Oak Hall Holidays: Oak Hall Expeditions Terms & Conditions

Introduction

We are very pleased that you have chosen to book your holiday with us. Please find below the terms and conditions of your holiday. We hope you will find them helpful in clarifying how an Oak Hall expedition works. We look forward to you travelling with us.

The lower age limit is 18 years unless travelling with a family member, or guardian over the age of 18 years. The holidays are not suitable for children under 7 years except for those holidays designated as 'Family Week' when the lower age limit is 3 years.

Parents or guardians, or an accompanying adult authorised by them, remain responsible for the day-to-day care, supervision and behaviour of children under 18 throughout the holiday, including during organised activities and free time.

Guests should be able to participate safely in the activities and environment of the expedition, either independently or with appropriate support arranged in advance. Please inform Oak Hall Expeditions at the time of booking of any disability, medical condition, support need, behavioural concern, or dietary requirement which may affect participation in the trip. This allows us to assess suitability, discuss any reasonable adjustments, and advise on available facilities and support requirements. Where a guest is unable to manage personal care or participate safely without continuous support, we may require them to travel with a companion or support person.

We occasionally use photos of guests on our social media, website or brochures. There is often a great clamour to be included in these images but if you would prefer NOT to have your picture used, please could you let us know?

Topics

Booking
Payment
Changes/Cancellation
Financial Security
Insurance
Travel Documents
Travel
Accommodation
Feedback
Winter Lift Passes

Booking

A deposit is payable online or by cheque to reserve your place. This is £50 for coach holidays and Otford Manor events. It is generally £150 for flight holidays. Any room supplement is also paid at the time of making this initial reservation. The deposit and room supplement is non-transferable and non-returnable. After receiving your booking, we will process this and send you confirmation of your place on your chosen holiday. Please note that the booking is not final until you have received this confirmation. A link will be included in your booking confirmation e-mail giving details about the holiday. This will be updated as we get closer to departure but should show all the key information at least two months before departure. Please familiarise yourself with this information ready for your holiday.

Payment

The full balance of your holiday payment is due two months before departure for summer and winter holidays and one month before Otford Manor events.

Please make a note of when the payment is due, as we may not be able to issue reminders. As we have to meet deadlines with suppliers such as hotels or airlines, if payment is not made on time for your booking we may need to cancel unpaid places and release them to others. If you know earlier that you will be unable to travel, please let us know. If you book within two calendar months of the date of departure, we ask you to pay the full holiday cost.

Please note that flight costs tend to increase nearer the time of departure or due to demand, and supplements may apply (if so, this will be made clear on the website at the time of booking).

Please ensure that you have travel insurance cover from the time that you pay for your holiday, as you may be able to make a claim through your travel insurance company if you need to cancel and your reason falls within the terms of their policy.

Our prices are calculated to include the current arrangements and rates for VAT. Should there be an increase, this will affect the price. We will absorb any changes in currency exchange rates up to 2% deviation from the rate on 5 May for the following Winter Programme and 1 November for the following Summer Programme. Where exchange rates fluctuate beyond 2%, we may request the payment of a currency supplement charge.

Oak Hall gift vouchers expire 5 years after the date of issue. The minimum purchase amount is £10. Gift vouchers are non-refundable and non-transferable. If you do not spend the full amount in your first transaction, the balance will be kept for you as a credit.

Changes/Cancellation

If you want to change any of the details of your booking or transfer to an alternative holiday in the same season (i.e. summer, winter or Manor), please contact us before the following deadlines and we will do our best to help: 3 months before a flight holiday, 2 months before a coach holiday or 1 month before a Manor event.

In the case of a name substitution, the deposit is non-transferable and is therefore payable by your nominee.

Once you are booked, we pay for many costs to facilitate your holiday well before the balance deadline. Please let us know as soon as possible if you find you are unable to travel so that we can cancel your place.

After the balance deadline, the full cost is non-returnable. Please ensure that you have travel insurance cover from the time that you pay for your holiday, as you may be able to make a claim through your travel insurance company if your reason for cancellation falls within the terms of their policy.

We will notify you two months in advance in the unlikely event of a holiday cancellation. Usually your group will be a minimum of 20 persons.

Financial security

Oak Hall Expeditions complies fully with the 2018 Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations, which safeguard your holiday investment. These regulations ensure that in the unlikely event of our financial insolvency, your payments for packages are protected. This means you will receive a full refund for any pre-paid package services, and if your package trip has already commenced, arrangements will be made to bring you safely back home at no additional cost.

Air:

All Oak Hall Expeditions flight-inclusive holidays are financially protected by the ATOL scheme (Oak Hall Expeditions Ltd. ATOL Licence 3207). When you pay you will be supplied with an ATOL Certificate. This lists what is financially protected, where you can get information on what this means for you and who to contact if things go wrong. Please ask for it and check to ensure that everything you booked (flights, hotels and other services) is listed on it.

We, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL Certificate, will provide you with the services listed on the ATOL Certificate (or a suitable alternative). In the unlikely case that neither we nor the supplier are able to do so for reasons of insolvency, an alternative ATOL holder may provide you with the services you have bought or a suitable alternative (at no extra cost to you). You agree to accept that in those circumstances the alternative ATOL holder will perform those obligations and you agree to pay any money outstanding, to be paid by you under your contract, to that alternative ATOL holder. However, you also agree that in some cases it will not be possible to appoint an alternative ATOL holder, in which case you will be entitled to make a claim under the ATOL scheme (or your credit card issuer where applicable).

If we, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL certificate, are unable to provide the services listed (or a suitable alternative, through an alternative ATOL holder or otherwise) for reasons of insolvency, the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust may make a payment to (or confer a benefit on) you under the ATOL scheme. You agree that in return for such a payment or benefit you assign absolutely to those Trustees any claims which you have or may have arising out of or relating to the non-provision of the services, including any claim against us, the travel agent (or your credit card issuer where applicable). You also agree that any such claims may be re-assigned to another body, if that other body has paid sums you have claimed under the ATOL scheme.

For more information about financial protection and the ATOL Certificate go to: https://www.atol.org/about-atol/atol-certificates/

Coach and Independent travel:

All payments made for coach and independent travel package holidays are fully insured against financial failure. This guarantees your security by ensuring a full refund and, if necessary, repatriation in the unlikely event of insolvency.

Insurance & First Aid Consent

We require that everyone travelling abroad with us takes out travel insurance that covers all eventualities for the duration of their holiday.

In the rare event that hired equipment is damaged or lost, payment of the replacement value of affected items is payable to Oak Hall at the resort. You can then claim on your insurance.

When travelling in Europe, if you are eligible, please make sure you have a Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC), as well as travel insurance. Often a GHIC is required for your insurance policy to be valid. A GHIC is free. To apply for a GHIC or for more information look online at www.ghic.org.uk. It is important to note that a GHIC is not a replacement for travel insurance and should be carried with you whilst abroad.

Only if you consent to your child receiving first aid from our team will we receive them for Oak Hall activities (ski instruction/ Otford Manor activities etc.). Your application for a child to join in with such activities indicates your assent to this.

Travel Documents

British Citizens will need a full 10-year passport for overseas travel. Please allow plenty of time to obtain or renew one. British Citizens will not require any visas for travel in Western Europe (for visits of up to 90 days in any 180 day period). Details of any visas required for other countries will be sent to you, however, it is your responsibility to make sure you carry valid travel documents and visas while travelling with us. If you are not a British Citizen you will need to contact the consulates of the countries we will be travelling through to check the current visa and entry requirements.

Travel

Coach:

The limit for the combined weight of all an individual's luggage is 20kg (excluding hand luggage). We ask that you do not bring more luggage with you than you are able to carry yourself.

Please note that we have a no alcohol policy on the coach, which includes both consuming and transporting alcohol.

Please note that there might be exceptions regarding pick up points (e.g. for day trips the pick up point is Otford). However, this will be clearly communicated at the time of booking.

Air:

Our flights are mainly with scheduled international airlines from London airports, but we also sometimes have departures from regional airports, such as Birmingham and Manchester. Exact timings can be found on the website once available and will also be included in the Detailed Information for your holiday. Dates are correct at the time of going to print. Occasionally rescheduling is made by the airlines and you may need to be flexible by a day or two. Air flights are occasionally subject to delay due to weather or other reasons beyond our control and are subject to final adjustment by the airline. Please note that airport taxes are subject to change and we may need to ask you to cover any increases if these should be imposed by the government, for example.

We use return tickets and if you do not travel out with the group, the airline will usually automatically cancel the inbound flight.

The luggage allowance varies from airline to airline, and you will be informed of the precise amount in the Detailed Information for your holiday. Please note that occasionally the size of the local hire coach, for example, may require us to set a lower allowance in the Detailed Information document than the airline limit.

Independent Travel:

If you are making your own travel arrangements (which is indicated an by 'X' in the holiday code for winter coach holidays or an independent travel discount on your booking for summer and winter flight holidays), you can either meet the group at the resort, or at the overseas airport and join our transfer coach (this is subject to a charge).

Please ensure that you only book independent flights after you have a confirmed place on the Oak Hall holiday. If you wish to join our airport transfer coach, please make sure that your chosen flight is scheduled to arrive in good time, ideally 2 hours, ahead of our transfer coach departure. If you are unable to arrive before the transfer coach departs (e.g. due to your flight being delayed), you will need to make your own way to the resort by public transport.

In the unlikely event of Oak Hall cancelling a holiday or amending the group flights, you will need to liaise directly with your own insurance or transport provider (airline, train company etc.) regarding the costs of changing or cancelling your travel plans. Oak Hall would not be responsible for these costs.

Accommodation

As the holidays are planned and published a year in advance, the details of the holiday, such as the accommodation, or even the resort, may change. On these rare occasions we would always look to provide an alternative of a similar standard.

Campsites, chalets and mountain centres:

In our campsites we provide tents that accommodate two or three people. Our meals are prepared in a central cook tent, served for us to enjoy sitting around the marquee or in the fresh air - camp style with no tables.

The mountain centres/chalets are run by our own team. Clean and simple, there is a variety of rooms and dormitories. Each morning, you have the opportunity to make a packed lunch.

A list of what to bring (e.g. airbed and sleeping bag for camping holidays) will be sent in the Detailed Information. Please bring a cycle helmet for our cycling holidays as we require everyone to wear one for safety reasons.

At these locations, our own teams provide the catering and we can offer a vegetarian option. The limitations of camp cooking, for example, mean that we are limited in our ability to cater for food allergies and other diets. Click here for more information.

Once or twice during your stay you will have the opportunity to help the cooks before and after the meal (e.g. washing up).

Please note that there is a no alcohol policy in our campsites, chalets and mountain centres.

Hotels:

The ability of different hotels to cater for dietary requirements can vary. Click here for more information. Swimming pools and other facilities may not always be open due to maintenance or seasonal closure. There can be a range of rooms at a hotel within our group's allocation (i.e. the size of room, decoration, equipment, views etc may be different).

Otford Manor:

For events at Otford Manor (Kent), if you have a particular allergy, we will endeavour to incorporate this into the menu. Due to the nature of our kitchen, and the high volume of homemade food produced, we cannot guarantee that our dishes do not contain traces of allergen ingredients. We will do our best to avoid any cross contamination but please be aware that multiple allergen ingredients are used in our kitchens. For manufactured items used in our dishes, while we adhere to their labelling, we cannot guarantee that there are no traces of allergens.

Room or tent sharing:

For all types of accommodation, there is the opportunity to share a room with others. The Oak Hall office will place you into a shared room with others of the same gender and where possible, a similar age to you. If you are coming with friends or family, please indicate this at the time of booking and you will be accommodated with them wherever possible. Please note that mixed accommodation is only available for married couples or families.

It is our policy that under 18s can stay:

in a room with members of their own family or their guardian
in a single-sex room solely with under18s (if their guardian knows the other children)
in a single-sex room which includes over 18s (if their guardian also stays in the room, knows all the others in the room and requests this rooming arrangement

Feedback

We do our utmost to ensure everything is in place for you to have an enjoyable time away with us, and we work hard to make sure everything runs smoothly. If you find you have a problem during the holiday, please advise our resort team immediately so the matter can be resolved on the spot. In the unlikely event that the difficulty cannot be resolved, please write to us within 14 days of your return, giving your booking reference number and all relevant details.

Winter Lift Passes, Ski Equipment & Lessons

For winter holidays, lift passes come in great variety, depending on age, duration, time of the season and your chosen resort. On our website, you will find details of the ski passes available and you will be able to choose the right one. For holidays that do not include a lift pass, prices will be updated one week before departure, in line with current exchange rates. We ask you to pay for your pass online before your holiday departs so that it can be ready for you from the first morning of your holiday.

Lift passes, ski equipment hire, and ski lessons are time-specific services and are non-refundable once issued or booked. No refunds will be given for services that are unused or partially used. Lift passes are purchased from third-party providers and are subject to their own terms, which do not allow refunds after commencement. This does not affect your statutory rights. We strongly recommend that guests take out appropriate travel insurance.

Privacy Policy

We carefully comply with all GDPR legislation and we ask that all guests check and agree with our Privacy Policy.

Guest Suitability and Safety

We are committed to providing a safe environment for all guests and team members. If you or anyone in your party has an unspent criminal conviction, or is subject to any legal restriction which may affect the safety or wellbeing of others, you must inform us in confidence before booking. Spent convictions do not need to be disclosed.

All disclosures will be considered sensitively and on a case-by-case basis. We may refuse, cancel, or place conditions on a booking where reasonably necessary for the safety and wellbeing of the group or the safe operation of the trip. Failure to disclose relevant information may result in cancellation in accordance with our booking terms.