Mercury Holidays Booking Conditions

These Booking Conditions, are supplemented with our privacy policy, the general information contained in the ‘For you to know’ and ‘Holiday Insurance’ sections, where your holiday is booked via our website, our Website Terms of Use and any other written information we brought to your attention before we confirmed your booking form the basis of your contract with us, Sunspot Tours Ltd of St John’s House, Suffolk Way, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN13 1YL trading as Mercury Holidays (ATOL number 1631, ABTA membership number VO211, Company number 01470134) (‘We’, ‘us’ or ‘our’ ‘Mercury Holidays’).

  1. Services provided by other parties.

We will not accept responsibility for services or facilities which do not form part of our agreement, are not detailed on your confirmation or where they are not advertised in our brochure or on our website. For example if an airline cancels a flight, we are not responsible for any pre-departure car parking, hotel, taxis or airport lounge facility except where they have been booked through us and form part of your contracted arrangements with us (in which case they will be detailed on your booking confirmation). In resort we are not responsible for any excursion, service or facility which your hotel or any other supplier agrees to provide for you while you are away. All queries and claims in relation to such services should be directed to the provider of that service.

2. Bookings & Payments

Subject to availability, our holidays can be booked by telephoning our reservations department, using the appropriate telephone number in our brochure, or by visiting our website www.mercuryholidays.co.uk. The first named person making the booking must be over 18 and resident in the United Kingdom and where placing an order for services with age restrictions declares that he/she and all members of the party are of the appropriate age to purchase those services. The first named person making the booking agrees on behalf of all persons detailed on the booking that (a) he/she consents to our use of personal data in accordance with our Privacy Policy and our Privacy Statement (see clause 23 below) 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) (see clause 23 below); (b) guarantees that they have authority to accept and does accept on behalf of all persons named on the booking, these Booking Conditions and agrees to be bound by them including the financial responsibility for payment of the booking. The first named person making the booking guarantees payment to us of the total cost of the holiday booked. A deposit from £250pp for a beach holiday or from £295pp for an Escorted Tour, River Cruise, Fly-Drive or Multi-Centre Holidays, or full payment if booking within twelve weeks of departure, is payable at the time of booking. Please note the deposit may be increased depending on the airline and/or country you are travelling to. You will be advised of the amount of the deposit payable at the time of booking, however those who have made bookings on the website may be contacted up to 72 hours after the booking has been made and advised of any increases. The balance of the cost of your arrangements (including any applicable surcharge) is due by the balance due date notified to you. This will normally be twelve weeks before departure but may be sooner for a River Cruise or Escorted Tour booking, please check your confirmation. If the deposit or balance is not received by us in full by the applicable due date, we reserve the right to treat the booking as cancelled by you in which case we shall retain your deposit. We do not send reminders of monies owing. Your booking is confirmed and a binding contract between us and you comes into existence when we have received payment of the deposit or the full cost of your booking (where applicable) and we issue you with a booking confirmation confirming the details of your booking (which will be sent to you or your travel agent). If your confirmed arrangements include a flight, we (or if you booked via an authorised agent of ours, that agent) will issue you with an ATOL Certificate in addition to the booking confirmation. Contact us immediately (and no later than ten days of receipt) if any information which appears on the booking confirmation or ATOL certificate or any other document is incorrect or incomplete so that the error can be investigated. It may harm your rights if we are not notified of any inaccuracies in any document within ten days of our sending it out (five days for tickets). We will do our best to rectify any mistake or omission notified to us within the time limits specified above if the error was our fault, but you must meet any costs involved in our doing so if the error was as a result of your fault. If we are notified of inaccuracies or errors more than 10 days after you have received your confirmation, any costs to amend the booking will be your responsibility. We reserve the right to return your deposit and decline to issue a booking confirmation at our absolute discretion. Any money paid to an authorised agent of ours in respect of a booking covered by our ATOL is held by that agent on behalf of and for the benefit of the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust at all times, but subject to the agent’s obligation to pay it to us for so long as we do not fail financially. If we do fail financially, any money held at that time by the agent or subsequently accepted from the consumer by the agent, is and continues to be held by that agent on behalf of and for the benefit of the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust without any obligation to pay that money to us. Credit and Debit Cards: You may make payment by debit or credit card.

3. Pricing

The prices shown in our brochure and on our website are per person in £’s sterling. Our brochure prices are accurate at the time of publication, but you should only use them as a guide. The prices we give are the best value available at the time of pricing and generally are selected from dates outside of the high season. The price you pay will depend on when you are travelling and prices may go up and down throughout the season.

The brochure price is based on the standard occupancy for the room type included in the package so the price will change if the room is occupied by a different number of guests. Please note some special offers cannot be combined. The final price of your holiday will be confirmed at time of booking. We reserve the right to amend the price of unsold holidays at any time and correct errors in the prices of confirmed holidays. Please consider that the prices in our brochure are based on the lowest airfares available at the time of going to print. Our short haul destinations are based on low cost airlines and flight prices fluctuate daily and flight prices may also increase with scheduled airlines and during peak travel periods. Ultimately the nearer to your date of departure that you book your holiday, the higher the flight costs may be, therefore increasing your holiday price. We always recommend you book early to take advantage of the lower flight prices and to avoid disappointment. You will be advised of the current price of the holiday that you wish to book before your booking is confirmed and contract created. All our prices (including flight and hotel supplements) are based on the shared occupancy of double or twin-bedded rooms. (Alternative accommodation supplements are given with the individual holiday details and all accommodation supplements are per person per night). I

f a 3rd week is free, this will still be subject to any room supplements. Please note: The price of your confirmed holiday is subject at all times to changes in (i) the price of the carriage of passengers resulting from the cost of fuel or other power sources; or (ii) the level of taxes or fees chargeable for services applicable to the holiday imposed by third parties not directly involved in the performance of the holiday, including tourist taxes, landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports and airports; and (iii) the exchange rates relevant to the package. Such variations could include but are not limited to airline cost changes which are part of our contracts with airlines (and their agents), cruise ship operators and any other transport providers. We will absorb and you will not be charged for any increase equivalent to 2% of the price of your travel arrangements, which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges and/or additional services or travel arrangements. You will be charged for the amount over and above that.

However, if this means that you have to pay an increase of more than 8% of the price of your holiday (excluding insurance premiums, any amendment charges and/or additional services or travel arrangements), you will have the option of accepting a change to another holiday if we are able to offer one (if this is of lower quality you will be refunded the difference in price), or cancelling and receiving a full refund of monies paid, except for any amendment charges, insurance premiums and/or additional services or travel arrangements).

Should you decide to cancel because of this, you must exercise your right to do so within 7 days from the issue date printed on the invoice. We will consider an appropriate refund of insurance premiums paid if you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy. If you do not tell us that you wish to cancel within this period of time, we are entitled to assume that you do not wish to cancel and will pay the surcharge. Any surcharge must be paid with the balance of the cost of the holiday or within 14 days of the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice, whichever is the later. Should the price of your holiday go down due to the changes mentioned above, any refund will be paid to you less an administrative fee of £10. However, please note that travel arrangements are not always purchased in local currency and some apparent changes have no impact on the price of your travel due to contractual and other protection in place. We promise not to levy a surcharge within 20 days of your departure date nor will we offer refunds in this time.