These Booking Conditions, together with our Privacy Policy and where your tour is booked via our website, together with any other written information we brought to your attention before we confirmed your booking, form the basis of your contract with Urban Investment Pvt Ltd trading as Island Wanderers, Registered Office: G.E.K.A.M Building 9^th Floor, Mohamed Ismail Didi Goalhi, Maafannu, Male’ 20184, Maldives, Company Registration: C-21/2006, Travel Agency License No: 88-QARS/TA/2016/88 (“we”, “us”, “our”). Please read them carefully as they set out our respective rights and obligations. In these Booking Conditions references to “you” and “your” include the first named person on the booking and all persons on whose behalf a booking is made or any other person to whom a booking is added or transferred.

By making a booking, the first named person on the booking (“Lead Name”) agrees on behalf of themselves and all persons detailed on the booking that:

1. he/she has read these Booking Conditions and has the authority to and does agree to be bound by them;
2. he/she consents to our use of personal data in accordance with our Privacy Policy and is authorised on behalf of all persons 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. he/she is 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 the appropriate age to purchase those services;
4. he/she accepts financial responsibility for payment of the booking on behalf of all persons detailed on the booking; and
5. he/she has read and reviewed in full the Tour Outline, Tour Itinerary, Tour In Detail, Tailor-made Itinerary and Invoice/s prior to securing a reservation with payment and is satisfied that the information contained therein;
   1. is suitable for all members of the traveling party with regards to fitness and any medical needs; and
   2. includes the required services (i.e. the correct hotel and preferred hotel rating, sites to be visited and transportation etc.) for all members of the booking traveling party.

APPLICABLE TO ALL BOOKINGS

1. Booking and Paying for your Arrangements

A booking is made with us when you pay us full payment and we issue you with a booking confirmation. We reserve the right to return your deposit/payment and decline to issue a booking confirmation at our absolute discretion. A binding contract will come into existence between you and us as soon as we have received payment and issued to you in writing a booking confirmation that will confirm the details of your booking and will be sent to you or your travel agent.

For many of our tours sightseeing entrance fees, group tip kitty and local payments are obligatory, payable upon commencement of your tour. All prices listed are per person and details of these costs are noted in the Excluded Section of our Tour Itinerary/Tour In Detail.

2. Accuracy

We endeavour to ensure that all the information and prices both on our website and in any advertising material that we publish 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.

3. Insurance

You MUST take out adequate and suitable travel insurance in order to take part in a tour organised by us and this is a condition of your contract with us. You are wholly responsible for arranging your own insurance. If you choose to make your own travel insurance arrangements, we reserve the right to request a copy of your insurance policy and/or a receipt showing payment of the premium, although we will not check this policy for suitability, and it will remain your responsibility at all times to ensure that you’re adequately insured.

A suitable insurance policy should provide adequate cover for medical expenses arising through illness or accident prior to or during the holiday and loss of holiday monies through cancellation and curtailment of the holiday for insurable reasons. You must be satisfied that your insurance fully covers all your personal requirements including pre-existing medical conditions. We are able to assist you in obtaining a suitable insurance policy.

If you make your own insurance arrangements, you should ensure that there are no exclusion clauses limiting protection for the type of activities you will be undertaking during your tour. You should also ensure that your insurance policy will cover you for any independent arrangements, excursions or other activities that you may book to take part in during your holiday and which do not form part of your booking or contract with us. You should satisfy yourself that any travel insurance arranged through us is what you require and should arrange supplementary insurance if needed.

We reserve the right to cancel the booking, without any liability for refunds, of any customer who cannot satisfy us that they have purchased suitable travel insurance in accordance with this clause. Furthermore, if you choose to travel with inadequate insurance cover, we will not be liable for any losses howsoever arising, in respect of which insurance cover would otherwise have been available.

4. Special Requests

Any special requests must be advised to us at the time of booking e.g. diet, room location, room type i.e. twin/double, a particular facility at a hotel etc. i.e. swimming pool, gym, etc. You also need to 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 itinerary 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 and we do not accept bookings that are conditional upon any special request being met.

5. 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 tour and return home early in circumstances where you have no reasonable cause for complaint about the standard of the travel services provided, we will not offer you any refund for that part of your tour not completed or be liable for any associated costs you may incur. Depending on the circumstances, your travel insurance may offer cover for curtailment. It is your responsibility to contact your insurer at this time for their instruction and to obtain any receipts locally that are required for your claim.

6. Illness, Disabilities and Medical Problems

Anyone suffering from illness or disability or undergoing treatment for any physical or medical condition which may affect their participation in the tour must declare the true nature of such condition and 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 tour. 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, and may result in such persons being excluded from the tour in which case all monies paid will be forfeited and we will not be liable to pay any compensation whatsoever.

Where we accept your booking, you must make arrangements for the provision of any medication or other treatment required during the holiday

If your chosen holiday includes a cruise or excursion or transfer by boat of any sort you must make it known at the time of booking if you or any member of your party is unable to swim. This will not prevent that person from participating in the tour but will enable us to take additional precautions for that person’s safety at such times as may be appropriate. Where the tour includes an overnight stay onboard a Liveaboard Safari, clients who are unable to swim are still able to undertake this tour.

For persons with pre-existing conditions including but not limited to: illness, diabetes, pregnancy, asthma, gastric reflux, cancer, heart problems, epilepsy, respiratory or mobility problems you should visit a doctor for a personal medical examination obtaining a medical clearance that certifies you as fully able to participate in the tour as described within the company literature specific to your tour or tailored arrangements prior to booking. You are responsible for assessing whether a Tour/Tailored arrangement are suitable for you. We will not and do not provide medical advice. It is your responsibility to assess the risks and requirements of each aspect of the itinerary based on your own unique circumstances, limitations, fitness level and medical requirements.

Age & Fitness

We want to ensure that you or anyone in your booking party enjoy their holiday to the fullest, so to help ascertain if a tour or tailormade itinerary is suitable, clients who fall into the following criteria are advised to bring to our notice in writing a document which states you are “Fit to Participate” in our tour or tailormade itinerary.

• Any persons with pre-existing medical conditions. Any person who requires regular care by a doctor or any person with medical or other circumstances we should be aware of.
• All persons aged 70 or over by the tour start date. Once we have confirmed your booking, we may request further information or a signed letter from your doctor confirming you are able to undertake your chosen tour.

No unaccompanied minors (i.e. those under 18 years of age) can be accepted on tours operated by us. Children under 18 years of age may travel on select tours provided that they are accompanied by a parent or a guardian who accepts full responsibility for them and subject, in all cases, to our ultimate discretion.

You agree to accept the authority and decisions of our employees, tour leaders, and agents whilst on tour with us. If in the opinion of such person, the health or conduct of a client before or after the departure appears likely to endanger the safe, comfortable or happy progress of the tour, the client may be excluded from all or part of the tour, in which case all monies paid will be forfeited and we will not be liable to pay any compensation whatsoever to that client.

7. Acknowledgement of Risk

The tours operated or supplied by us have been designed to provide participants with an exposure to the true nature of the environment visited and therefore involve an element of potential risk and exposure to potential hazards over and above those associated with normal ’package’ holidays.

All bookings are accepted on the understanding that you appreciate such risks and hazards and that you undertake all tours at your own volition. For group tours, the specific itinerary, inclusions and additional information related to a tour is detailed in the tour specific Tour In Detail page. The trip notes are the singular document that accounts for what will be provided on the holiday. For tailored arrangements, the specific itinerary, inclusions and additional information related to a holiday are detailed in the final PDF copy of your holiday itinerary. If you participate in an activity not specifically detailed as included (or where you signs a waiver to negate an inclusion in the tour/ holiday operated by us, you (i) accept all responsibility for taking part in such an activity and (ii) accept that no further services will be provided by us, with the exception of inclusion waiver activities.

Our tours are adventurous by nature and you accept that the tour may include travel to remote areas, within developing islands, where events are less predictable and facilities are less readily available than is usually the case in, for example, of Male’ City or Hulhumale. Many of the places visited do not have the same quality of emergency health and safety services that we are used to in the developed world. Internal flights can be cancelled, road transport can be uncomfortable and unreliable, and hotels often do not approach the standards of the West, but are generally of reasonable standard. If you are not prepared for this, you should not travel on these holidays. This unpredictability means that the itineraries should be seen as statements of intent, rather than as contractual obligations. A variety of factors, including weather, transport difficulties and political instability, might require changes in any itinerary. The tour leader will make any changes that are necessary. Only rarely will such changes be significant, and every reasonable effort will be made to minimise the effects of the enforced changes. No liability can be accepted for the results of changes or delays, irrespective of how they are caused.

Travel insurers may not cover specific activities within their standard insurance policies. It is your responsibility to check your insurer policy inclusions and you accept full responsibility for obtaining full comprehensive travel insurance for all activities as outlined with in our documentation or for any service you may arrange locally whilst on holiday with us.

8. 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, tsunamis 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’s control.

9. Complaints

We make every effort to ensure that your tour arrangements run smoothly but if you do have any problems during your holiday, please inform your tour guide/leader/hotel manager immediately.

If, the tour guide/leader is unavailable, please contact our head office team.

If you wish to complain after completion of your holiday, you must send formal written notice of your complaint to our Customer Care Team, in your own words, within 30 days of the end date of your holiday with us and provide in the letter your booking reference, tour name and start date and all other relevant information to your grievance. 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. We will reply to your grievance within 28 days of its receipt.

Please note that privacy laws exclude us from commenting on any members not within your own booking party.

Failure to inform your guide or local team at the time, or follow the procedure set out above will affect your rights under this contract.

10. Your Behaviour

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 hotel manager or any other person in authority, your behaviour 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.

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

11. Passport, Visa and Immigration Requirements & Health Formalities

It is your responsibility to check and fulfil the passport, visa, health and immigration requirements applicable to your itinerary. 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, please ensure your information is up to date.

Maldives now require passports to be valid for at least 6 months after your return date. For further information contact the Maldives Immigration on +960 333 0444 or visit https://www.immigration.gov.mv.

You will be solely responsible for any cost, loss or damage which you incur as a result of a failure to obtain all necessary passports, visas and/or vaccinations. We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel or incur any other loss because you have not complied with any passport, visa, immigration requirements or health formalities (including vaccinations). 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 passport, visa, immigration requirements or health formalities.

12. Delays, Missed Transport Arrangements and other Travel Information

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

Reimbursement in such cases is the responsibility of the airline/transport supplier and will not automatically entitle you to a refund of your tour price from us. A delay or cancellation to your flight does not automatically entitle you to cancel any other arrangements even where those arrangements have been made in conjunction with your flight.

We cannot accept liability for any delay which is due to any of the reasons set out in clause 8 of these Booking Conditions (which includes the behaviour of any passenger(s) on any flight who, for example, fails to check in or board on time).

13. Local Laws and Regulations

All participants in tours operated by us are expected to obey the laws and regulations of the Maldives and any failure to do so may relieve us of all obligations that we may otherwise have to you.

14. Seatbelts & Lifejackets

Local laws relating to the wearing of seatbelt and lifejackets  may be non-existent or not enforced in Maldives and therefore local people largely choose not to wear them. For this reason local service providers may or may not have seatbelts/lifejackets in vehicles/vessels or they may be hidden between seats or underneath protective seat covers. It is expected that where seatbelts/lifejackets are available customers must use them and remain seated at all times while the vehicle/vessel is moving. As such, customers acknowledge that seatbelts/lifejackets may not be available and therefore travel at their own risk.

15. Foreign Office Advice

You are responsible for making yourself aware of Foreign Office advice in regard to the safety of the Maldives and to make your decisions accordingly. Advice from the Foreign Office to avoid or leave Maldives may constitute Force Majeure (see clause 8).

16. Conditions of Suppliers

Many of the services which make up your tour 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.

17. Jurisdiction and Applicable Law

These Booking Conditions and any agreement to which they apply are governed in all respects by Maldivian Law. We both agree that any dispute, claim or other matter which arises between us out of or in connection with your contract or booking will be dealt with by the Courts of Maldives only.

18. Pricing

We reserve the right to amend the price of unsold tours at any time and correct errors in the prices of confirmed tours. We also reserve the right to increase the price of confirmed tours solely to allow for increases which are a direct consequence of changes in:

1. the price of the carriage of passengers resulting from the cost of fuel or other power sources;
2. the level of taxes or fees chargeable for services applicable to the holiday imposed by third parties not directly involved in the performance of the holiday, including tourist taxes, landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports and airports; and
3. the exchange rates relevant to the package.

Such variations could include but are not limited to cruise ship, speedboat operators and any other transport providers.

We will absorb and you will not be charged for any increase equivalent to 2% of the price of your travel arrangements, which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges and/or additional services or travel arrangements. You will be charged for the amount over and above that.

There will be no change made to the price of your confirmed tour within 60 days of your departure.

Sale or promotional prices – Sale or promotional prices are applicable to new bookings only made during the promotional period and discounts will not be offered to confirmed bookings, retrospectively.

19. If You Want To Change Your Booking

Any changes to a confirmed Booking for example, hotel, passenger names but not arrival/departure dates (see below) must be confirmed in writing by the person signing the booking form and must be accompanied by the costs that we may incur and/or incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers. Whilst every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate changes and additional requests, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to meet your requested change. Where we are unable to assist you and you do not wish to proceed with the original booking, and we will treat this as a cancellation by you. A cancellation fee may be payable in accordance with clause 21.

A change of date must be requested in writing and must be accompanied by the above fee, unless the request is within 45 days of arrival in which case this will be treated as a cancellation of your booking and the cancellation fees will be applied as detailed in clause 21. Where a change of date is requested more than 45 days before arrival and can be met by us, our charges are in addition to any further charges made by our appointed agent/suppliers, whereby you would incur charges levied by this third party.

Changes by you to a confirmed booking as detailed above are only permissible where you have made a booking at the standard price, and changes cannot be made to confirmed bookings which were made on a sale or promotional price. Should changes be required on a tour booked at a sale or promotional price after the sale has ended, 100% cancellation fees apply. You may choose to re-book at the standard price available at the time. If booking a tour at a sale or promotional price full payment must be made at the time of booking, bookings are non-transferrable and non-refundable.

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

20. Transfers of Bookings

If you or any member of your party is prevented from travelling on their holiday, that person may transfer their place to someone else, subject to the following conditions:

1. that person is introduced by you and satisfies all the conditions applicable to the holiday;
2. we are notified not less than 7 days before arrival;
3. you pay any outstanding balance payment, as well as any additional fees, charges or other costs arising from the transfer; and
4. the transferee agrees to these booking conditions and all other terms of the contract between us.

You and the transferee remain jointly and severally liable for payment of all sums. If you are unable to find a replacement, cancellation charges as set out in clause 21 will apply in order to cover our estimated costs. Otherwise, no refunds will be given for passengers not travelling or for unused services.

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

21. If You Cancel Your Booking Before Arrival

You may cancel the booking at any time provided that the cancellation is communicated to us in writing. Your notice of cancellation will only take effect when it is received in writing by us and will be effective from the date on which we receive it.

Should one or more member of a party cancel, it may increase the per person holiday price of those still travelling and you will be liable to pay this increase.

Since we incur costs in cancelling your arrangements, cancellation charges will be applied as shown below calculated from the day when written notice is received by us. The more notice that we receive, the less we will charge you. Cancellation charges apply as follows:

Period before arrival in which you notify us	Cancellation fee per person
45 days or more	No fees from Island Wanderers, however bank charges may apply for refunds
45 – 15 days	50% of total booking cost
14 days or less	100% of total booking cost

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

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

22. If We Change or Cancel your Booking

We aim to operate all tours as advertised but by as we plan the tours many months in advance, we may occasionally have to make changes or cancel your booking and we reserve the right to do so at any time.

Changes: If we make an insignificant change to your Package Holiday, we will make reasonable efforts to inform you or your travel agent as soon as reasonably possible if there is time before your departure, but we will have no liability to you. Examples of insignificant changes include change of accommodation to another of the same or higher standard, changes of transport carriers.

Occasionally we may have to make a significant change to your confirmed arrangements. Examples of “significant changes” include the following, when made before departure:

1. A change of accommodation area for the whole or a significant part of your time away.
2. A change of accommodation to that of a lower standard or classification for the whole or a significant part of your time away.
3. A significant change to your tour itinerary, missing out one or more destination/activity entirely.

Cancellation: We will not cancel your travel arrangements less than 30 days before your departure date, except for reasons of force majeure, low numbers or failure by you to pay the final balance. We may cancel your tour before this date if, e.g., the minimum number of clients required for a particular travel arrangement is not reached.

If we have to make a significant change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible and if there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of:

1. (for significant changes) accepting the changed arrangements; or
2. having a refund of all monies paid except for bank charges; or
3. accepting an offer of alternative travel arrangements of a comparable or higher standard from us, if available (at no extra cost); or
4. if available, accepting an offer of alternative arrangements of a lower standard, with a refund of the price difference between the original arrangements and the alternative arrangements.

You must notify us of your choice within 2 days of our offer. If we do not hear from you within 2 days, we will contact you again to request notification of your choice. If you fail to respond again, we will assume that you have chosen to accept the change or alternative booking arrangements.

If we become unable to provide a significant proportion of the arrangements, that you have booked with us after you have departed, we will, if possible, make alternative arrangements for you at no extra charge and where those alternative arrangements are of a lower standard, provide you with an appropriate price reduction.

23. Prompt Assistance

If, whilst you are on holiday, you find yourself in difficulty for any reason, we will offer you such prompt assistance as is appropriate in the circumstances. In particular, we will provide you with appropriate information on health services, local authorities and consular assistance, and assistance with distance communications and finding alternative travel arrangements. Please contact your tour guide or our head office team in such circumstances.