Our Terms & Conditions.
1. Contract
Your contract is with Andean Adventure LLC (“we” or “us”). We draw your attention to the following terms and conditions, which cover all brochures and correspondence and all bookings made with us. Any contract with us is subject to these terms and conditions from which no person has the authority to depart. Before making a booking with us you must ensure that you have read and understood these booking conditions (raising any queries you may have with us). By asking us to confirm your booking you are accepting the terms and conditions laid out below and acknowledging that you have read the terms of this contract and agree with it. In accordance with Massachusetts regulations under 940 CMR 15.00, we will provide clear disclosures regarding the sale of travel services, including but not limited to: our full name and address, the total price of services (including all taxes, fees, and surcharges), detailed itinerary information, complete terms of any cancellation or refund policies, and any other material terms.
2. Booking Procedure
We will create a custom travel itinerary to suit your personal needs. A binding contract comes into existence between us upon the receipt of any monetary payment (either as a partial payment or in full) for that itinerary. No contract will exist between the parties until such monies have been received. A deposit of 25% of the total trip cost per person is required to reserve a space on a trip. The deposit can be made by credit card (Visa or MasterCard), personal check, or wire transfer. Trip extensions or extra services may require additional deposits. All deposits and advance payments are explicitly non-refundable and non-transferable. All payments made with a credit card will incur a 4% processing fee. You will be invoiced upon making a reservation, and full payment is due no later than 90 days prior to your departure. Payment is accepted as follows:
• U.S. Dollar check posted to our U.S. office,
• Wire Transfer or ACH transfer to our account (please contact us for transfer instructions).
Please make checks payable to Andean Adventure LLC.
If full payment is not received 90 days prior to the departure date, we reserve the right to cancel your travel and apply the cancellation charges set out in section 10. Cancellation will be without penalty to us, and we will have no further liability to you. The lead booking name is liable for making full payment for all persons in the booking party, and all those in the booking party agree to be bound by these terms and conditions (including anyone added or substituted at a later stage). It is the responsibility of the lead booking name responsible for making the booking to ensure all in their party are aware of and have read these terms and conditions.
3. Pricing Itineraries
The price of your itinerary will be based on known costs at the date of issue of the itinerary. All prices we advertise are accurate at the date published, but we reserve the right to change any of those prices from time to time. Prices include a cost for fuel and local taxes that are estimated at the date of this publication. At the time of booking confirmation, we will provide you with a Confirmation Invoice.
After a Confirmation Invoice has been sent to you, we reserve the right to add a supplement to your travel prices should our costs of supplying your travel increase. Any increase to your travel price will only be applied as a result of changes in our costs of supplying your travel resulting from dues or taxes payable locally, government action, airline surcharges, taxes or fees payable for services such as landing taxes, or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports or airports, or increases in park fees, reserve fees, concession fees, airfares, currency fluctuations, or decreases in the number of travelers in your travel group. If our costs to supply your travel increase due to the aforementioned reasons, we reserve the right to increase the price of your travel and will forward an Amendment Invoice reflecting any changes made.
Should you instruct your credit/debit card company to “charge back” any payment(s) properly due from you in respect of your booking, we will charge you a fee of $500 per incident and associated costs. We further reserve the right to cancel your booking and/or take legal action against you for all outstanding payment(s). We reserve the right to make changes to and correct errors in advertised prices at any time before your travel is confirmed. We will advise you of any errors of which we are aware and of the then-applicable price at the time of booking.
4. Medical Conditions and Disabilities
If you or any member of your party have any medical problem or disability which may affect your travel, please tell us before you confirm your booking so that we can advise as to the suitability of the chosen arrangements. In any event, you must give us full details in writing at the time of booking to ensure that the trip is suitable for the given conditions. If full details are not given at the time of booking, we reserve the right to cancel in accordance with section 10 below and at no penalty to us when we become aware of these details.
5. Medical Proxy
The passenger hereby gives Andean Adventure LLC and its contractors permission to arrange emergency medical treatment for the passenger if necessary, and the passenger agrees to hold Andean Adventure LLC harmless for the provision or non-provision of such services.
6. Insurance
We require you to purchase travel insurance. You must be satisfied that your insurance fully covers all your personal requirements, including pre-existing medical conditions, cancellation charges, medical expenses, and repatriation in the event of accident or illness. If you choose to travel without adequate insurance cover, we will not be liable for any losses howsoever arising, in respect of which insurance cover would otherwise have been available. Travel insurance is regulated in Massachusetts under M.G.L.c. 175, §162Z, and any insurance we may offer or recommend must comply with these provisions.
7. Our Responsibilities
Subject to section 19 below, we accept responsibility for ensuring (i) your travel is supplied as described in your Confirmation and any Amendment Invoices and (ii) services provided will reach a reasonable local standard. Please note we cannot accept responsibility for any services which do not form part of our contract. This includes, for example, any additional services or facilities, which your hotel or other supplier agrees to provide for you where the services or facilities are not advertised in our brochure and we have not agreed to arrange them. The information contained in our brochures and website is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of the confirmation of your booking. Our brochure descriptions and other information provided or made available in a resort often refer to “other activities and excursions,” which are available in the resort. These activities and excursions are not run nor controlled in any way by us. They do not for many parts of your contract with us, even where we suggest or recommend particular operators/centres/trips and assist you in booking such activities or excursions in any way. Accordingly, we cannot accept any liability in relation to these outside activities and excursions. Where we make or take any bookings for or from you in respect of any activity or excursion available, we do so solely as booking agents. This is the case regardless of whether the activity is advertised or mentioned in our brochure, resort, on our website, or elsewhere. Your contract for any such activity or excursion will be with the supplier or operator of that activity or excursion. We have no liability for any such activity or excursion or for any acts or omissions of the supplier or operator or for it/their employees or agents or any other persons connected with the activity or excursion. If we are found liable in any respect for any such activity or excursion, for example in our capacity as booking agent, that liability is limited to the cost of the activity or excursion concerned.
Please remember that the infrastructure in the countries you are visiting may not be up to the same standards as your country of residence. Some resorts may experience the occasional power cut or water shortage. We will not be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss (for example, loss of enjoyment), damage, expense, cost, or other sum or claim of any description whatsoever that results from any of the following:
• The fault of the persons affected or any members of their party, or
• The fault of a third party not connected with the booking of your travel, which we could not have predicted or avoided, or
• Force majeure and like events, or
• The fault of anyone who is not carrying out work for us (generally or in particular) at the time of booking.
This paragraph does not alter the limitations on liability contained in section 19 but should be read to further limit our liability to you. In addition, we will not be responsible where you do not enjoy your travel or suffer problems because of a reason you did not tell us about when you booked your travel, or where any problems you suffered did not arise from any breach of our contract, or other fault of ourselves or where we were responsible for them, our suppliers or agents or where any losses, expenses, costs or other sum you have suffered relate to any business. Our suppliers, such as accommodation or transport suppliers, have their own booking conditions or conditions of carriage, and these conditions are binding between you and the supplier. Some of these conditions may limit or remove the relevant transport providers’ or other suppliers’ liability to you. You can get copies of such conditions from any offices of the relevant suppliers. You should also note that the carrier will rely upon its conditions of carriage, which may limit or remove the carrier’s liability to you and limit compensation under international conventions. We accept liability as above only if a claim is notified to us in writing no later than one month after your return. We are not responsible for expenses incurred by trip members in preparing for the trip (e.g., non-refundable advance purchase air tickets, visa fees, equipment, etc.) or for any necessary additional travel arrangements pre- or post-tour.
8. Your Responsibility
You must ensure that your travel documents, passports, visas and vaccination certificates are in order and that you ensure that you have taken the advice of your primary care physician with regard to inoculations. We will offer general advice, but we cannot be held responsible if you do not comply with current requirements before your departure. We do not accept liability for any advice given of a general nature prior to the travel commencing. You are responsible for a timely check-in for all flights and for presenting yourself to take up all pre-booked components of your travel. No credit or refund will be given to you should you fail to take up any component of your travel or if you lose any travel documents. We draw your attention to the fact that there are certain inherent risks involved in all of the travels that we supply, and these must be accepted by you at your own risk. If you wish to discuss any such risks with us, we would be more than happy to provide advice over the telephone or in writing.
9. Documentation
Please carefully read your confirmation invoice, tickets, and all other documentation we send you as soon as you receive them. Contact us immediately if any information appears to be incorrect, as it may not be possible to make changes later. You will be responsible for any costs and expenses involved in rectifying any inaccuracies, except where we made the mistake.
10. Cancellation by You
Cancellation of travel must be made in writing and is effective from the date we receive the written notification. All deposits and advance payments are non-refundable and non-transferable.
Period before departure when we receive your written cancellation and cancellation charge per person cancelling:
> Booking 91 days: Deposit only (including advance payments).
> 90 - 61 days: 50% of the package price.
> 60 - 46 days: 70% of the package price.
> 45 days or less: 100% of the package price.
Within 90 days prior to departure, cancellation fees will apply. You may also be responsible for any fees imposed by hotels, airlines, etc., over and above your land arrangements, due to your cancellation of your original date bookings. No refunds will be given for unused meals, hotel rooms, airport transfers, or other unused tour features for any reason whatsoever.
If the reason for cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges. Notwithstanding the above, if we have issued airline tickets to you and you choose at any time to cancel them, then we will refund solely the amount of money we reclaim from the airline. If we have previously indicated that an amount greater than the above is non-refundable, then that amount supersedes this table. Under Massachusetts regulations (940 CMR 15.04), we must disclose the complete terms of any cancellation or refund policy prior to purchase.
11. Cancellation by Us
We may cancel your confirmed travel if you fail to comply with any requirement of these booking conditions. We also reserve the right to cancel your travel for any reason at any time before full payment has been received. We cannot accept liability or pay compensation where the prompt performance of our contractual obligations is prevented or affected by, or you suffer any damage or loss as a result of force majeure. In these booking terms and conditions, force majeure means any event that we or the supplier of services in question could not reasonably foresee or avoid. Such events are likely to include war, threat of war, civil strife, riot, civil disorder/unrest, industrial dispute, actual or threat of terrorist activity, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, breakout of an epidemic or pandemic disease, technical problems with transport, cancellation or amendment to any scheduled flight, closure, congestion of airports or ports, adverse weather conditions, and all similar events outside our control. In the circumstances amounting to force majeure, we will not be required to refund any money to you, although if we can recover any monies from our suppliers, we will refund these to you without any charge by us. Whilst we always endeavor to avoid changes and cancellations, we must reserve the right to do so. If we cancel your travel for a reason not identified above, we will return to you all monies paid or offer an alternative travel of a comparable standard. In this event, we will pay compensation of USD $100 per person.
12. Amendments by You
If you wish to change your itinerary after a deposit has been made, we will endeavor to make the changes required, provided that you provide a notification of the changes desired in writing. Any change made will result in the booking being re-priced at the rate in effect at the time of the change, and additional deposit or balance payments may be required to confirm the change.
A “name change” constitutes a cancellation and will be subject to the cancellation charges set out in section 10.
13. Amendments by Us
It is unlikely that we will have to make any changes to your travel, although we reserve the right to make changes at any time. Most of these changes are minor, and we will advise you of these in writing at the earliest possible date. When an alteration of your outward or return flights by more than 12 hours or a significant change in the standard of accommodation is necessary, you will have the choice of accepting the new arrangements or cancelling your travel and receiving a full refund of all monies paid, provided it does not arise from conditions amounting to (i) force majeure, (ii) failure to comply with these booking terms and conditions, (iii) failure to make payments when required, or (iv) as a result of an amendment to a scheduled airline timetable. We reserve the right to alter the tour without notice. Accommodations are subject to change.
14. Carriers
Carriage by air and sea is subject to the terms and conditions of the carriers with whom you are travelling and to international conventions. We accept no liability whatsoever for cancellations, strikes, timetable changes, diversions, technical issues unrelated to us, lost or mislaid luggage, rescheduling costs, missed accommodation, or delays which result from any operational decision of the carrier concerned. We accept no liability for death, injury or illness that derives from carriage by air or sea.
15. Problems
If you have a problem during your travel, please inform the relevant organiser (camp/hotel manager/service provider) immediately, and they will endeavor to put things right. If your problem cannot be resolved locally, you must send full details to us in writing within 28 days of your return from travel. If you fail to follow this procedure, we will not accept liability as we have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify the problem. Claims under Massachusetts consumer protection laws (M.G.L. c. 93A) must be brought within the applicable statute of limitations.
16. The Law
The above booking terms and conditions together with all correspondence form part of your contract with us. This contract and any matters arising from it shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA. Any disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Massachusetts.
17. Binding Arbitration
You agree that any dispute concerning, relating or referring to this agreement, the brochure or any other literature concerning your trip, or the trip itself, shall be resolved exclusively by binding arbitration pursuant to the Massachusetts Uniform Arbitration Act, M.G.L. c.251, either according to the then existing Commercial Rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) or pursuant to the Comprehensive Arbitration Rules & Procedures of the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, Inc. (JAMS). Such proceedings will be governed by substantive (but not procedural) Massachusetts law and will take place in Boston, MA. The arbitrator and not any federal, state, or local court or agency shall have exclusive authority to resolve any dispute relating to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability, conscionability, or formation of this contract, including but not limited to any claim that all or any part of this contract is void or voidable. Please understand that by agreeing to these terms and conditions, you and we are waiving our right to a trial by jury.
18. Waiver of Claim Against Introducer
If you have been referred to us by another party (for example, a travel agent) you agree to hold them blameless and waive any and all claims against such party. Any issues you may have must be directed to us and dealt with under the terms of our contract.
19. Limitation of Liability
You agree that our liability to you will never be greater than the amount spent on the trip, and that you will not seek to secure any judgment for an amount greater than the amount spent with us. YOU UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THAT OUR LIABILITY FOR LOSS AND ANY OTHER MONETARY CLAIMS/DAMAGES WILL BE LIMITED TO NO MORE THAN THE MONEY SPENT BY YOU WITH US. This clause restricts the total liability to you under these terms and conditions and is only intended to limit our total liability, and other than capping total exposure to you, in no way modifies the limitations of liability contained elsewhere in this document. You recognize that adventure travel is inherently risky. You accept the inherent risks of this travel and acknowledge that the enjoyment of adventuring beyond the normal safety of home and work is part of the reason for your participation in this trip. As a result, you release us from all or any liability to the undersigned, his/her personal representatives, heirs, assigns and next of kin, from any and all losses, damages, death, inconvenience or injuries to the person or damage or loss of property of the undersigned, or on account of death, injury, loss or inconvenience resulting from our negligence or the negligent or willful conduct of any third parties while the undersigned is participating in a tour or any travel or other arrangements made by us.
Andean Adventure LLC, its employees, shareholders, officers, and directors (collectively, “Andean Adventure”) does not own or operate any entity which is to or does provide goods or services for your trip, including, for example, ownership or control over hotels or other lodging facilities, airline, vessel, bus, van or other transportation companies, local ground operators, providers or organizers of optional excursions, food service or entertainment providers, etc. All such persons and entities are independent contractors. As a result, Andean Adventure is not liable for any negligent or willful act or failure to act of any such person or entity, or of any other third party. Without limitation, Andean Adventure is not responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to person or property, death, delay or inconvenience in connection with the provision of any goods or services occasioned by or resulting from, but not limited to, acts of God, acts of government, force majeure, acts of war or civil unrest, insurrection or revolt, strikes or other labor activities, criminal or terrorist activities of any kind, or the threat thereof, overbooking or downgrading of accommodations, structural or other defective conditions in hotels or other lodging facilities, mechanical or other failure of airplanes or other means of transportation or for any failure of any transportation mechanism to arrive or depart timely or safely, dangers or bites from animals, insects, marine life or vegetation of any sort, insolvency or bankruptcy of any supplier, dangers incident to recreational activities such as scuba diving, zip lining, snorkeling, paddle boarding, swimming, kayaking, sailing, canoeing, rafting, hiking, bicycling, climbing, etc., sanitation problems, food poisoning, lack of access to or quality of medical care, difficulty in evacuation in case of a medical or other emergency and/or the quality of any medical services received, illness, epidemics or the threat thereof, or for any other cause beyond the direct control of Andean Adventure. In addition, You release Andean Adventure from its own negligence and assume all risk thereof. Please note we cannot accept any liability for any damage, loss, expense, or other sums of any description, which:
• on the basis of the information given to us by you concerning your booking prior to our accepting it, we could not have foreseen you would suffer or incur if we breached our contract with you, or
• did not result from any breach of contract or any other fault by ourselves or our employees, or where we are responsible for them our suppliers.
Additionally, we cannot accept liability for any sums which relate to any business losses.
20. Assumption of Risk
I am aware that adventure travel, such as that I am undertaking, involves hazardous activities, some in remote areas of the world, with a risk of illness, injury or death which may be caused by forces of nature, the negligence of Andean Adventure LLC, or other persons and companies known or unknown, or of willful or criminal conduct of third parties. I am aware that weather conditions may be severe, adverse, and/or unpleasant. I am also aware that medical services or facilities may not be readily available or accessible during some or all of the time during which I am participating on the trip. In order to partake of the enjoyment and excitement of this adventure travel trip, I am willing to accept the risks and uncertainty involved as being an integral part of my adventure. I hereby accept and assume full responsibility for any and all risks of illness, injury, or death and of the negligence of Andean Adventure LLC.
21. Miscellaneous
Any purchase of goods or services which you make while on the trip are solely at your risk, including, without limitation, such problems as defects, failure to ship or damage to goods while in shipment, whether or not the purchase was made from a vendor recommended by a guide, other person rendering trip services or any third party. You agree that if you are injured or become ill, we may, at your cost, attempt to arrange medical treatment, evacuation or any other emergency services on your behalf as it deems essential for your safety and well-being, but it accepts no responsibility for the quality or adequacy of any such treatment, evacuation or services. Baggage is carried entirely at your risk. We and your local operators of tours and/or suppliers of services reserve the right to remove anyone from a trip without refund who acts in a manner that it considers unsafe or inconsiderate to fellow travellers or others, and/or who ignores the requests of his or her guide(s) to act in a safe and considerate manner. We may take photographs or video of its trips, and trip participants grant us permission to do so and for it to use same for promotional or commercial use without payment of any compensation to the participant. We reserve the right to change the itinerary as necessary for the safety, comfort or convenience of the group or as necessary by reason of political, climatic, environmental or cultural considerations. Any such increase in cost necessitated by such changes is the responsibility of the participant.
