, an amendment fee of £50 per person transferring, as well as any additional fees, charges or other costs arising from the transfer; and
iv. the transferee agrees to these booking conditions and all other terms of the contract between us.
You and the transferee remain jointly and severally liable for payment of all sums. If you are unable to find a replacement, cancellation charges as set out in condition 9 will apply in order to cover our estimated costs.
9.If You Cancel Your Holiday Before Departure
If you decide to cancel your confirmed booking you must notify us in writing by email with the reason for the cancellation. Your notice of cancellation will only take effect when it is received in writing by us at our offices and will be effective from the date on which we receive it.
Since we incur costs in cancelling your holiday , you will have to pay the cancellation charges as follows:
If you notify us more than 90 days before the start of your holiday : Deposit only
If you notify us 90 days or less before the start of your holiday : 100% of the holiday cost
If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.
Where possible, we will deduct the cancellation charge(s) from any monies you have already paid to us.
Cancellation by You due to Unavoidable & Extraordinary Circumstances:
You may terminate the package travel contract at any time before the start of the package without paying a cancellation charge in the event of “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” occurring in Fair Isle, which will significantly affect the holiday or your travel to Fair Isle. In these circumstances, we shall provide you with a full refund of the monies you have paid but we will not be liable to pay you any additional compensation. In order to rely on this clause you must be able to show that, based on the information available at the time of cancellation, there was no longer a reasonable possibility of your holiday going ahead (either at all or without being significantly affected).
For the purposes of this condition, “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” may include warfare, other serious security problems such as terrorism, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of serious disease at the travel destination, or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or weather conditions which significantly affect travel to the travel destination as agreed in the package travel contract.
This condition 9 outlines the rights you have if you wish to cancel your booking. Please note that there is no automatic statutory right of cancellation under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 .
10. If We Change Or Cancel Your Holiday
As we plan your knitting holiday many months in advance we may occasionally have to make changes or cancel your booking and we reserve the right to do so at any time.
Changes: If we make a minor change to your holiday, we will make reasonable efforts to inform you as soon as reasonably possible if there is time before your departure but we will have no liability to you.
Occasionally we may have to make a significant change to your confirmed holiday.
Cancellation: We will not cancel your holiday less than 90 days before your departure date, except for reasons of Events Beyond Our Control or failure by you to pay the final balance.
If we have to make a significant change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible and if there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of:
i. (for significant changes) accepting the changed holiday; or
ii. having a refund of all monies paid; or
iii. if available and where we offer one, accepting an offer of an alternative holiday (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value).
You must notify us of your choice within 7 days of our offer. If we do not hear from you within 7 days, we will contact you again to request notification of your choice. If you fail to respond again, we will assume that you have chosen to not to travel and will consider it a cancellation in accordance with condition 9.
Compensation:
In addition to a full refund of all monies paid by you, we will pay you compensation as detailed below, in the following circumstances:
(a) If, where we make a significant change, you do not accept the changed arrangements and cancel your booking;
(b) If we cancel your booking and no alternative arrangements are available and/or we do not offer one.
The compensation that we offer does not exclude you from claiming more if you are entitled to do so.
If we notify you more than 90 days before the start of the holiday you will receive from us £20
If we notify you more than 60 days before the start of the holiday you will receive from us £30
If we notify you more less than 60 days before the start of the holiday you will receive from us £45
*IMPORTANT NOTE: We will not pay you compensation in the following circumstances:
(a) where we make a minor change;
(b) where we make a significant change or cancel your holiday more than [60 days] before departure;
(c) where we make a significant change and you accept those changed arrangements or you accept an offer of an alternative holiday;
(d) where we have to cancel your holiday as a result of your failure to make full payment on time;
(e) where the change or cancellation by us arises out of alterations to the confirmed booking requested by you;
(f) where we are forced to cancel or change your holiday due to Events Beyond Our Control (please see condition 11).
If we become unable to provide a significant proportion of your holiday that you have booked with us after you have arrived, we will, if possible, make alternative arrangements for you at no extra charge and where those alternative arrangements are of a lower standard, provide you with an appropriate price reduction.
11. Events Beyond Our Control
Except where otherwise expressly stated in these Booking Conditions we will not be liable or pay you compensation if our contractual obligations to you are affected by “Events Beyond our Control”. For the purposes of these Booking Conditions, Events Beyond Our Control means any event beyond our or our supplier’s control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Examples include warfare and acts of terrorism (and threat thereof), civil strife, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of serious disease at the travel destination or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or weather conditions which make it impossible to travel safely to Fair Isle, the act of any government or other national or local authority including port or river authorities, industrial dispute, labour strikes, lock closure, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, chemical or biological disaster, unavoidable problems with transport and all similar events outside our or the supplier(s) concerned’s control.
12. Special Requests
Any special requests must be advised to us at the time of booking e.g. diet. You should then confirm your requests in writing. Whilst every effort will be made by us to try and arrange your reasonable special requests, we cannot guarantee that they will be fulfilled. The fact that a special request has been noted on your confirmation invoice or any other documentation or that it has been passed on to the supplier is not confirmation that the request will be met. Failure to meet any special request will not be a breach of contract on our part unless the request has been specifically confirmed by us. We do not accept bookings that are conditional upon any special request being met.
13. Disabilities & Medical Problems
We are not a specialist disabled holiday company, but we will do our utmost to cater for any special requirements you may have. If you have any medical problem or disability which may affect your stay, please provide us with full details before you make your booking so that we can try to advise you as to the suitability of your chosen arrangements. We may require you to produce a doctor’s certificate certifying that you are fit to participate. Acting reasonably, if we are unable to properly accommodate the needs of the person(s) concerned, we will not confirm your booking or if you did not give us full details at the time of booking, we will cancel it and impose applicable cancellation charges when we become aware of these details.
If, when you arrive on Fair Isle, you are unable to take part in any activities because of your physical condition, we will try to offer alternative activities but we are unable to offer refunds for any activities that you are reasonably unable to participate in.
14. Complaints
We make every effort to ensure that your holiday runs smoothly but if you do have a problem during your holiday, please inform the relevant contact (e.g. Marie Bruhat) immediately who will endeavour to put things right.
If the problem cannot be resolved and you wish to complain further, you must send formal written notice of your complaint to Marie Bruhat, ideally within 28 days of the end of your stay, giving your booking reference and all other relevant information. Please keep your letter concise and to the point. This will assist us to quickly identify your concerns and speed up our response to you. Failure to follow the procedure set out in this condition may affect ours and/or our partner’s ability to investigate your complaint, and will affect your rights under this contract.
15. Your Behaviour
All our customers are expected to conduct themselves in an orderly and acceptable manner and not to disrupt the enjoyment of others. Where you have chosen to share a room with another guest, you must be reasonable and considerate in your behavior towards them.
If in our opinion or in the opinion of the hotel manager or any other person in authority, your behaviour or that of any member of your booking is causing or is likely to cause distress, harassment, danger or annoyance to any other customers or any third party, or damage to property, or to cause a delay or diversion to transportation, we reserve the right to terminate your booking with us immediately.
If we have to terminate your booking our liability to you will cease and you will be required to leave the holiday immediately. We will have no further obligations to you. No refunds will be made and we will not pay any expenses or costs incurred as a result of termination. You may also be required to pay for loss and/or damage caused by your actions and we will hold you liable for any damage or losses caused by you or any member of your party. Full payment for any such damage or losses must be paid directly prior to departure. If you fail to make payment, you will be responsible for meeting any claims (including legal costs) subsequently made against us as a result of your actions together with all costs we incur in pursuing any claim against you.
We cannot be held responsible for the actions or behaviour of other guests or individuals who have no connection with your booking or with us.
16. Our Responsibilities
We will accept responsibility for the holiday we agree to provide or arrange for you as an “organiser” under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, as set out below and as such, we are responsible for the proper provision of the services specifically included in your holiday, as set out below and the information we provided to you regarding the services prior to booking. Please note that we shall not be responsible for any additional services provided to you, by a third party during the time of your stay but not arranged by us directly.
We will not be responsible or pay you compensation for any personal injury or death unless you are able to prove that it was caused by our negligence or the negligence of our partners.
We will not be responsible or pay you compensation for any injury, illness, death, loss, damage, expense, cost or other claim of any description if it results from:
(a) the acts and/or omissions of the person affected; or
(b) the acts and/or omissions of a third party unconnected with the provision of the services contracted for and which were unforeseeable or unavoidable; or
(c) Events Beyond Our Control (as defined in condition 11).
We limit the amount of compensation we may have to pay you if we are found liable under this condition:
(a) loss of and/or damage to any luggage or personal possessions and money: the maximum amount we will have to pay you in respect of these claims is an amount equivalent to the excess on your insurance policy which applies to this type of loss per person in total because you are required to have adequate insurance in place to cover any losses of this kind.
(b) Claims not falling under (a) above and which don’t involve injury, illness or death: the maximum amount we will have to pay you in respect of these claims is up to three times the price 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 or your party has not received any benefit at all from your booking.
(c) Claims in respect of any stay in a hotel:
i. The extent of our liability will in all cases be limited as if we were a hotelier under the, Paris Convention (with respect to hotel arrangements). You can ask for copies of these Conventions from us.
ii. When making any payment, we are entitled to deduct any money which you have received or are entitled to receive from the hotelier for the complaint or claim in question.
Subject to these Booking Conditions, if we or our partners negligently perform or arrange those services set out in the information we provided to you regarding the services prior to booking and we don’t remedy or resolve your complaint within a reasonable period of time, and this has affected the enjoyment of your holiday you may be entitled to an appropriate price reduction or compensation or both. You must inform us without undue delay of any failure to perform or improper performance of the services included in this package. The level of any such price reduction or compensation in respect of any claim for damages or compensation whatsoever will be calculated taking into consideration all relevant factors such as but not limited to: following the complaints procedure as described in these Booking Conditions and the extent to which ours or our employees’ or suppliers’ negligence affected the overall enjoyment of your holiday. Please note that it is your responsibility to show that we or our supplier(s) have been negligent if you wish to make a claim against us.
It is a condition of our acceptance of liability under this condition that you notify any claim to us and our partner(s) strictly in accordance with the complaints procedure set out in these conditions.
Where any payment is made, the person(s) receiving it (and their parent or guardian if under 18 years) must also assign to us or our insurers any rights they may have to pursue any third party and must provide ourselves and our insurers with all assistance we may reasonably require.
Please note, we cannot accept any liability for any damage, loss or expense or other sum(s) of any description:
(a) which on the basis of the information given to us by you concerning your booking prior to our accepting it, we could not have foreseen you would suffer or incur if we breached our contract with you;
(b) relate to any business;
(c) indirect or consequential loss of any kind.
We will not accept responsibility for services or facilities which do not form part of our agreement or where they are not advertised on our website. For example any excursion you book whilst on Fair Isle, or any service or facility which your hotel or any other supplier agrees to provide for you.
17. Insolvency Protection
We provide full financial protection for our package holidays, by way of an insurance policy with Evolution Insurance Company Limited. All informations will be given to you with the invoice.
18. Entry, Passport, Visa & Immigration Requirements, Safety & Health Formalities
We can only provide general information regarding entry, passport, visa, immigration requirements and safety and health formalities applicable to your holiday . It is your responsibility to check such requirements (in good time before travel), in order to make your decisions to fulfil such requirements regarding your destination and/or the country(ies) through which you may be transiting through.
Such information which you may need to check includes (but is not limited to) passport requirements including (but not limited to) how valid your passport must be after return date, whether your passport must be machine readble, ETA for UK travel etc.
You must check requirements for your own specific circumstances with the relevant bodies as applicable. We have provided a few useful resources below, though it is your responsibility to check and see if such body would be relevant to yourself.
Embassies, High Commission and/or Consulates;
Your own doctor.
We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel, or incur any other loss because you have not complied with any entry, passport, visa, immigration requirements or health formalities. You agree to reimburse us in relation to any fines or other losses which we incur as a result of your failure to comply with any entry passport, visa, immigration requirements or health formalities.
19.Conditions Of Suppliers
Your hotel accommodation, and sometimes other services, will be provided by independent suppliers. Those suppliers provide these services in accordance with their own terms and conditions which will form part of your contract with us. Some of these terms and conditions may limit or exclude the supplier's liability to you, usually in accordance with applicable International Conventions. Copies of the relevant parts of these terms and conditions are available on request from us or the supplier concerned.
20. Prompt Assistance
If, whilst you are on holiday, you find yourself in difficulty for any reason, we will offer you such prompt assistance as is appropriate in the circumstances. In particular, we will provide you with appropriate information on health services, local authorities and consular assistance, and assistance with distance communications and finding alternative travel arrangements. Where you require assistance which is not owing to any failure by us, our employees or sub-contractors we will not be liable for the costs of any alternative travel arrangements or other such assistance you require. Any supplier, airline or other transport supplier may however pay for or provide refreshments and/or appropriate accommodation and you should make a claim directly to them. Subject to the other terms of these Booking Conditions, we will not be liable for any costs, fees or charges you incur in the above circumstances, if you fail to obtain our prior authorisation before making your own travel arrangements. Furthermore, we reserve the right to charge you a fee for our assistance in the event that the difficulty is caused intentionally by you or a member of your party, or otherwise through your or your party’s negligence.
21.Intellectual Property
Designs crafted during the knitting holiday are the intellectual property of FAIR ISLE KNITTING HOLIDAYS LIMITED. You may use these patterns for your own personal use, but you must not use these for any commercial purpose. Please feel free to engage in a conversation if you have specific concerns or requests regarding the intellectual property of the designs.