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Your contract is with Direct Connection
Elite, a fully bonded holder of ABTA W7157. Please read the terms and conditions of your agreement carefully before booking. When you make a booking and we accept it, a legally binding contract is made.
When we book flights on your behalf, Direct Connection Elite is acting as an agent for the flight supplier/tour operator shown on your documents (together with their ATOL number and booking reference where applicable). The terms and conditions of the relevant principal will apply to your flight reservation and are available on request.
Except where specified, the terms and conditions that follow apply where we do not act as an agent.
1. Booking form
You must sign a booking form or complete a booking form online accepting these booking conditions on behalf of all your party. The person signing the booking form is responsible for informing all party members of the relevant booking details.
2. Your contract & invoice
On receipt of your booking we will send you a confirmation invoice and/or will confirm your booking verbally. This acts as our/your acceptance of the holiday on the terms of these booking conditions. A binding contract is made as soon as we issue a confirmation invoice for you or confirm your holiday verbally. You must check your confirmation invoice carefully as soon as you receive it. Subject to errors, this sets out what we have agreed to provide. If it appears to be incorrect in any way you must contact us by telephone immediately. Charges as detailed in section 6, will apply to correct any errors. When a reservation is made by telephone and paid in part or full by debit/credit card, your contract with Direct Connection Elite. is confirmed upon clearance of the payment.
3. Prices
The prices on this website apply at the time of publishing and may be varied before your booking has been made. After your booking has been confirmed, prices will not be subject to any surcharges other than for reasons of government action such as increases in VAT or any additional duties or taxes which may be imposed. Where such surcharges are levied, these will be passed on to you. Details of what is included in the price can be found on our website.
4. Payment
The person signing or completing the booking form accepts responsibility of payment for all of the persons included in the booking. The balance must be paid 10 weeks prior to departure. If payment is not made by this time, your booking will be deemed cancelled and you will forfeit your deposit, as set out in section 6. Payment of balance by credit card will incur a service charge of 2.5% and payment of balance by debit card will incur a standard service charge of £1.00. If you pay a deposit by credit or debit card, your balance and any applicable service charge will automatically be debited from the card on the balance due date shown on your invoice, unless an alternative method of payment has been received prior to that date.
5. Travel documentation
Having accepted your reservation we will send you a confirmation invoice within 7 days. Your full travel documentation, will be despatched approximately 10 days prior to your departure. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are in possession of all necessary travel documentation, a valid passport and a visa (where applicable). We will look to recover from you any costs or fines imposed upon ourselves or any third party as a result of you holding incorrect or improper documentation.
6. If you change or cancel your accommodation
If you wish to alter any details of your booking we will make all reasonable efforts to make any changes, although we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. We will charge an Administration Fee of £25.00 per amendment, plus any charges that may be imposed by a relevant third party, for each detail of the booking changed. If the number of people travelling changes, there may be additional/increased charges for which you may be liable and any special child offers and/or reductions may be lost. If you make an amendment within 10 weeks of departure, cancellation charges may be imposed. Should you wish to cancel, cancellation will only be valid upon receipt of written instructions from the party leader. Written instructions may be sent by post, fax or email. If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim any cancellation charges (less any excess) from your insurers. In the event of a cancellation not covered by your insurers, Direct Connection Elite will endeavour to re-sell your holiday but if we are unable to do so, cancellation charges as set out below will be applied. These charges are to compensate us for our estimated losses and expenses as a result of administering your booking to the point of cancellation. In the event that a relevant third party supplier such as a hotelier imposes a higher cancellation charge than those set out below, we reserve the right to pass these charges on to you. Insurance premiums are not transferable or refundable.
| Period before departure date within which
written notification is received by us. |
Cancellation charge incurred (% of total
holiday price excluding insurance premiums) |
More than 56 days
55-43 days
42-29 days
28-22 days
21 days or less |
Deposit Only
50%
60%
75%
100% |
7. If we change or cancel your accommodation
It is unlikely that we will have to make any changes to your accommodation arrangements but if circumstances beyond our control make it necessary for us to alter or cancel your accommodation, we reserve the right to do so. In the event of minor alterations we will do our best to notify you before you travel and if a significant change or cancellation has to be made we will advise you as soon as possible. If your accommodation has to be changed we will do our best to provide alternative accommodation of a similar or higher official classification. If a major change has to be made, such as changes to your resort area or offering
accommodation of a lower official classification, you may a) accept the changed arrangements; b) choose another property (subject to availability). If the alternative is of a lower price than that originally
booked, the difference (if already paid by you) will be refunded; or c) cancel your holiday. Cancellation rights may be exercised at any time up to your departure date but no later than 7 days of our posting written notice of the alteration to your party leader. This time limit must be strictly adhered to and late cancellation cannot be accepted.
8. Holiday travel and changes to transport arrangements
When we book flights on your behalf, Direct Connection Elite is acting as an agent for the relevant flight supplier/tour operator shown on your documents and the relevant terms and conditions of these principals will apply to your flight reservation. Copies of these conditions are available on request and you are bound by those conditions. Please note that under EU law and Civil Aviation Authority regulations, airlines and operators can change flight times and details at any time and without notice. Alterations to carriers or aircraft type, the addition of en-route stops or flight changes of less than 12 hours will not entitle you to compensation or to cancel your booking without penalty. Flight details given at the time of booking are provided for guidance purposes only and the latest available flight schedules will be provided with your travel tickets. Check-in at all airports is usually at least 2 hours before take off. The airline may refuse check-in if you arrive late, which may result in full cancellation charges being levied. Any additional costs incurred in assisting you to travel in such circumstances will be your responsibility. In the event of the failure of a flight supplier, passengers affected by the failure will be charged an administration fee of £25.00 per person. This charge is levied to cover the additional administrative expenses incurred by Direct Connection Elite as a result of the failure. Where the commission received by us from an operator is not sufficient to cover costs, an administration fee will be charged. In the event of cancellation by yourself, the operator will apply cancellation charges as per their booking conditions and our flight administration fee will be non-refundable.
9. Force majeure
If war or terrorist activities, threatened or actual, civil unrest, industrial action, threatened or actual, weather conditions, fire, flood, drought, airport regulations and closures, unforeseen alterations to public transport schedules and rescheduling of aircraft or any other event outside the control of Direct Connection Elite either delays or extends the holiday, prohibits travel or compels a change in the holiday arrangements, Direct Connection Elite cannot accept liability for any resulting loss, damage or expense. Furthermore, should you choose not to travel and/or cancel your holiday arrangements due to any of these circumstances, Direct Connection Elite cannot accept liability for any resulting loss and normal cancellation charges will be applied.
10. Website accuracy
We make every effort to ensure that the information and photography contained on our website is accurate. However, there may be occasions when some of the advertised facilities or services may be altered or withdrawn without prior notice e.g. a pool may be emptied for cleaning/repairs or a restaurant/ bar closed. Such events are regrettably beyond our control and we do reserve the right to alter the particulars advertised. However, we will endeavour to keep you informed of any changes that we are aware of at the time of booking. If we are advised of any changes after you have reserved your accommodation you will be contacted as soon as reasonably possible, if there is time before your departure.
11. Accommodation occupancy
Accommodation is reserved only for the use and enjoyment of the passengers shown on your confirmation invoice. Subletting, sharing or assignment of the holiday accommodation to other persons is not permitted. Should additional persons occupy, a charge will be raised to the lead passenger with whom the booking was made.
12. Occupation & vacation times
In general, the majority of our properties can be occupied from 16.00 hours on the arrival date stated on our invoice and must be vacated by 10.00 hours on the departure date shown. We reserve the right to impose additional charges in the event of late vacation of your accommodation.
13. Insurance
As a condition of booking, you are required to take out our holiday insurance or arrange an alternative policy, which provides a comparable or greater degree of cover under all sections.
14. Holiday participation
We reserve the right to terminate your holiday arrangements without notice if we are of the opinion that your behaviour may cause distress, damage, danger or annoyance to other clients, employees, property or any third party. If Direct Connection Elite, our local representatives, the property owner or any person in authority prevents you from travelling, refuses you admission to, or asks you to vacate your accommodation because you appear to be likely to cause discomfort or disturbance to other people, our responsibility for your holiday thereupon ceases. Full cancellation charges will apply and we will be under no obligation whatsoever for any refund, compensation or costs that you may incur. In addition, you will be responsible for any expenses we may incur as a result of your behaviour. Direct Connection Elite has no control over other persons staying at or visiting your holiday accommodation and is not responsible for any withdrawal or impairment of facilities or other loss or damage caused by them.
15. Complimentary services & facilities
Many of the hotels featured by Direct Connection Elite offer a variety of complimentary facilities or services e.g. room upgrades or fresh fruit & flowers on arrival. The provision of such services or
facilities is not an integral part of your holiday cost, but an additional free item that may be of use to you and it should be understood that these are subject to availability. We cannot therefore, accept responsibility for the non-provision of any such services or facilities.
16. If you have a complaint
If you have a complaint during your holiday you must bring it to the attention of your representative or local contact immediately so that steps can be taken to resolve the matter in the resort. If your complaint cannot be resolved, it is an express condition of booking that you complete a report form in the resort (available from your representative/local contact). Your party leader must then follow this up within 14 days of the end of your holiday, by writing to our office, stating the nature of your complaint and enclosing a copy of the report form. We are unable to deal with complaints made over the telephone or made by any party member other than the person that signed the booking form. As a member of ABTA,we are obliged tomaintain a high standard of service to you by ABTA's Code of Conduct and in the unlikely event of it proving impossible to resolve a complaint amicably, we can offer you an arbitration scheme for the resolution of disputes arising out of, or in connection with this contract. Further information on the Code and arbitration can befound at www.abta.com/heretohelp.shtml.
17. Law
It is agreed by all parties that in any action arising out of or in connection with this contract, English law will govern and exclusive jurisdiction is conferred on the English courts
18. Consumer protection
Direct Connection Elite is a fully bonded member of ABTA W7157 and K9362. The Package Travel, Package Holiday and Package Tour Regulations 1992 require us to provide security for the monies that you pay for the package holidays booked from this website and for your repatriation in the event of our solvency. We provide this security with a bond held by ABTA.
Where flights are booked, we act as agents for ATOL licensed flight suppliers/tour operators; the relevant ATOL number is shown on your documents. Flight bookings are ATOL Protected, except when tickets for scheduled or low cost flights are sent to you within 24 hours of payment being accepted or where your payment is made direct to airlines. ATOL Protection extends primarily to customers who book and pay in the United Kingdom. If you want to know more, visit the ATOL website at www.caa.co.uk
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