EDUQUEST LTD BOOKING CONDITIONS
The following conditions form the basis of your contract. Kindly go through the conditions prior to entering into a binding contract with EduQuest School Tour Operators. Parents liaise with their representative school to show interest in joining an educational excursion. The school will then be the official school group organiser.
1) MAKING A BOOKING
1.1 Booking on to the expedition
By signing and returning the manifest, you are agreeing that you accept these terms and conditions. Signing and returning the manifest also confirms that you are booked onto the expedition as a school group organiser.
Students will be booked on to the expedition upon receipt of the initial deposit per student, and their parents’ or guardians’ acceptance of the terms and conditions.
1.2 Parental Consent and Data Protection
Expedition participants and their parent/guardian will give explicit consent to joining the expedition when returning forms to the trip coordinator and accept the terms and conditions.
1.3 School group organiser responsibilities
The person signing this manifest undertakes that they are responsible for disseminating information from EduQuest to the students and their parents, including information about international flights and travel arrangements.
The teachers accompanying the students are also responsible for the welfare and safety of the group.
2) PRICE OF THE EXPEDITION AND PAYMENTS
2.1 Expedition price for school students
The price of the expedition for the students (hereafter referred to as the total package price) is described on your costing sheet as the total estimated package price paid to EduQuest. A schedule of part payments of the total package price will be invoiced over the period leading up the year of the expedition. Payment occurs in two parts and will be invoiced accordingly.
2.2 Expedition price for teachers/group organisers
For every 10 students in your group there is a free teacher/group organiser place (referred to as “Teacher fees” on your costing sheet). This covers your expedition costs and this works on a pro rata basis. Thus, if there are 5 students in your group then you will need to pay 50% of the trip costs. The total package price includes a contribution from each student towards teacher. This contribution is worked out assume a 1 to 10 ratio of teachers to students. If your group size is below this 1 to 10 ratio at the time of flight booking we will contact you to discuss how the extra fees are to be funded. The default option would be to invoice you so that all the flights can be purchased together or alternatively the missing percentage could be added to the total package price for each of the remaining group members which may result in the final balance payment owed by the parents being higher.
2.3 Surcharges
Whilst we reserve the right to amend prices upwards or downwards at any time, it is our policy to offer expeditions at a clear and firm price. The total package price though is dependent on the cost of the international flights, and as such the total package price may increase or decrease from what is quoted on the costing sheet. Other factors that may force us to surcharge you include government action, changes to the cost of currency or fuel, changes in the group size so that the contribution to the teacher travel costs are increased or international flight price increases. Please note that you, as the school group organiser, have the final say on the expedition, which will only be booked after you are satisfied that a decent price has been offered. The objective is to ensure that the total package price matches, or is less than, the estimated package price on the costing sheet.
2.4 Delayed payments
If part payments are delayed beyond the due dates by more than 10 days then EduQuest reserves the right to cancel your expedition and the cancellation charges outlined below will become applicable.
3) CANCELLATION
3.1 If you need to cancel your booking
If you as a leader of the school group cancel, and no replacement teacher or responsible adult can be found to fill your place and there are no other teachers booked as part of the same expedition group, then the whole group of school students would be deemed to be cancelled and would be subject to the cancellation charges outlined below. In these circumstances though EduQuest would do their best to accommodate the expedition on another date.
3.2 If Individuals in your group need to change or cancel their booking
If individuals within the booked group cancel, others can replace them from the school with no cancellation charges applicable up to the point at which the international flight tickets are issued. Fines to change names on tickets once flight tickets are at the expense of the student concerned. Unless the student can be replaced, cancellation will involve following charges:
Period before departure Cancellation charge per person*
Within a month of deposit: Loss of Є250 deposit
Within two months of Deposit: Є250 deposit + 35% of total package price
From three months of deposit: Є250 deposit + 75% of total package price
Last month before start of expedition – 100% of total package price
*If you should cancel after your international flights have been booked by us, and the above cancellation charge does not cover the cost of the international flights, then the cancellation charge will, as a minimum, be the cost of the international flight plus the Є250 deposit.
Please note that we require written confirmation by post or email of any cancellation and the cancellation will take effect from the day the written confirmation is received by EduQuest.
If a cancellation is made for medical reasons please check your schools/personal travel insurance policy, as you may be able to reclaim some of the charges above.
4) IF EDUQUEST CANCELS OR CHANGES YOUR BOOKING
4.1 Expedition Itinerary
We reserve the right to amend certain aspects of your itinerary at any time in line with the overall objectives and context of the expedition. In the unlikely event of EduQuest deeming travel to your particular destination unsafe for any reason, more than 3 months before departure, we will provide a suitable alternative. As a result we are unable to refund any monies, beyond the conditions outlined above.
We undertake not to cancel any expedition closer than 3 months to the expedition start date unless in exceptional circumstances such as war, riots, civil strife, industrial action so severe that alternative transport and accommodation cannot be provided, terrorist activity, natural and nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions, technical problems with transport and similar unforeseeable circumstances where compensation payments cannot be made.
4.2 Travel elements before and after the expedition
Your travel with EduQuest involves multiple suppliers. Our suppliers, who provide the travel elements of your package, may need to cancel or amend your reservation details. We will ensure that you are promptly notified of any significant changes, but cannot accept responsibility for costs associated with travel delays caused by third parties (such as flight delays or airline schedule changes).
We require that you ensure your travel insurance policy covers travel interruption. If the supplier makes a significant change to your travel booking, we will inform you as soon as reasonably possible if there is time before your departure. You will have the choice of either accepting the change of travel arrangements, accepting an offer of alternative travel arrangements of a comparable standard from us (we will refund any price difference if the alternative has a lower value), or cancelling your booked travel arrangements and receiving a full refund.
Changes to travel may include (but are not limited to): A change of international departure airport from your home country, a change of supplier, a change in the time of your departure or return flight by more than 12 hours. Refunds on travel arrangements cannot be made if a significant change is made for reasons beyond our control. These include (but are not limited to): war, threat of war, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist activity, industrial disputes, natural and nuclear disasters, fire, epidemics, health risks, closed or congested airports or ports, hurricanes and other actual or potential severe weather conditions and any other similar event. If you have booked a flight and we are alerted to a significant schedule change by your airline before you leave your home country we will contact you by email to advise you of this.
EduQuest has no control over airline schedule changes and accepts no liability for costs which may arise as a result of such changes. It is your responsibility to check with the airline that any flights you have confirmed are operating as booked. We strongly recommend that you contact your airline at least 72 hours before the scheduled departure of each flight to do this.
5) DATA PROTECTION
We take data protection and security extremely seriously. In order to process bookings and provide expedition services, we must collect in a certain amount of information from all our participants. This does include some special categories of information, including medical details, that we require in order to adequately minimize risks to those who join us. If a participant is unwilling to disclose the information required then we will have to cancel their booking, and standard cancellation fees will apply.
Some details will also have to be given to our partners in order to assist with the safe and efficient planning of the expedition.
6) JURISDICTION AND LEGAL ASPECTS
Please note that when you have read these booking conditions and signed your booking form, and when a confirmation invoice has been issued by or on behalf of ourselves or the relevant supplier, you enter into a binding contract which will be governed and interpreted in accordance with the Maltese law