Holiday details

What is ATOL and what can it do for me?

lastminute.com only works with tour operators who have an ATOL licence!

"ATOL" means an "Air Travel Organiser's Licence" granted by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Firms selling air travel in the UK are required by law to hold ATOLS. ATOLs protect you from losing money, or being stranded abroad, when travel firms go bust.

Before any firm gets an ATOL, it has to lodge guarantees with the CAA: if it goes out of business, the CAA gives refunds to people who can't travel, and pays for people abroad to finish their holidays and fly home. This protection is included in the price of a holiday booked with an ATOL-holder. Please note ATOL Travel Protection extends primarily to customers who book and pay in the UK.

Sun4Udirect.com, and Ski4udirect.com are trading names of Sun 4 U Ltd. Reg. Office: East House, 109 South Worple Way, London. SW14 8TN. Vat Reg No. 833029056. We are holders of an Air Travel Organisers Licence (ATOL) No. T7104 and TTA Members No U2338. The following booking conditions reflect our commitment to our policy of fair-trading and our responsibilities under law

2 - DATA PROTECTION

Sun 4 U Ltd Conforms to the UK Data Protection Act of 1998. For full details of our policy, please write to our Head Office at 2 Ingleboro Drive, Purley Surrey. CR8 1EE.

3 - PRICES

All prices quoted and shown on your confirmation invoice are in pounds sterling. Basic holiday prices include*:

• Return flights from and to the U.K. and your resort airport.*
• Airport taxes and security charges*.
• In-flight meals where specified.*
• Free luggage allowance on European charters of 20 kgs (44-lbs) per person (excluding infants) unless indicated otherwise on your ticket. Golf clubs may be carried within this allowance provided we are notified in advance. Additional charges are sometimes levied by air carriers in respect of luggage in excess of your standard allowance.* >/li>
• Accommodation and meal arrangements as detailed on your invoice.
• The services of our local agency or service centre.
• *If flight and accommodation arrangements are selected.

4 - WHAT'S NOT INCLUDED?

In-flight meals unless specified on your confirmation invoice.

• Holiday insurance. Having adequate insurance cover is a condition of booking with Sun 4 U Ltd.
• Any applicable supplements for flights, meals, rooms and under occupancy of accommodation.
• Local charges for facilities such as sunbeds, safety deposit boxes and the hire of sports equipment.
• Provision of cots, meals and babysitting services for infants (all payable locally).
• Optional excursions and personal expenditure.
• Passport and Visa charges.
• Transfers to and from your resort airport and holiday accommodation unless booked and paid for in advance.

5 - SCHEDULED AIRLINES

Where scheduled flights have been reserved on your behalf, note should be taken that these fares are fully non-refundable. Changes to reservations, including date of departure or return, names of passengers are not permitted, and in the rare case that changes are permitted by the airline involved, then these charges will be passed to the client together with an administration charge of �25 per reservation. Meals are not always included on scheduled flights. When booking any scheduled flight, it is a condition of booking that a Scheduled Airline Failure Insurance is taken out and paid for at the time of the reservation.

6 - CHILDREN AND INFANTS

The infant and child reduction age limits apply to the child's age at return from holiday - please indicate date of birth when booking.

7 - SPECIAL NEEDS

It is important, if you have any disability, that you contact one of our experienced reservations staff prior to booking and bring it to their attention, so that the appropriate enquiries are made about the suitability of particular accommodation and resorts, and that you are fully satisfied that you have made the correct choice before and confirm your holiday.

8 - SURCHARGES

The price of your travel arrangements is subject to surcharges on the following items; for increases in transportation costs e.g. scheduled airlines (and their agents) and the tour operator/organizer, Government action such as increases in VAT or any other Government imposed increases.

If this means paying more than 10% on the holiday price, you will be entitled to cancel your holiday with a full refund of all money paid except for any premium paid to us for holiday insurance and amendment charges. Should you decide to cancel because of this, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the date printed on the revised invoice.

9 - SPECIAL REQUESTS

Special requests are not guaranteed, but we will always do our best to comply with any such requests, provided they are made well in advance of your date of departure.

10 - WHEN DO I PAY?

Full payment of your holiday is required by the date stated on your invoice, it is the responsibility of the client to contact Sun 4 U Ltd to make payment of any monies due to Sun 4 U Ltd, on or before this date. Full payment for your holiday is required 10 weeks before departure date of your holiday.

11 - CAN I CHANGE MY HOLIDAY?

If you wish to change any aspect of your holiday after you have received a confirmation invoice, we will do our best to help, but this may not always be possible. Any requests for changes must be made in writing to our office and a charge will be made as detailed below, depending upon the date on which we receive your letter. Period prior to departure when we receive details of

• Period prior to departure when we receive details of change - 56 days or more:

change of name (�25 per name change)
other change (�25 per person per each change)
• Period prior to departure when we receive details of change - 41-55 days:

change of name (�30 per name change)
other change (�30 per person per each change)
• Period prior to departure when we receive details of change - 15-40 days:

change of name (�35 per name change)
other change (�35 per person per each change)
• Period prior to departure when we receive details of change - less than 14 days:

change of name (�35 per name change)
other change (�35 per person per each change)

If you change the number of people in your booking, your holiday price will be recalculated for the new party size and you will be re-invoiced accordingly. Changes to any aspect of your holiday while you are abroad are subject to availability and must be paid for in resort.

12 - CANCELLATION CHARGES

Once your holiday has been confirmed we begin to incur costs on your behalf, for which a charge will be made should you subsequently cancel your holiday. The cancellation date is the date that we receive written notice of cancellation in our office, signed by the lead passenger. We insist that you use the Recorded Delivery service and send it to our Customer Services Department at the following address:
Sun 4 U Ltd, Oakfield house, Talbot Way Small Heath Business Park, Small Heath, Birmingham. B10 0HJ.
You will then receive a cancellation invoice within two weeks.

• Period prior to departure that letter is received - 56 days or more:

Cancellation charge as a % of the total invoice price plus full insurance charges - deposit (plus any additional administration)
• Period prior to departure that letter is received - 29-55 days:

Cancellation charge as a % of the total invoice price plus full insurance charges - 50% (plus any additional administration charges)
• Period prior to departure that letter is received - 28-15 days:

Cancellation charge as a % of the total invoice price plus full insurance charges - 75% (plus any additional administration charges)
• Period prior to departure that letter is received - less than 14 days:

Cancellation charge as a % of the total invoice price plus full insurance charges - 100%

In addition to the above, if one or more of your party cancels, we may add a supplement to cover the cost of under-occupancy of rooms or other costs arising from the change. If you have to cancel for any reason covered by your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim your cancellation charges, excluding the non-refundable insurance premium and less any applicable excess. If any member of your party is unable to travel, no one else may travel in their place without payment or the necessary amendment charge and our written confirmation of the name change.

13 - INSURANCE

It is a condition of booking with us that you must take either our own holiday insurance or an equivalent policy that provides you with as much or more cover. If you do not take our insurance, we will ask you to provide details of your alternative cover within 14 days of making your booking. Should you not provide these details, we reserve the right to cancel your booking and provide a full refund. Our comprehensive insurance policy covers most eventualities, but if you require extra cover, it is your responsibility to make the necessary arrangements.

14 - IF WE CHANGE YOUR HOLIDAY

Most alterations to confirmed holiday arrangements are minor, such as a slight change in your departure time or the withdrawal of facilities at your accommodation. We will always do our best to advise you of any such changes. Occasionally however, we may have to make a major change to your holiday, which could be one of the following:

• A. Change of U.K. departure airport (except between the London airports of Heathrow, Stansted, Luton and Gatwick).
• B. Change of resort airport.
• C. Change of your time of departure or return home by more than 12 hours.
• N.B. In order to maintain competitive pricing, the tour operator reserves the right to consolidate aircraft, therefore no rights to compensation or cancellation will apply due to a flight change of less than twelve hours.
• D. Change of resort.
• E. Change of accommodation to that of a lower Sun 4 U Ltd. Standard.
• Transfers to and from your resort airport and holiday accommodation unless booked and paid for in advance.
• N.B. A change of accommodation to that of the same official rating or higher within the same resort is not regarded as a major change and thus gives no right to compensation or free cancellation.

Should you decide not to accept new arrangements offered as a result of any of the above changes, you may cancel your booking either within 3 days of the notification thereof or within 2 days of the notification thereof if departure is within 7 days. We will then refund all monies paid to you. No additional payments will be made.

15a - OUR LIABILITY TO YOU

We arrange contracts for accommodation and other arrangements through suppliers who we have taken care to make sure have good reputations and run safe and efficient businesses. We will monitor and control the performance of our suppliers and judge their performance against the standards and customs in the country where the services are provided. We will pay compensation if those suppliers fail to provide the services they agreed.

We will accept liability for claims for personal injury arising as a result of our staff and suppliers being negligent while in the course of their employment or contract.

We cannot accept liability in the following circumstances:

15b - ASSIGNMENT

If we make any payment to you under the provisions of the above paragraphs, we shall require you to assign to us or our insurers any rights you may have against a supplier or other third parties. You must then co-operate with us or our insurers if we wish to enforce those rights against that supplier or third parties. We do not intend to profit from this assignment and should we recover more than the compensation and associated costs, any excess will be paid to the injured clients.

16 - FORCE MAJEURE

We cannot accept liability in any circumstances where and/or prompt performance of our obligations is prevented by reason of war, riots, civil strife, terrorist activities, industrial disputes, natural and nuclear disaster, fire or adverse weather conditions

17 - CONDUCT/BEHAVIOUR

If your behavior , or the behavior of any member of your party, during any element of your holiday (including all transport) is considered to be likely to cause distress, danger or annoyance to any other customers, property or any third party by any person in a position of authority (such as a pilot or hotel manager) we reserve the right to immediately terminate your holiday. In such a situation we will not be liable to pay any compensation, refunds or costs incurred. In the interests of the safety and comfort of our customers, we also reserve the right to refuse to accept future bookings from any customer who, in our opinion, has behaved in an unacceptable manner.

18 - WHAT DOCUMENTS MUST I TAKE?

You must hold a valid passport, together with all the necessary visas or other documentation required for entry into or exit from the country of origin or destination. As from October 1998, all children under sixteen will require their own passports, unless they are already on an adults passport. Children can no longer be added to their parents passports. If you are in any doubt as to the validity of your passport or vaccination requirements, it is your responsibility to make the necessary inquiries with the relevant tourist offices or embassies.

If you have booked car hire, you must take your voucher, as well as your Driving License and a valid credit card with you to obtain your car. This is a strict condition of booking. In the unlikely event of any difficulty in obtaining your car, you must immediately contact the local car supplier or our Emergency Contact number shown on your documents(location Care). If this is not possible, you should take a taxi to your destination (keeping the receipt) and contact the local car supplier as soon as possible.

19 - SHOULD I CHECK MY INBOUND FLIGHT

It is imperative that you confirm your inbound flight details either with the local office noted on your itinerary (not the airport authorities) or our Head Office, not more than 48 hours (72 hours in the reconfirmation period falls over a bank holiday) and not less than 12 hours prior to the previously notified flight time. We cannot accept liability for clients who fail to comply with this condition, and, due to a flight change, miss their return flight

20 - WHEN WILL I RECEIVE MY TRAVEL DOCUMENTS?

Your tickets are normally issued ten days prior to departure. However we reserve the right to issue tickets at the departure airport. We cannot be held responsible if you arrive late for the specified check-in time for the flight, or, for the loss by you of your travel documents. A charge of �5 per person (to a maximum of �25 per booking) will be made for ticket re-issue. Many airlines including the Low Cost Carriers are ticketless, and therefore you may check in for these flightss on presentation of your passport)s) and flight confirmation reference number.

21 - FLIGHT TIMES

The flight information quoted is for guidance only and is subject to alteration by events outside our control, such as alterations by airlines or airports. Your travel documents contain the latest information.

22 - WHAT IF THE FLIGHT IS DELAYED?

Unfortunately, there are occasions, completely beyond our control, when a flight is delayed. We cannot accept responsibility for any expense incurred in this event.

23 - RESORT AND ACCOMMODATION DESCRIPTIONS

All our descriptions of areas, resorts and accommodation are as accurate and up-to-date as possible and often based on the first-hand experience of our staff. However, please bear in mind that hoteliers, shopkeepers, nightclub owners etc. may withdraw certain facilities temporarily or otherwise. Whilst we do our best to keep our customers advised of any such significant changes, these are unfortunately beyond our control and we cannot accept liability for them. Many overseas resorts are still being developed and as such some building work may be taking place although we have endeavoured to select accommodation in areas where any disruptive constructive work is unlikely. If the presence of any construction work is notified to us prior to your departure, and we consider it appropriate, we will do our best to let you know as early as possible.

You should also accept that the way of life in your resort may be very different from that in the U.K., whether it be the local food and customs or the more leisurely lifestyle and different attitudes of the local people. Ants, cockroaches and mosquitoes thrive in warmer climates and while harmless, may prove a nuisance. You may also experience disruption to water or electricity supplies, or require minor repairs as appropriate. If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of your holiday, please contact our local office/contact center, who will do their utmost to sort things out.

24- DISPUTE PROCEDURE

We are committed to offering you the best holiday possible, but in the unlikely event that a problem should arise, you must immediately contact our local office/agent so that we can attempt to resolve the matter on the spot. If the problem cannot be sorted out there and then, you must ensure that you complete a report form, to be signed by yourselves and the local office or agent. If the local office or agent is unavailable or does not rectify matters, you must contact our office in the U.K. to give us an opportunity to rectify any problem. The emergency telephone number is provided on your documentation. Failure to do this will prejudice any claim. You should then send a copy of this report to our office in the U.K., with an accompanying letter where necessary, within 28 days of your return to the U.K. We will investigate the complaint on your behalf and a full and precise response (together with an offer of compensation where we consider appropriate) will follow within 28 days, provided we have been able to investigate your complaint fully in that time.

Any complaints that we receive after the 28 day period or any complaints that are not accompanied by a relevant office or agents report may be prejudiced.