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Booking Conditions

Please read this carefully.When you book your holiday with us you are entering into a contract which binds you and us in various ways. You’ll see we have clearly set out the booking conditions with a list of responsibilities and commitments we have towards each other.

1.Terms. All terms are per week* or short break** for the property as equipped and described. The usual check-in time is 4pm (subject to unavoidable delays). The check-out time (usually 10am) will be shown on your hire invoice. You are obliged to leave everything in a clean and tidy condition, and are responsible for any damage or loss sustained during your stay. Prices include VAT (where applicable) and insurance premiums include Insurance Premium Tax – both taxes are at the rate applicable at the time of printing and are subject to change if the rate or application of the tax changes. In the event of a change in the rate of VAT during the course of the year, your holiday will be invoiced at the new amount of VAT unless you have already taken your holiday or paid the balance in full prior to the date of the change. Our hire invoice and booking acceptance is not a VAT invoice. In the event of a change in the rate of I.P.T. during the course of the year, you will be invoiced at the rate applying on the date you purchased the insurance.
We reserve the right to correct errors in advertised prices. We will advise you of any error at the time of booking.
We also reserve the right to correct errors in confirmed prices. In this case, we will contact you as soon as we become aware of the error. If the correct price is higher and you do not wish to pay this, you will be entitled to cancel and receive a full refund of all monies you have paid to us providing you notify us within 14 days of our advising you of the error. We promise we will not seek to correct any error in a confirmed price within 8 weeks of the start of your holiday or more than 7 days after you make your booking.
*For weekly holidays starting Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, the previous Saturday charges apply; for Wednesday, Thursday or Friday starts the following Saturday charges apply.
**For short breaks, terms published are for Friday start days for weekend breaks; the same price applies for the Monday to Friday mid-week break which follows.
Additional nights in excess of 3 nights for weekend short breaks and 4 nights for mid-week short breaks will be charged at one-seventh of the weekly hire charges for the week in which they fall.

2. Making a Booking. When you book you are accepting on behalf of your party the terms of these booking conditions. Any payments for your holiday you make to a travel agent authorised by us will be held by the agent on our behalf until they are paid to us or refunded to you. A binding contract comes into existence once we have received your deposit and we have issued a hire invoice and booking acceptance by email, fax or post. The contract shall be deemed to have been made at our offices in Lowestoft and be subject to English law. We both agree to submit any dispute to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales. In all cases these Booking Conditions form the basis of your contract.
You must check your hire invoice and booking acceptance as well as all other documents we send you carefully as soon as you receive them. If any information appearing on any document appears to be inaccurate in any way, you must let us know straight away. We regret we cannot accept any liability if we are not notified of any inaccuracy in any document within 10 days of our sending it out (5 days for tickets).

3. Number in Your Party. The total number in your party must not exceed the capacity of the property as advertised by us. Babies under 2 are not normally counted as a member of your party.

4. Payment. When you book you must pay the applicable Deposit requested. If you choose to purchase our Personal Travel Insurance, we will use part of this deposit to pay your premium to the insurers. This means you don’t need to pay us an additional amount at the time of booking to cover your insurance.
If you do not wish to take out our Personal Travel Insurance you must opt out when making your online or telephone booking.
Your balance is due and payable by the date printed on your Hire Invoice (8-weeks before your holiday start date). For bookings made within 8-weeks of your holiday start date you pay the full amount when you make your booking.
Where you choose to pay by credit card we will make a charge of 1.8% in respect of each payment by credit card. There is no charge for debit cards.

5. Changes by You. Once a booking has been confirmed by us to you, should you require us to amend it or to re-invoice you for any reason (including for example accidental loss of the original invoice) then a fee of £25.00 will be charged. Up to 8-weeks before the holiday start date you may change your property to another in the same calendar year subject to availability and payment of the above fee and any difference in price. You may transfer your booking to someone else/another party (introduced by you) at any time providing you pay the administration fee of £25.00 and any outstanding balance.
Note: Bookings may not be transferred to other parties after we have received notification of cancellation.

6. Cancellation by You. Telephone us immediately if you have to cancel and on the same day send us written confirmation quoting your booking reference or see your travel agent. Your cancellation is effective from the date we receive your written confirmation from you or your travel agent, which will be acknowledged.
For early bookings we GUARANTEE you an unconditional refund of the money you have paid if, before 20th January 2008, you have to cancel (for any reason) any holiday booked to be taken from 21st March 2008 onwards.
*Personal Travel Insurance premiums (if you have paid your balance) are refundable in full in case of cancellation, regardless of the cancellation reason.

(a) Cancellation for a Qualifying Reason
In this section some of the words and expressions used have specific meanings. These words are shown with capital letters at the start and their meanings are explained in the glossary below.
You will be entitled to a refund and a waiver of responsibility for any balance payment due (less a £50 administrative charge), if you cancel at any time after we accept your booking and before you leave Home to start your Holiday (provided that everyone in your entire party cancels the Holiday and the property is left vacant) and your reason for doing so is any of the following:
the death, bodily injury, illness or admission to Hospital as an in-patient, as certified by a Qualified Medical Practitioner, of you or any other person in your party; a Partner; or a member of your Immediate Family;
compulsory quarantine of any person in your party or their travel being prevented by Government restriction following an epidemic;
redundancy qualifying for payment under any applicable statute of any person in your party; which is notified to and received by you (or any person in your party) after your booking is accepted;
Hi-jack of an aircraft or conveyance in which you/your party is travelling as a passenger;
you or a person in your party being required for compulsory jury or witness service in a Court of Law in proceedings to be undertaken in the time between their leaving Home to start the Holiday and returning Home after the Holiday;
Police advising against travel due to adverse weather conditions;
Police requiring a person in your party to attend following theft at their Home or usual place of business; or
damage rendering the Home of any person in your party uninhabitable,

The calculation of the amount due is as follows;
if you have paid your balance, we will refund your deposit and your balance less a £50 administrative charge (amendment and credit card charges are non refundable).
if you have not paid your balance, we will refund your deposit less a £50 administrative charge (amendment and credit card charges are non refundable) and waive your balance due.
The £50 administrative charge is to cover our costs and charges by third party operators.

You will not be entitled to any refund or waiver of responsibility for the balance due if the cancellation is due to any of the following:
War, whether declared or not;
ionising radiation or contamination by radioactivity from any nuclear fuel or from any nuclear waste resulting from the combustion of nuclear fuel;
the radioactive, toxic, explosive or other hazardous properties of any explosive nuclear assembly or nuclear component of such assembly;
loss due to devaluation of currency or shortages due to errors or omission during monetary transaction;
any person in your party deciding not to travel, or if already left Home, deciding not to continue;
any person in your party’s loss of enjoyment of the Holiday;
any accident to or illness of any person in your party's family pet;
adverse changes in any person in your party's financial circumstances or unemployment other than redundancy as described above; or
curtailment of the Holiday after a person in your party has left Home to commence the Holiday.

You will need to let us know immediately a cancellation situation has arisen and provide us with all the information and documentation, and allow us to carry out any investigations, we may reasonably require to assess whether you are entitled to a refund/waiver under our Booking Conditions.

Glossary;
Holiday – any trip involving pre-booked travel or accommodation, devoted entirely to pleasure, rest or relaxation in the United Kingdom and booked through Cottage Holidays Direct.
Home – usual permanent place of residence.
Hospital - any establishment which is registered or licensed as a medical or surgical hospital in the country in which it is located and where a person in your party is under the constant supervision of a Qualified Medical Practitioner.
Hi-jack – unlawful seizure or taking control of an aircraft or conveyance in which a member of your party is travelling.
Immediate Family - means the Partner, or the child, grandchild, brother, sister, Parent, or grandparent of you or a person in your party, or anyone noted as next of kin on any legal document.
Parent or Legal Guardian - a person with parental responsibility, or a legal guardian, both being in accordance with the Children Act 1989 and any statutory amendment modification or re-enactment of it.
Partner - a spouse of, civil partner registered pursuant to the Civil Partnership Act of; or someone of either sex with whom you or a person in your party has been living as though they were their spouse for at least three months.
Qualified Medical Practitioner - a doctor or specialist who is registered or licensed to practice medicine under the laws of the country in which they practice other than a person in your party or a relative of any such person, unless approved by Cottage Holidays Direct.
War - means armed conflict between nations, invasion, act of foreign enemy, civil war, military or usurped power.

Cancellation Procedure;
If a cancellation situation arises for a qualifying reason, please contact Cottage Holidays Direct, Lowestoft, NR32 2LW. Telephone (0844 847 1350) immediately the cancellation situation has arisen and prior to the start of the Holiday as appropriate. Then confirm in writing using our cancellation form and supply documentary evidence, including medical certificates where appropriate. Cancellation forms will be supplied on request or can be downloaded here.
You and your party must take ordinary and reasonable care to safeguard against loss, damage, accident, injury or illness.
All information provided to us must be complete and accurate
You must supply the information using our cancellation form
You will not be paid if you or your party do not comply with any obligation to act in a certain way specified in this clause or if they are dishonest
All certificates, information and evidence provided by you shall be at your expense
You will be paid in £ sterling

(b) Cancellation for a Non Qualifying Reason
If you cancel for a reason other than one of those listed in Section 6(a) above, a charge will be payable by you to cover our costs including charges by third party operators. These charges are set out below:
Period before scheduled arrival date within which written cancellation notification is received Cancellation charges as a % of total costs (excluding amendment and credit card charges which are non-refundable)
More than 56 days Loss of Deposit*
43 – 56 days 50%
29 – 42 days 70%
8 – 28 days 90%
7 days or under 100%

* If you book under a low deposit promotional offer, you will be responsible for payment of the difference between the amount paid and our standard deposit. If you have purchased our personal travel insurance and only paid your deposit at the time of cancelling, the amount retained is the full deposit.
You can download a cancellation claim form here.

7. Minors. Bookings from persons under the age of 18 cannot be accepted.

8. Linen and towels. Bed linen is provided (this may be duvets or blankets and sheets). Towels are not normally provided unless stated so in the property details.

9. Availability. Your booking is accepted on the understanding that your confirmed property will be available for your use on the agreed date. Very occasionally, in circumstances of “force majeure” (as defined in clause 15) we may have to cancel your booking. If we do so we will tell you as soon as possible, and will offer you an alternative property, if available, or a full refund. We regret we cannot pay any compensation or meet any expenses or costs you may incur as a result of any such cancellation or change.

10.Facilities and Activities. We reserve the right to alter or withdraw amenities or facilities or any activities without prior notice; where reasonably necessary due to repairs, maintenance, weather conditions and circumstances beyond our control.
The opening and closing dates of facilities are shown for each property. Opening times may be limited outside the main holiday season.

11.Unreasonable behaviour. We and the owner(s) have the right to refuse to hand over accommodation to anyone who, in our reasonable opinion or in the reasonable opinion of the owner(s), is not suitable to take charge of it. In such cases, all hire charges paid will be refunded in full, as quickly as reasonably practicable, the contract will be terminated and neither we nor the owner will have any further liability. 12. Damage to the property. The hirer is liable to the owner for any damage caused in the property during the period of hire. We and the owner(s) have the right to enter any accommodation (without prior notice if this is not practical or possible) if special circumstances or emergencies arise (for example if repairs need to be carried out).

13. Party Type Groups. organisations, charitable institutions and multi-accommodation bookings. . If your party includes unrelated members from an organisation or has been funded/organised on behalf of a third party such as a local authority, charitable, religious or NHS Trust, we need the following information when you book: Should you arrive at your property with such a group without notifying us of the required details, we and the owner(s) have the right to refuse to hand over the accommodation to you. You may be asked to pay a security deposit at time of take-over.

Single-sex groups and younger parties. The owners of the properties in the brochure cater primarily for family holidays – and single-sex groups and/or younger parties may not be permitted. Where this is the case, you will be informed at the time of booking and the restriction will be confirmed to you on your Booking Confirmation.Security deposit. At some properties these parties may be accepted on the condition that a security deposit is paid at the time of take-over.

Disabled, infirm and restricted mobility guests. Where access to or the layout/particular features of any property makes it unsuitable for visitors with mobility difficulties, we have made every effort to ensure that our description makes this clear. To ensure the accommodation booked is suitable for visitors with a disability, it is essential that all booking requests from parties including people with special needs give us full and clear details of those needs. If your party contains individuals who usually require special care due to a disability, you are entirely responsible for ensuring that all members of the group are adequately cared for at all times by suitable persons. 14. Security Deposits. For certain properties, the owner reserves the right to ask for payment of a security deposit. Where a security deposit is payable, you will be informed at the time of booking and the deposit (and the amount payable) will be confirmed to you on your Booking Confirmation. The deposit is payable directly to the owner/caretaker on or prior to arrival and will be returned to you within 10 days of departure by them. We do not collect, hold or return security deposits.

15. Force majeure. Neither we nor the property owner can accept responsibility or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our contract with you is prevented or affected by reason of circumstances which amount to "force majeure".
Circumstances amounting to “force majeure” include any event which we or the owner(s) could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such circumstances include the destruction or damage of the property (which cannot reasonably be remedied to a satisfactory standard before the start of your holiday) through fire, flood, explosion, storm or other weather damage, break-in, criminal damage or any similar event beyond our or the owner’s control. Such circumstances also include riots or civil strife, industrial action, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions, war or threat of war, actual or threatened terrorist activity and all similar situations beyond our or the owner’s control.

16.Your pet. Some owners will accept pets. A charge of £25 per pet, per week or short break is made for this facility. You must tell us that you are bringing your pet when you make your booking. You must bring your pet basket with you and ensure that your pet does not lie on the bedding or chairs. Pets must not be left unattended in properties, or elsewhere. Animals other than dogs can only be accepted with specific permission from the property owner.
In the interest of visitor safety, and following government legislation, we are sorry we are unable to accept the following types of dog: American Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa, Fila Brasileiro and Dogo Argentino even where these types of dog are muzzled as required by government legislation.

17. Assistance dogs. Registered assistance dogs will be accepted free of charge in all properties in our brochure and on our website, subject to availability of suitable accommodation.

18. Your vehicles. Your vehicles and their accessories and contents are left entirely at your risk. We and the owner(s) will not be responsible for any loss or damage from or to any vehicle from any cause whatsoever other than, in the case of the owner(s), the negligence of him/herself or his/her employees or agents, or, in our case, negligence of ourselves or our employees or agents.

19.Liability. Except where otherwise specified in these Booking Conditions neither Hoseasons Holidays Ltd nor the Property Owners and Managers, can accept liability for any damage, expense, injury, death or loss of any nature whatsoever suffered by any person(s) from any cause whatsoever other than, in the case of the Owner(s) and/or Manager(s) the proven negligence of him/herself or his/her employees or agents or, in our case, the proven negligence of ourselves or our employees or agents.
This does not attempt to exclude negligence or breach of statutory duty.

20.Comments or concerns. You must notify any shortcomings with your property to the owner(s) or his/her representative immediately so that remedial action, if appropriate, can be taken.
If a significant problem is not resolved to your satisfaction, please contact us as soon as possible during your holiday.
For all complaints and claims which do not involve personal injury, illness or death, we regret that it may affect our ability to investigate your complaint and may impact on the way that your complaint is handled if you fail to notify the owner or his/her representative and ourselves of any complaint or claim during your holiday and write to us with full details within 28 days of the end of your holiday.

21. Car ferry. If you book a car ferry through us, you and all members of your party are subject to the terms and conditions of the ferry operator, some of which may limit or exclude the ferry operator’s liability to you. Copies of these terms and conditions are available on request from ourselves or the ferry operator.

22.Personal Travel Insurance. You are strongly recommended to take our Personal Travel Insurance for your holiday. Summary details are shown here and full details of the cover provided will come to you with your Booking Acceptance.

23. Data Protection Policy. In order to process your booking and to ensure that your holiday arrangements run smoothly and meet your requirements we need to use the information you provide such as name, address, any special needs, etc.
We take full responsibility for ensuring that proper security measures are in place to protect your information. We must pass the information onto the relevant suppliers of your holiday arrangements. The information may also be provided to security or credit checking companies, public authorities such as customs/immigration if required by them, or as required by law.
We will not however, pass any information onto any person not responsible for part of your holiday arrangements. This applies to any sensitive information that you give to us such as details of any disabilities, or dietary/religious requirements.
(If we cannot pass this information to the relevant suppliers, we cannot provide your booking. In making this booking, you consent to this information being passed on to the relevant persons.)
Your data controller is Cottage Holidays Direct.
You are entitled to a copy of your information held by us. If you would like to see this please contact us. We will hold your information, where collected by us, and may use it to inform you of offers in the future or to send you brochures. If you do not wish to receive such approaches in the future, write to us. We may also provide your details to selected third parties for similar purposes. If you do not wish to receive such approaches in the future, please write to us.