Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

By making a booking, the first named person on the booking agrees on behalf of all persons detailed on the booking that:

1. They have read these booking conditions and has the authority to and does agree to be bound by them.

2. They consent to our use of personal data in accordance with our privacy policy and is authorised on behalf of all 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).

3. They are over 18 years of age and where placing an order for services with age restrictions declares that he/she and all members of the party are of appropriate age to purchase those services.

4. They accept financial responsibility for payment of the booking on behalf of all persons detailed on the booking.

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SECTION A – APPLICABLE TO ALL BOOKINGS

This section applies to all bookings made with us. Please read this section in conjunction with the relevant section below which is applicable to your booking.

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Booking & Paying For Your Arrangements

Bookings can be made through our website at www.macaulayluxurytravel.com, by telephone on 07516191223, in person or by contacting us by email at info@macaulayluxurytravel.com

For scheduled tours (single day tours, tours of more than one day, with a specific itinerary, which are available for booking on scheduled dates from scheduled departure points), full payment will be required at the time of booking. In some circumstances, we may require a 50% deposit at the time of booking and full payment at a later date but we will advise you of this and provide full details of amounts and due dates at the time of booking.

Upon receiving payment, we will issue you with an itinerary / booking confirmation which will confirm the details of your booking. Upon issuing the confirmation invoice, a binding contract between you and us will then come into existence. If your booking confirmation, itinerary or any other document are wrong, you must advise us immediately as changes may not be able to be made later and it may harm your rights if we are not notified of any inaccuracies in any document within ten days of our sending it out.

Where a deposit is initially made (rather than full payment at the time of booking) the balance of the cost of your arrangements (including any applicable surcharge) is due not less than 60 days (unless notified otherwise at the time of your booking) prior to scheduled departure when you make a booking with us. If we do not receive this balance in full and on time, we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled by you and in which case the cancellation charges set out in Section A-C will become payable.  

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Accuracy

We endeavor to ensure that all the information and prices both on our website and in our brochures are accurate, however occasionally changes and errors occur, and we reserve the right to correct prices and other details in such circumstances. You must check the current price and all other details relating to the arrangements that you wish to book before you make your booking.

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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.

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Force Majeure

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 “Force Majeure”. For the purposes of these Booking Conditions, Force Majeure 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 the travel destination or remain at the travel destination, 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 technical problems with transport and all similar events outside our or the supplier(s) concerned control.

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Changes by Us

We shall do everything reasonably possible to provide your tour and/or services as planned.

We reserve the right to alter all routes, schedules, itineraries, attractions, accommodation, services and modes of transport where required to do so. The majority of any such alterations will be minor and we will try to advise you of them as soon as possible and provide alternatives of a similar standard, nature and/or value. 

In the unlikely event that we are required to significantly alter a material part of your tour, we will notify you as soon as possible in order to enable you to decide how you wish to proceed. In any such event you will be entitled to:

take an alternative tour of equivalent or higher value, if we can offer that, or

take a substitute tour of lower quality if we can offer that (in which event the difference in price between the original and the substitute tour will be refunded to you); or

cancel your booking and obtain a full refund of all monies paid by you.

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Changes by You

If you wish to change any part of your confirmed booking, you should inform us in writing as soon as possible. This should be done by the lead passenger named on the booking. Whilst we will do our best to assist you, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to meet your request.

Where we can meet a change request made by you, any changes made may be subject to an administration fee. In addition, you may also be required to meet any extra costs incurred by us (and any costs or charges incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers) in making the requested change. Where we are unable to meet your change request and you no longer wish to travel based on the original booking, this will be treated as a cancellation of your booking and cancellation charges may be payable by you, as outlined in these terms.

If, once your booking is confirmed, you are unable to travel for any reason then we will allow you to transfer your booking to someone else (introduced by you, and who satisfies all of the conditions applicable to the booking) provided that:-

i. we are notified of this in writing at least 7 days prior to departure;

ii. an administration fee per person transferring (as advised by the Company) is paid;

iii. you and/or the transferee make payment of any costs and charges incurred by us and/or imposed by our accommodation providers or other suppliers, and

iv. the transferee agrees to these conditions and all other terms of the contract between us.

For the avoidance of doubt, no transfer requests or changes will be finally confirmed until full payment of all applicable charges referred to above have been received by us.

 

Cancellation by Us

We will only cancel tours due to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances which are out of our control or which might jeopardise your safety. If we cancel your tour then we will notify you as soon as possible and we will always refund you, in full, for all sums paid by you.

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If You Cancel & Our No Show Policy

If you wish to cancel your booking after our booking confirmation has been issued, you should inform us in writing as soon as possible - the effective date of cancellation will be the date upon which we receive such written notification. In the event of cancellation by you, cancellation charges may be payable, as set out below.

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One Day Tours & Half Day Tours (UK)

Cancellations made 7 days prior to the booking will not be subject to any charge.

Cancellations made between 6 days to 24 hours before booking will be subject to a 50% cancellation fee.

No shows and cancellations made within 24 hours of the booking due to begin will be charged at 100% of booking fee

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Shore Excursions

In the event of your cruise ship failing to stop at the designated port we will refund up to 100% of the booking fee minus any non-refundable fees for example overnight accommodation for the tour guide where applicable, fuel costs and bookings for other venues which cannot be refunded.

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Extended Tours (UK): Two to Eight Day Tours

Period before tour departure in which you notify us - Cancellation Charge

More than 15 days before departure - 10% of tour price

Less than 15 days before departure - 100% of tour price

In the event of ‘no show’ - 100% of tour price

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PLEASE NOTE:

Certain arrangements may not be amended after they have been confirmed and any alteration or cancellation could incur a cancellation charge of up to 100% of that part of the arrangements in addition to the charge above.

If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.

Insurance premiums and amendments charges are not refundable in any circumstances.

Where possible, we will deduct the cancellation charge(s) from any monies you have already paid to us.

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It is your responsibility to reach the departure point and board the vehicle (as applicable) prior to the noted departure time detailed on your itinerary. If you and your party are not present at the noted departure time, this will be understood as a ‘no show’ and in such circumstances, this will be a cancellation by you and such charge will be 100% of the travel arrangement cost.  

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Special Requests

Any special requests must be advised to us at the time of booking e.g. seat allocations, drinks, diet, room location, a facility at a hotel etc. 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.

 

Conditions of Suppliers

Many of the services which make up your holiday are 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.

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Cutting your holiday short

If you are forced to return home early, we cannot refund the cost of any travel arrangements 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.

 

Complaints

We make every effort to ensure that your holiday arrangements run smoothly but if you do have a problem during your holiday, please inform the relevant supplier (e.g. your hotelier) immediately who will endeavour to put things right. If your complaint is not resolved locally, please contact info@macaulayluxurytravel.com

If the problem cannot be resolved and you wish to complain further, you must send an email of your complaint to  info@macaulayluxurytravel.com, 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 these conditions may affect ours and the applicable supplier’s ability to investigate your complaint and will affect your rights under this contract.

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Disabilities and Medical Problems

It is your responsibility to ensure that you are fit to travel on the departure date. 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 or any member of your party has any medical problem or disability which may affect your booking, 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.

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Your Behavior

All our customers are expected to conduct themselves in an orderly and acceptable manner and not to disrupt the enjoyment of others. If in our opinion or in the opinion of any venue manager or any other person in authority, your behavior or that of any member of your party is causing or is likely to cause distress, 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. In the event of such termination our liability to you and/or your party will cease and you and/or your party will be required to leave your accommodation or other arrangements immediately. We will have no further obligations to you and/or your party. No refunds for lost accommodation or any other arrangements will be made, and we will not pay any expenses or costs incurred as a result of termination. You and/or your party may also be required to pay for loss and/or damage caused by your actions and we will hold you and each member of your party jointly and individually 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 to the hotel manager or other supplier 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.

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We cannot be held responsible for the actions or behavior of other guests or individuals who have no connection with your booking arrangements or with us.

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Refusal of Travel

We, along with our suppliers or our supplier’s staff, reserve the right to refuse to carry any person if we find it appropriate to do so. If you have any concerns regarding other travelers during your holiday, please contact us immediately. Failure to do this may affect ours and the applicable supplier’s ability to address your concerns.

In either of the cases mentioned above, full cancellation charges shall be applied by us and we shall have no further liability to that passenger or to any person travelling with them.

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Excursions

Excursions or other arrangements that you may choose to book or pay for whilst you are on holiday are not part of your contracted arrangements with us. For any excursion or other arrangement that you book, your contract will be with the operator of the excursion or arrangement and not with us. We are not responsible for the provision of the excursion or arrangement or for anything that happens during its provision by the operator.

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Entry, Passport, Visa & Immigration Requirements & Health Formalities

It is your responsibility to check and fulfill the entry, passport, visa, health and immigration requirements applicable to your itinerary. If you or any member of your party is 16 or over and haven’t yet got a passport, our recommendation is that you should apply for one at least 10 weeks before your arrangements. We can only provide general information about this. You must check requirements for your own specific circumstances with the relevant Embassies and/or Consulates and your own doctor as applicable. Requirements do change, and you must check the up to date position in good time before departure.

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Most countries now require passports to be valid for at least 6 months after your return date. If your passport is in its final year, you should check with the Embassy of the country you are visiting. For further information contact the Passport Office on 0870 5210410 or visit https://www.gov.uk/browse/citizenship/passports

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Special conditions apply for travel to the USA, and all passengers must have individual machine readable passports. Please check https://uk.usembassy.gov

Up to date travel advice can be obtained from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, visit https://www.gov.uk/travelaware

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Non British passport holders, including other EU nationals, should obtain up to date advice on entry, passport, visa, health and immigration requirements   from the Embassy, High Commission or Consulate of your destination through which you are travelling.

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.

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Please note: The impacts of Brexit may change your visa, ticket and health requirements. Third country nationals may require an airport transit visa when passing through EU Member States. There is the potential for disruption at borders when travelling between the UK and EU Member States and you should allow sufficient time for this when planning any onward travel. You should check any impacts of Brexit on your travel, in advance of your departure, to ensure that you fulfil the requirements post-Brexit, including any passport validly requirements. The UK Government passport checker can be found here https://www.gov.uk/check-a-passport-travel-europe

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Luggage

As we operate our tours in a small minivan our luggage space is limited and we operate under strict legal weight regulations for safety reasons.

Unless otherwise notified, passengers are restricted to one medium sized suitcase/bag similar to airline standard carry-on luggage, with a maximum weight of either 14kg (31lbs) or 20kg (44lbs).

As a guideline, the dimensions of a 14kg bag should be approximately 55cm x 45 x 25 (22ins x 17 x 10). You can also bring a small, lightweight bag for personal items to carry with you on the vehicle.

As this is a legal requirement, we reserve the right to refuse to carry luggage over this weight/size and may refuse travel for passengers who do not have arrangements in place to store excess baggage. Please email us if you have any concerns over the luggage arrangements at info@macaulayluxurytravel.com

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Luggage is carried free of charge but at the passenger's own risk. It is the passenger's responsibility to ensure that luggage is fit for travel, i.e sturdy and waterproof. Travellers have to be able to lift their own luggage. You may have to carry your bag to and from your accommodation.

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Delays, Missed Transport Arrangements and other Travel Information

If you or any member of your party misses your transport arrangement, it is cancelled or you are subject to a delay of over 3 hours for any reason, you must contact us and the transport supplier concerned immediately.

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Tours or excursions that include Rail Travel

Please note, once your train ticket has been collected, it is non-amendable and non-refundable unless the service is cancelled or delayed. We recommend arriving 45 minutes prior to your departure to allow enough time to collect your ticket and locate your platform. Please refer to the rail provider’s Terms and Conditions which will apply to your rail booking for further train service details. These will be provided to you upon booking.

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If your train is delayed by more than 15 minutes, or is cancelled, please contact us and we will provide assistance in arranging public transport alternatives. Depending on the specific circumstances and availability of transport options, your itinerary may be rearranged to bring you to an alternative meeting point. In this case, or if alternative transport cannot be arranged, we will provide compensation for any missed portion of your holiday.

We are not liable for compensation due to missed train departures. You can contact us for assistance in this case.

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We do not offer flights and we are not responsible for any flight you may otherwise book. In the event that you make such booking, please read your flight terms and conditions carefully. You may have rights in some circumstances to refunds and/or compensation from the airline in cases of denied boarding, cancellation or delay to flights. Contact your airlines or the third party you made a flight booking with for more information.

Please note in it is your responsibility to reach the departure point and board the vehicle (as applicable) prior to the noted departure time detailed on your itinerary. If you and your party are not present at the noted departure time, we reserve the right to identify this as a ‘no show’ and apply our cancellation terms outline in condition 8.

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Our Responsibilities For Your Single Service Booking

(1) Subject to the remainder of this condition, we have a duty to select the suppliers of the services making up your booking with us with reasonable skill and care. We have no liability to you for the actual provision of the services, except in cases where it is proved that we have breached that duty and damage to you has been caused. Therefore, providing we have selected the suppliers/subcontractors with reasonable skill and care, we will have no liability to you for anything that happens during the service in question or any acts or omissions of the supplier, its employees or agents.  ​​​​​​

(2) 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:

the act(s) and/or omission(s) of the person(s) affected; or

the act(s) and/or omission(s) of a third party unconnected with the provision of the services contracted for and which were unforeseeable or unavoidable; or

unusual or unforeseeable circumstances beyond ours or our supplier(s) control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised; or 

an event which either ourselves or suppliers could not, even with all due care, have foreseen or forestalled.

(3) We limit the amount of compensation we may have to pay you if we are found liable under this condition:

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.

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 twice the price paid by you in total. This maximum amount will only be payable where everything has gone wrong and you have not received any benefit at all from your booking.

(4) It is a condition of our acceptance of liability under this condition that you notify any claim to ourselves and our supplier(s) strictly in accordance with the complaints procedure set out in these conditions. 

(5) Where any payment is made, the person(s) receiving it (and their parent or guardian if under 18 years) must also assign to ourselves 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.

(6) 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; or (b) relate to any business.

(7) We will not accept responsibility for services or facilities which do not form part of our agreement or where they are not advertised in our brochure. For example any excursion you book whilst away, or any service or facility which your hotel or any other supplier agrees to provide for you.

Insolvency Protection

If you book arrangements other than package holiday from us, your monies will not be financially protected. Please ask us for further details.

 

Macaulay Travels Privacy Policy

Our contact details

Name: Macaulay Travels

Address: Rhicullen Farm, Newmore, Invergordon, Ross-Shire, IV18 0PG

Phone Number: 07516191223

E-mail: info@macaulayluxurytravel.com

 

The type of personal information we collect

We currently collect and process the following information:

•             Personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics (for example, name, date of birth, gender and contact details)

•             Profession

•             Demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests

•             Financial Information such as credit card /debit card details

 

How we get the personal information and why we have it

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

•             You have booked a tour with us and we require your information for our records

We also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources in the following scenarios:

•             Data enquiry form on our website

We use the information that you have given us in order to carry out market research to understand our demographic and improve sales moving forward.

We may share this information with employees within our organisation and our contractors.

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:

 

(a) Your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting info@macaulayluxurytravel.com

(b) We have a contractual obligation.

(c) We have a legal obligation.

(d) We have a vital interest.

(e) We need it to perform a public task.

(f) We have a legitimate interest.

 

How we store your personal information

Your information is securely stored.

We keep personal information for 1 year period. We will then dispose your information by removing it from our system.

 

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.

Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.

Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to object to processing - You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

Please contact us at info@macaulayluxurytravel.com if you wish to make a request.

How to complain

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at info@macaulayluxurytravel.com

You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.

The ICO’s address:           

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk