Fair Trading Agreement | Payment | Fuel Surcharge | Special Requests | Transfer of Bookings | Transportation/Hotels | Security Authorization | Holiday Insurance | Cancellations and Alterations by You | Amendment Charges | Website Accuracy | Changes/Cancellations by Us | Our Liability | Your Responsibility | Travel Agents | Late Payment | Complaints | Independent Dispute Settlement Service | Law and Jurisdiction | Data Protection | Definitions

Fair Trading Agreement
Please read this section carefully. When you book your holiday with us you are signing a contract which binds two parties in various ways. We have clearly set out the Booking Conditions with a list of responsibilities and commitments the two parties have towards each other.

In particular, your attention is drawn to your obligation to notify us immediately of any complaint, as set out in section 16 below.

We arrange bookings of properties as Agents of the owners of the properties. We also act as Agents for transportation and other service providers. When making your holiday arrangements we do so as Agents for these third parties with whom you will have a contract. However, once your holiday has been confirmed, we will accept responsibility for it in accordance with these Booking Conditions as an 'organiser' under the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tour Regulations 1992.

1. Payment
Deposit A completed booking form must be accompanied by a deposit of 25% of the website price to confirm a provisional booking.

Balance The balance of the booking invoice total must be received at the latest 8 weeks before your departure date unless a written cancellation notice has been received from you. If a booking is made less than 8 weeks before the departure date, full payment is required at the time of booking. A 1.5% charge will be made to all balances paid by credit card. This does not apply to payments by debit card.

Contract A binding contract will come into force between us at the time we send you our Confirmation Invoice, and until then we shall be under no liability to you whatsoever. If we are unable to accept your booking we shall refund your deposit within 28 days.

2. Fuel Surcharge
We reserve the right to vary the price of your holiday in relation to changes in transportation costs that apply to your holiday. If changes in our costs occur because of fuel surcharges, a supplement will be charged to you at cost if they are levied to us by ferry companies.

3. Special Requests
Should you have any special requests, you must notify us of these at the time of booking. We will inform the relevant supplier but regret that we cannot guarantee that these will be met. If you consider a particular requirement to be an essential condition of your holiday booking, you must state this clearly in writing so that we can advise you if we are unable to comply.

4. Transfer of Bookings
You may change your booking up to 30 days before departure by transferring it to another person if you are unavoidably prevented from travelling, and the transferee meets any conditions which may apply to the holiday. The right to transfer is subject to payment of an administration fee of £25 per person (plus appropriate holiday insurance premiums, if applicable), together with all additional charges of whatever sort imposed by suppliers providing the components of the holiday changes.

5. Transportation/Hotels
We are retail Agents for P&O Ferries, Brittany Ferries, Speed Ferries, Condor Ferries, SeaFrance, Transmanche Ferries, Eurotunnel, Rail Europe, Transhire and Hotels Abroad.
Transportation booked by us: There is no guarantee that transportation will depart at the time specified, and we do not have any liability to you for any delay which may arise.
Transportation booked by you: We do not have any liability for transportation booked independently or for any unavailability of appropriate flights once you have booked your property. Transportation booked must be timed to arrive in France with sufficient time to reach your property between 16.00hrs and 19.00hrs.

6. Security Authorization
Whether booking online or by phone, you will be required to give credit card authorization for debiting your account in the event of breakages or any unpaid charges (linen, cleaning, heating, etc). The amount is variable and indicated in each villa description page.

7. Holiday Insurance
It is a condition of booking your holiday that all members of your party have holiday insurance cover at least equivalent to that described on our website.

8. Cancellations and Alterations by You
If you wish to cancel your booking once a deposit or a full balance has been paid, we will require written notice from the person who signed the Booking Form. Written notice may consist of notice by letter, facsimile, or e-mail. No cancellation will be deemed effective until such written notice is received and acknowledged in writing by us. We reserve the right to levy the following cancellation charges:

In the case of a cancellation taking place within 28 days of departure, only a 50% cancellation charge will be retained if the property is re-let for the same cancelled period. If the reason for cancellation falls within the terms of your Insurance Policy, you should make a claim directly to the Insurance Company. Your Insurance Premium is not refundable in the event of cancellation. The above cancellation charges will also apply if you wish to change your rental dates or the property you have booked. However, if these amendments occur before 8 weeks of departure, and if we are able to re-let your original choice, your deposit will be transferred to your new booking and an administration charge of £200 will be levied.  

9. Amendment Charges - Transportation and Hotels-en-Route
If you want to change any details relating to transportation or hotels-en-route, i.e. dates, crossing or number of passengers, we will do our best to accommodate your request, but please note that all changes are subject to availability and are not always possible. If these changes require a Revised Invoice, a £25 amendment fee per change will be charged to cover administration costs. If additional charges are applicable, they will be charged in accordance with the booking conditions of any transport or hotel supplier.

10. Website Accuracy
We reserve the right to change any of the prices, services, or other particulars contained on this website at any time before we enter into a contract with you. If there is any change, we will notify you before you enter into such a contract.

Great care has been taken to provide accurate information and photographs for each property featured on this website. However, certain changes may occur with respect to furnishings or pool areas (e.g., a pool fence may have been put up by the time of your arrival).

11. Changes/Cancellations by Us
(a) We reserve the right to make changes to your holiday arrangements after we have confirmed your booking, and if we do so, we will use all reasonable commercial endeavours to inform you before departure and make suitable alternative arrangements.
(b) Any change we make to the villa portion of your holiday will be either major or minor. A major change is a change to a lower category of accommodation. Any other change is a minor change. If there is a minor change, we will do our best to notify you of this, but we are not under any obligation to do so or to pay you compensation. If there is a major change, we will advise you as soon as is reasonably possible. You will then have the choice of accepting the change, taking an alternative holiday (and where the price is lower, we will refund the difference, but where the price is higher, you will be required to pay the difference), or withdrawing from the contract and accepting the full refund of monies paid. In addition, in appropriate cases, (on the assumption that the full balance has been paid) we will pay you compensation on the scale shown below. Compensation will not be considered appropriate, for example, in cases where a major change has to be made as a result of force majeure (as defined in (d) below).  

12. Our Liability
(a) We will accept liability under Regulation 15(1) of the Travel Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations ("the Regulations") subject to the Defences in Regulation 15(2)(a) of the Regulations, set out at sub-paragraph (b) below, and subject to the Limitations set out in sub-paragraphs (c) to (f) below.
(b) When you suffer any loss, damage, personal injury or death as a result of our failure to perform or improper performance of the holiday contract we shall be liable to pay you compensation, except where the cause of the failure is not our fault or that of our servants, agents or suppliers, and is attributable to you, or to the actions of someone unconnected with your holiday arrangements, or due to unusual or unforeseeable circumstances or events which neither we, nor our servants, agents or suppliers could have reasonably anticipated or reasonably avoided even with the exercise of due care.
(c) We are permitted to limit the amount of compensation we will pay you in the event of a claim where the claim arises out of loss or damage suffered during the course of rail travel, sea travel, road travel or hotel accommodation. The amount of compensation we will pay shall be limited in accordance with the provisions of any relevant International Conventions, which may include for example the Warsaw Convention 1929 (including as amended by the Hague Protocol 1955), the Berne Convention 1961, the Athens Convention 1974, the Geneva Convention 1973, and Paris Convention 1962. We are to be regarded as having benefit of any limitations of compensation contained in these Conventions or any other international conventions applicable to your holiday. Copies of the Conventions listed above are available for inspection at our offices.
(d) Under Regulation 15(4), we are entitled to limit the amount of compensation we will pay you in the event of accepting or being adjudged to have liability in a claim, where that claim concerns non-personal injury. The maximum amount of compensation payable would be a refund of the holiday cost (excluding any insurance premiums and amendment charges), a refund of any directly attributable expenses, and a per diem of £48 per person during the affected period. In any claim, the amount of compensation will be limited to what is reasonable in the circumstances.
(e) Any sums received by you from suppliers as compensation will be deducted from any sum paid to you as compensation by us. Further, if we accept or are adjudged to have any liability in a claim you make, you shall, if required by us in writing, assign to us any rights of action that you may have against a third party whom we may deem was in any way responsible for a failure to perform or an improper performance of the holiday contract, and must co-operate fully with us in the pursuit of any claim we wish to make against a third party we deem responsible for a failure to perform or an improper performance of the holiday contract relative to your booking.
(f) Any legal proceedings initiated by you in respect of a claim against us must be undertaken within 2 years of your return from holiday, or within 2 years of the beginning of the matter giving rise to the claim, if this is later. Otherwise our liability will in all cases be limited to a sum of £100.
(g) Other than set out above, and as is detailed elsewhere in these Booking Conditions, we shall have no legal liability whatsoever to you in respect of any personal injury or death or in respect of any other damage which you suffer arising directly or indirectly from any aspect of any holiday arrangements booked with us.

13. Your Responsibility
In order for us to provide a good service during the rental season, it is essential that you take good care of and respect the property you are occupying and do not exceed the maximum occupancy stated. It is required that you leave the property in a good state of cleanliness and report any breakdowns in equipment during your stay. Any breakages and unpaid additional charges will be charged to you as outlined under 'Security Authorization Form'. Properties must be secured when not occupied, and clients are liable for any loss or damage incurred in the event that they are not. We reserve the right of eviction if any serious abuse of property takes place or if maximum occupancy is exceeded without our knowledge and consent.

14. Travel Agents
When bookings are made via a Travel Agent, all communication regardless of its nature must be carried out via the Travel Agent. Any monies paid to your Travel Agent are held by the Travel Agent on our behalf.

15. Late Payment
If payment for your holiday is not received by us on the date due as indicated on our Invoice, we reserve the right to cancel your holiday, and we cannot guarantee transportation arrangements as transport companies may cancel your booking.

Futhermore a charge of 2% of any balance owing will be levied at our discretion for all late payment.

16. Complaints
In the unlikely event of your having a complaint whilst you are on holiday, you are obliged under the terms of this contract and in English common law to make every effort as soon as possible to mitigate any loss or inconvenience you believe you may have suffered, by giving us every opportunity to put right any perceived problem. Your complaint must be referred in the first instance to either the keyholder, owner or agent of the property, in order to give us and our suppliers an opportunity to resolve any problems as soon as possible. If you do not receive satisfaction from any of them within 24 hours, our London office must be contacted immediately. After hours, a message indicating an arrangement for us to contact you should be left with our 24hr answering service. An emergency mobile telephone number will be given to you prior to departure for use on Saturdays after 18.00hrs and on Sundays. Depending on the nature of your complaint, we will endeavour to solve your problem as quickly as possible or find alternative accommodation for you, if applicable. If you remain dissatisfied with some aspect of your holiday to the extent that you wish to make a claim upon your return from holiday, the complaint must be accompanied by a letter from the person who signed the Booking Form, within 56 days of returning from holiday. Failure to follow this procedure may reduce or extinguish any rights you may have to make a claim for compensation against us. Written complaints will be acknowledged within 14 days of receipt and a full reply will be made within 28 days. We will endeavour to send a final resolution to any outstanding queries within 42 days of receiving the original letter of complaint. If you or any member of your party becomes ill whilst on holiday, you must, in addition to reporting the illness to our local representative, consult a local doctor and also consult your GP on your return from holiday. Should you wish to make a complaint against us as a result of that illness, you must provide us with details of both the local doctor whom you saw and your GP with written authority for us to obtain a medical report from both these doctors.

17. Independent Dispute Settlement Service
If you have a dispute with us which is unable to be resolve, you may refer the matter to a court of law or call upon the low-cost AITO Independent Dispute Settlement Service (details on request). Claims which exceed £1,500 per person or £7,500 per booking form or claims which apply principally or exclusively in respect of (or as a consequence of) illness or physical injury are not admissible for settlement under this service.

18. Law and Jurisdiction
Your contract with us and any matters arising from it shall be subject to English law and to the jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales.

19. Data Protection
We will provide your personal information, as well as any personal information you provide in relation to the persons whose travel arrangements have been requested by you, to suppliers and carriers that might be located outside the UK and/or EU, to enable the operation of the services requested by you. If you make special requests, which include, but are not limited to, special dietary, religious, or disability related requirements which constitute sensitive information, the relevant data will also be passed on to the relevant suppliers and carriers to enable provision of the services requested by you.

20. Definitions
In these booking conditions: "You" and "your" refer to the party leader and "we", "our" and "us" to Dominique's Villas, a trading division of Fortuna Travel International, Ltd.