General Terms & Conditions
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FIT Packages Terms & Conditions
When you book your Italy Vacation Specialists, an agreement is made between you, Italy Vacation Specialists (IVS), and the travel counselors that act as agents to provide you with the best possible service. Please carefully read the information on this web page, as it sets out the conditions governing the provisions of each and every holiday included in this website. Your purchase of any service or product through Italy Vacation Specialists indicates that you understand that we provide package tour prices and we do not itemize the costs of services unless you are booking one individual service, and that you accept and agree to comply with the terms and conditions set forth on this page and are based on foreign exchange rates
Tour Prices
Italy Vacation Specialists reserves the right to increase the cost of any service or holiday described on its website at any time, without notice. The current price will be confirmed at the time of reservation. Increases to the cost of services will reflect adjustments to fluctuations in foreign exchange & tax rates, travel or accommodation costs. Please note that all prices for the tours described in this website include, if applicable, only direct flights between destinations (ie, Venice to Naples). In the event that direct flights cannot be found for specific destinations due to cancelations of routes, changes in schedules, or any other reason, the client shall pay the additional costs in the change of routing. Italy Vacation Specialists is not liable for changes in transportation schedules that may increase the cost of a service or length of a holiday described and priced in this brochure. The pricing for packages that include Italy are subject to fair & trade seasonalities that will increase the cost of the package. The final cost of packages that include Italy will be provided upon final confirmation. Pricing is per person, based on double occupancy. Single & Triple Occupancy pricing can be provided to you upon request
Tour Planning Costs
Included in each tour are charges for research fees, itinerary preparation, arrangement costing, currency transfers, booking procedures, long distance telecommunications and professional consultant services. Itemization of tour costs will not be rendered for packages or specific FIT travel quotations and your payment of a deposit or all or any portion of the full purchase price indicates your acceptance of, and liability for, these expenses
Not Included in Tour Prices
The following charges and expenses are not included in the tour prices published on this website and, where applicable, will be payable by you:
- International Flights
- Domestic flights not mentioned in your itinerary
- Airport Departure Taxes unless specified in your invoice
- Tourist Visas (If applicable)
- Gratuities of any type
- Shore excursions on all cruise itineraries
- Port charges for cruises
- Personal items
- Insurance of any type
- Tourist Tax at Hotels if applicable
Travel Documents
Travel documents will be available for download and printing within 2 weeks of receipt of your final payment. With regards to some air, train and ferry tickets, you will either receive these in the mail or you will receive a voucher to download and present to the local services supplier upon your arrival in the relevant country. It is the sole responsibility of the client to have all necessary paperwork (passports, visas, etc) required to enter the destination country. Italy Vacation Specialists accepts no responsibility in any changes or cancelations that result in the client’s failure to produce the necessary documentation for travel
Reservation and Payment Policy
In order to secure your trip, for customized packages and tours you will be required to provide Italy Vacation Specialists a deposit of 30% per person, payable by credit card, bank draft, or Paypal. By submitting a credit card authorization form to us, we consider this a legally binding contract between you, your travel agent (if applicable) and us and we will proceed with paying our vendors in order to secure your reservation.
Please note, that because we are located in Italy the banks may block unrecognized charges to protect you and you will need to call your bank to release the funds to us, though by submitting a credit card authorization form as deposit towards the trip at this point a legal agreement is formed and must be honored by you to deliver these funds to us. Not adhering to these terms may result in legal action against your your travel counselor. For this reason, we urge you to complete the automatic invoice which will update you immediately if your payment has cleared or not.
The balance for your trip, if doing an FIT, Private trip is payable at 60 days prior to the commencement of your first service. For groups of 8 plus participants, this may be modified as discussed with the group leader or travel agent you are working with. Bookings made within a minimum of 60 days of departure must be paid in full at the time of booking. Payments may be made by wire transfer, check, Visa, MasterCard or American Express. By paying the booking fee or making full payment (whichever is first) the client accepts and is bound to the terms and conditions set forth on this site. Please double check the minimum deposit amount and final payment date of your file for the exact amounts and date deadline for final payment
Please note, that because we are located in Italy the banks may block unrecognized charges to protect you and you will need to call your bank to release the funds to us, though by submitting a credit card authorization form as deposit towards the trip at this point a legal agreement is formed and must be honored by you to deliver these funds to us. Not adhering to these terms may result in legal action against your your travel counselor. For this reason, we urge you to complete the automatic invoice which will update you immediately if your payment has cleared or not.
The balance for your trip, if doing an FIT, Private trip is payable at 60 days prior to the commencement of your first service. For groups of 8 plus participants, this may be modified as discussed with the group leader or travel agent you are working with. Bookings made within a minimum of 60 days of departure must be paid in full at the time of booking. Payments may be made by wire transfer, check, Visa, MasterCard or American Express. By paying the booking fee or making full payment (whichever is first) the client accepts and is bound to the terms and conditions set forth on this site. Please double check the minimum deposit amount and final payment date of your file for the exact amounts and date deadline for final payment
Changes to Reservation
A 50 EURO administration charge per person will be applied per change of reservation that is made by Italy Vacation Specialists at your request after deposit has been received. Changes to reservations within 60 days prior to departure are subject to cancelation penalties set out below
Cancelations are Dependent on Type of Tour:
For Sightseeing Tours (1 Day Tours where No-Accommodation is Included):
The following amounts are non-refundable due to cancelation:
Cancelation more than 7 days prior minimum of 25% of the total cost
Cancelation more than 3 days prior minimum of 50% of the total cost
Cancelation more than 48 hours prior minimum 75% of the total cost
For FIT Tours (Customized Itineraries where Accommodation may or may not be Included):
The following amounts are non-refundable due to cancelation:
Cancelation more than 90 days prior to departure minimum of 30% of the total cost
Cancelation from 90 - 60 days prior to departure: 75% of total cost
Cancelation 60 days or less prior to departure: 100% of total cost
This cancelation policy is subject to change due to the different policies of individual hotels, cruise lines and service providers and will be confirmed upon the receipt of your first payment.
Claims or refunds
Italy Vacation Specialists exchange the price or value of unused travel for alternate arrangements. If you should have cause for complaint during your holiday, please notify our local supplier or operator immediately. IVS provides the local contact information on each voucher in your travel documentation section. Alternatively, the client is also encouraged to contact our home offices the respective countries during regular business hours. Our partners will be able to help rectify any potential issues quicker and more efficiently than by contacting your travel agent at home. If the matter cannot be rectified during your holiday, please put your complaint in writing and forward it to your travel agent who must notify Italy Vacation Specialists within 30 days of the completion of your holiday. Response time for complaints is up to 60 days from the receipt of the complaint
Force Majeure
Italy Vacation Specialists shall not be liable for any claims, losses, damages, costs expenses, delays or loss of enjoyment of any nature or kind whatsoever, to you or your traveling companions or group members resulting from events beyond our or a supplier's control including but not limited to acts of God, strikes, lockouts or other labor disputes or disruptions, wars, blockades, insurrections, riots, earthquakes, flight and ferry cancellations or interruptions, weather conditions, floods, or acts or restraints imposed by government authorities. It is strongly recommended that you acquire trip cancellation-interruption insurance to provide coverage for possible weather or otherwise related cancellations
Hotels
All hotels are subject to availability. Due to the limited capacity of many of the hotels Italy Vacation Specialists offers in its land packages, Italy Vacation Specialists cannot guarantee that every hotel in our packages will be available at the time of your booking. Italy Vacation Specialists reserves the right to select alternate hotels of an equivalent or superior nature to those already described in this brochure's accommodation guides. IVS strongly recommends that all travelers book well in advance of their planned departure date. The hotels included in the packages by IVS are based on a classification system of Standard, Superior, Luxury and Deluxe. These classifications might not correspond with the official classification of these hotels in their country’s tourism industry. You should be aware that there may be different living standards and conditions with respect to the provision of utilities, services and accommodations outside of North America. Hotels in the Mediterranean regularly place 2 single beds together to create a double/queen size bed. Many hotels, in turn, do not offer king size beds. Similarly, standards with respect to the provision of, and reliability of, utilities (ie. water and power), and the quality of some services and accommodations may vary and may be less than what would be expected in North American facilities. IVS shall not be responsible for any loss, damage, injury or inconvenience resulting from different living standards
Transportation
It is the responsibility of the traveler to reconfirm and arrive at the airport or ferry terminal well in advance of the time of the flight or the ferry. IVS is not responsible for any changes in the itinerary if the client misses any flights or ferries and the client will assume any additional transportation or accommodation costs needed to resume their holiday. It is strongly recommended that the client contact the airline 72 hours prior to their return flight home in order to reconfirm the reservation. IVS does not take responsibility for any flight or ferry omissions, substitutions or changes in scheduling by the airlines or ferry companies that may result in cancellations or changes to travel times. On occasion during the tourist season in the Mediterranean, ferry sailings are cancelled due to high winds and rough seas. These cancellations will cause the alteration of your holiday or include the purchase of additional transportation by air to your next destination. All costs for additional transportation and altered accommodation due to the cancellation of ferry routes due to weather are to be borne by the traveler. Due to the fact that ferry schedules are sometimes posted at the end of the month for the following month’s sailings, certain ferry sailings and, subsequently, packages in this brochure might take longer to confirm than expected. As a result, Italy Vacation Specialists will attempt to provide alternative transportation between islands in the form of air travel or adjust the itinerary to fit the ferry schedule. These adjustments might increase the cost of the package. The client will be informed in advance of any potential increases to the cost of their package and the changes to their travel schedule. Ferry scheduling conflicts arise mostly from April to mid-May and mid-September-October
Liability
IVS acts as an agent only in negotiating arrangements between you and the owners or contractors who provide accommodation, cruises, transportation, sightseeing or other services included in a tour. IVS is not responsible for, nor has control over, the quality of any such services, or for the providers’ failure to deliver any such services, or for any quality of any injury, or loss or damage of personal property, however caused. Italy Vacation Specialists reserves the right to cancel a tour or modify the travel service you have purchased by substituting services, varying the itinerary or otherwise. In all cases you will receive a comparable or superior product. In the event of a cancelation, IVS liability will be limited to the purchase price of the service only and MedVisits shall not be liable for any claims, demands, losses or damages of any nature that arose by reason of the modification to, or cancelation of, the travel service. Furthermore, suppliers may have the right to substitute other products or suppliers in their place with or without having given notice to IVS in advance. IVS does not assume responsibility for any claims resulting from such substitutions.
Travel Insurance
IVS strongly recommends that you obtain adequate insurance for such items as trip cancellation, foreign medical assistance and care, and baggage loss or damage. IVS accepts no responsibility for these items
Special Requests
Requests made by the travel agent on behalf of you for particular rooms, room locations, bed types, and services other than those published on our website are not guaranteed by Italy Vacation Specialists. These may be subject to additional charges, and are at the discretion of the hotel or services contractor
Credit Card Fees
Italy Vacation Specialists reserves the right to apply a credit card fee, depending on the type of the booking, however you will be informed about this in advance and have what that fee is made clear.
Some credit card companies add an international processing fee to the monies that are charged and this has to do with that respective credit card company, not with Italy Vacation Specialists.
