Booking Conditions
General Terms
‘Ways Experience’ (also written as WAYS) is a registered trademark owned by WAYS SRL SB, an authorized Travel Agency and Tour Operator based in Verona, vicolo Carmelitani Scalzi 14B – 37122. WAYS organizes and carries out the activities and tours under the administrative authorization of the Regione Veneto n. 132604/2020. The program complies with the text established pursuant to D.L. 111/95, approved with EEC regulation no. 90/314. Confirmation of any service by e-mail or through the concierge and travel agency implies having read and agreed on the terms and fees explained below.
The notion of “tourist package” (article 2/1 of 111/95 Legislative Decree) is the following: The objects of tourist packages are journeys, holidays and “all inclusive” circuits, resulting from the pre-established combination of at least two of the following elements, sold or offered for sale at a flat rate, whose length will exceed 24 hours, that is, at least one night: transportation; accommodation; tourist services not additional to transportation or accommodation (omissions) which are an important part of the “tourist package”.
The Legislative Decree no. 111 of 17.03.95, concerning the execution of the Directive 90/314/CE, for consumer protection states that both the organizer and the seller of the tourist package asked by the customer, must be licensed for carrying out their activities (art. 3/1, letter A, 111/95 Legislative Decree)
The customer has the right to receive a copy of the tourist package sale contract (in accordance with article 6 of the 111/95 Legislative Decree), which is the necessary document to apply for the Guarantee Fund in reference to article N. 18 of these general contract terms.
Besides these general conditions, the sale contract of a tourist package is also regulated by the clauses pointed out in the journey documentation, given to the customer. This contract, concerning the arrangement of travel, holiday and single tourist service sales, is also regulated by the Law of 27th Dec.1977 no. 1084, ratified and executed by the Travel Contract International Convention (CCV), subscribed on the 23rd April 1970 in Bruxelles. In addition to the above mentioned CCV, the sale contract of a tourist package is also regulated by Legislative Decree n.111/95, emanated as an enforcement of the Directive n.90/314/CE concerning the journey, holidays and “all-inclusive” circuits. Furthermore, the contract at distance signed by the consumer, for all the applications to the contracts for free time services, is subject to the Legislative Decree n. 185 of the 22nd of May 1999, concerning the “Implementation of the 97/7/ CE directive about the consumer protection in regard contract at distance”, and to the Legislative Decree n.70 of the 9th of April 2003 concerning the “Implementation of the 2000/31/CE directive about some juridical aspects of the information society in the home market, particularly referred to the e-commerce”.
Booking can only be effected following the consumer acceptance of the general conditions of this contract. The contract is to be considered when WAYS has confirmed the booking, with the relevant information, via e-mail or by phone. Specifications about the package or about a single tourist service are included in the notes and details of the offer (displayed before the contract subscription) as provided by the law in force. In case the service created by WAYS and published on a brochure requires a minimum number of participants we reserve the right not to carry out the trip if the requested minimum number of participants has not been achieved.
Any tour must be paid in advance. The payments can be made either by credit card (via our payment system) or wire transfer. The non-payment of the sums is an explicit resolutory clause, which would determine the rescission of the tourist package sale contract, set apart the compensation for further damages suffered by the organizer.
The price of the tourist package is fixed in the contract, in accordance with what has been written in the catalog or brochure (either paper or electronic), or out-of-catalog programme, or possible updates of the catalogs or the extra catalog programs which might have been done afterwards. Extra expenses, such as compulsory fee to pay in loco, are always specified in the notes and details of the offer. The price can be changed until 20 days before departure and only in case of variations of the following: transportation costs, (including the fuel cost) taxes and fees on some kinds of tourist services, such as landing and embarkation or disembarkation fees, in ports and airports; exchange rates applied to the package itself. As for such variations, these will be referred to the exchange rates and to the above-mentioned costs, as well as to the relevant prices quoted at the moment of the booking application.
There will be no penalty for cancellations of booked tours communicated in writing to the organization at least 24 hours prior to the booked tour date. No reimbursement will be granted to any client who cancels after 24 hours or is not at the place of departure at the time established; similarly, no reimbursement will be granted to clients who lose contact with the guide or who do not complete the tour; and also for those who cannot take part to the travel because of missing or irregular personal emigration documents. It’s established that in the cases in which rescission penalties of consumers are enforced the organizer is legally entitled by the consumer to hold the amount received as partial payment as valid for the due penalty. As stated above, we do not refund clients who cancel after 24 hours of a tour, and this includes customers who are late due to flight or train cancellations, delays or issues caused by traffic or congestion, etc.
Private Standard Tours:
There will be no penalty for cancellations of booked tours communicated in writing to the organization at least 7 days prior to the booked tour date. No reimbursement will be granted to any client who cancels after 7 days or is not at the place of departure at the time established; similarly, no reimbursement will be granted to clients who lose contact with the guide or who do not complete the tour; and also for those who cannot take part to the travel because of missing or irregular personal emigration documents. It’s established that in the cases in which rescission penalties of consumers are enforced the organizer is legally entitled by the consumer to hold the amount received as partial payment as valid for the due penalty. As stated above, we do not refund clients who cancel after 7 days of a tour, and this includes customers who are late due to flight or train cancellations, delays or issues caused by traffic or congestion, etc.
Custom Private Tours:
In case a private tour or one or more participants of it would withdraw from the contract before departure for different reasons we will apply the following penalties: 10% if the cancellation is given to until 15 days before, and 50% within 7 days from the beginning of the tour. The same amounts have to be paid also by those who cannot take part in the travel because of missing or irregular personal emigration documents. No refund is due to travelers who decide to interrupt the travel or their stay has already started. It’s established that in the cases in which rescission penalties of consumers are enforced the organizer is legally entitled by the consumer to hold the amount received as partial payment as valid for the due penalty. Minor changes and modification of the policy mentioned above could be applied due to the cancellation conditions of the single service that composes the tour/activity. If this occurs we have the responsibility to inform and ask immediately for the client’s approval and confirmation.
In case in which WAYS, before the departure, gives written communication of its impossibility to supply one or more services of the tourist package , the consumer will have the right to choose another tourist package of the same quality or superior without any additional costs or an inferior tourist package with the restitution of the difference in price, or the customer will be refund of the sum already paid within 7 working days from the moment of the rescission or cancellation, if the cancellation is depending on circumstances not imputable to the customer. The organization can void the contract if the minimum number of participants has not been reached, and on condition that the organizer has given this information before the start of the tourist services. In this case the organizer will have to refund only the amounts perceived within 7 working days from the moment of rescission or cancellation, any other refund excluded.
In case that after the departure the organizer cannot supply, for any reason (apart from circumstances depending on the customer) an essential part of the services included in the contract, alternative solutions will have to be provided to the consumer without extra-charges. If the value of the supplied services is lower than the value of the estimated ones, the value of the difference must be refunded. In case no alternative solution is possible, or the solution offered by the organizer has been refused by the customer for serious and justified reasons, the organizer will provide free-of-charge a means of transport equivalent to the original one, which should have also been used for going back to the initial departure point, or to another possibly pre-established place, compatible with availability. The customer will be refunded in accordance with the difference between the cost of the estimated services and the cost of the services granted up to the moment of anticipated return.
The participants have to be equipped with personal passports or other documents valid for the destination Country, with the health certificate if required. Furthermore,the tourist will have to follow ordinary cautiousness and diligence rules, and specific rules effective in the destination countries, all the information supplied by the organizer, as well as the regulations and administrative and/or legislative provisions regarding the tourist package. The participants will be asked to answer for all the damage suffered by the organizer because of their incapacity to follow the above-mentioned obligations. The customer must provide the organizer with all the documents, the information and the elements owned by himself, which might be useful for exercising the subrogation right of the latest towards third parties, responsible for the damage. The customer is held responsible by the organizer for the detriment of the subrogation right. At the moment of the booking, the customer will also communicate, in writing, to the organizer the details needed which might possibly be part of specific agreements, such as journey instructions, provided their accomplishment is possible.
The organizer is responsible for the damage caused to the customer because of the total or partial default of the services described in the contract, either if these are performed by himself or third-party suppliers, unless he proves that the event depends on the customer (including initiatives taken by himself independently, during the execution of tourist services), or on events not linked with the supply of the services described in the contract, fortuitous events or by circumstances that the organizer itself might not reasonably foresee or solve, on the basis of a principle of professional care. Under no circumstances will the seller receiving the booking of the tourist package answer for the obligations coming from the travel organization. However, the seller is solely responsible for the obligations coming from its intermediary activity, in conformity with the responsibility limits fixed by the above-mentioned laws or conventions. WAYS is also responsible for the privacy of the consumer data, exclusively when these arrive on the database and not during their transmission.
Under no circumstances, the organizer compensation will be higher than the compensation indemnities described by international conventions, with reference to the performances whose non-fulfillment caused the responsibility, that is the Warsaw Convention of 1929 about international air transportation, the text modified at The Hague in 1955; the Berna Convention (CIV) about railway transportation; the Brussels Convention of 1970 (CCV) about the organizer responsibility . In any case, the compensation limit cannot exceed the sum of 2,000 Germinal gold francs for property damage, fixed in article 13 no. 2 CCV, and 5,000 Germinal gold francs for any other damage”, as well as for those fixed in art.1783 of Civil Code. In case of the change of these conventions, or formulation of international new ones concerning the services objects of the tourist package, the indemnity limits will be applied according to the law in force at the moment of the unfortunate event.
The organizer is obliged to perform assistance to the customer, on the basis of a professional diligence principle, solely with reference to its obligations, or by contract or law regulation. The organizer and the seller are exempted from their responsibilities, when the unsuccessful or wrong execution of the contract depends on the customer or depends on an inevitable or unforeseeable third-party event, or on a fortuitous or act by God event.
Every unsuccessful execution of the contract must be notified by the customer on the very moment of its happening. In this way, the organizer or its local representative can immediately find a remedy for it. The customer can make a complaint by sending a registered letter, with receipt note, to the organizer, within 10 working days from the date of the return to the place of the departure. If complaints happen in the execution place of the tourist services, the organizer has to assist the customer in order to find an equal solution. In the same way, even in case of a complaint reported at the end of the service, the organizer will have to provide and guarantee in any case a prompt answer to the customer request.
In case of insolvency or bankruptcy of the organizer, the customer can turn to the “National Guarantee Fund For the Consumer of the Tourist Package”, in accordance with the Ministerial Regulation no.349 of the 23 July 1999 for the achievement of the following needs:
a) refund of the price paid for services entirely or partially not enjoyed;
b) repatriation, in case of journeys to foreign countries.
c) an immediate economic availability in case of forced return of tourists from non-EC members, on occasion of emergencies due or not due to the organizer’s behavior. A part from urgent circumstances, when is possible to address directly to the competent diplomatic representations, to obtain the Found intervention a written demand must be presented describing the situation, expenses, and including the original travel contract and all the payments made, to the following address: Ministero delle Attività Produttive, Direzione Generale per il Turismo, Ufficio C1 – Tutela del Turista, Via della Ferratella, 51 00184 Roma. e-mail: fondodigaranzia@tin.it – fax n. 06 773 – 626 The procedure to make use of the Fund is fixed by means of the President of the Council of Ministers Decree , in conformity with art. 21 no. 5, Legislative Decree 111/95).
All disputes between the two parties in connection with this Contract shall take place in the Court in which the organizer is located. With one accord it could be foreseen that the controversies from the application, interpretation, contract execution, will be up to an Arbitration Tribunal, composed by the same amount of designed arbiters as the number of parties in cause plus one as President nominated by the designed arbiters, that is, in absence of the Tribunal President, where the organizer is legally located. The Arbitration Board located in the organizer legal office will ritually decide according to the law, prior to an eventual tentative of reconciliation.
The excursions scheduled in the program are covered by third-party insurance for the risks, the indemnity limits and the guarantees laid down in D.L. 111/95 with Licenza T.O. Regione Veneto n. 00132604 del 25/03/2020, Polizza RC di UnipolSai Spa n. 1/39519/319/177807733. The organization cannot accept responsibility for damage caused by third parties or for reasons beyond their control, and cannot be held responsible for the loss of valuables, luggages or objects during excursions. Any complaint by the client must be communicated in writing to the organization staff within and no later than 10 business days after the date of the tour. Any disputes will be settled by The Court of Verona