Booking Conditions

Services Offered

Algarve-Connections aims to make available the constituent elements of a villa or apartment holiday, coupled with personal service for the independent holiday maker. Services offered are villa, apartment and hotel accommodation. In addition, we offer car hire, taxi transfers and travel Insurance and other product whose sites contain there own terms and conditions and all services provided by us via there sites are compliant under there terms and conditions and booking policies. The holiday elements provided by Algarve-Connections are priced separately for your convenience. We want to offer you the benefit of our experience with each element and you are free to purchase any of these services independently of Algarve-Connections. However, it is in your interest and is your responsibility to ensure you understand the individual service provider's booking conditions and liability limits.

Booking

When you book with Algarve-Connections you guarantee that you have the authority to accept and do accept on behalf of your party, the terms and conditions. Bookings can be taken by telephone, post, e-mail or in person. Although provisional booking of accommodation will be made at time of booking, confirmation will not be made in writing by Algarve-Connections until payment has been cleared by our bank. A contract will exist as soon as we issue our confirmation invoice. This contract is made on the terms of these booking conditions, which are governed by English Law and the jurisdiction of the English Courts. (you may however choose the law and jurisdiction of Scotland or Northern Ireland) For late bookings, provisional confirmation will be made as above, or by fax or email if available. It is the clients responsibility to ensure all due payments are cleared before departure including cost of accelerated cheque clearance. If you are not happy to proceed with your booking after reading our terms and conditions, please contact us first. Your booking will be cancelled and any monies paid will be returned, however an administration fee will be taken for all cancelations.

Payment

Payment can be made by internet transfer, bank transfer, credit or debit card (PayPal - subject to a 3% handling fee) or by cheque. In order to facilitate your booking we charge a credit card handling fee of 2.5% for Mastercard and Visa or 3.5% for American express (£3, €4 or $5 if you use a debit card) plus a booking charge as quoted on your booking quote which is non-returnable in the case of cancellation by you. Deposit payments must be received within 10 days of the date of your letter or we reserve the right to cancel your booking. A charge of £10 or €10 is levied for payments made by bank transfers from non UK countries. All monies received and payments due for any of the services listed below will be set out on the confirmation invoice issued by Algarve-Connections . It is the client’s responsibility to ensure all payments are made on time as specified on the confirmation invoice. Failure to pay monies due by required date may result in cancellation of services and loss of any payments already received.

Prices

Prices quoted are in pounds (£) sterling and based on costs in Euros. These may change due to currency fluctuations any time up to the time of booking and we reserve the right to amend these prices. You will be advised of the current price at the time of booking. Prices will not be changed, increased or decreased, once confirmation payment has been cleared by our bank.

Accomodation

When making your booking you are required to pay to Algarve-Connections 20% of the total accommodation cost, minimum of £100 once a provisional booking has been confirmed, up to 8 weeks prior to departure. The remaining 80% of the accommodation cost must be received by Algarve-Connections at least 8 weeks prior to your departure date. If the deposit and/or balance is not received in time we reserve the right to cancel your accommodation. If the balance is not paid in time, we reserve the right to retain your deposit.

Occupancy

The maximum occupancy for our villas and apartments is shown on our web site. For health and safety reasons, this must not be exceeded unless pre authorised by Algarve-Connections. Should you fail to comply, we reserve the right to terminate your holiday with immediate effect and without liability to Algarve-Connections. Accommodation will be available on the day of arrival between 2pm and 4pm unless permission has been agreed prior to arrival and all clients are asked to vacate their accommodation by 10am on the morning of departure. Where flight arrivals or departures occasionally make these times inconvenient, every effort will be made for accommodation to be ready in time for your arrival or kept available for your departure. However we cannot guarantee this at all times. Adequate time is required by the cleaning staff to clean and prepare your accommodation ready for your arrival; therefore your co-operation in this matter will be appreciated. Priority will be given to incoming clients so if you have a late departure, suitable arrangements will be made to provide somewhere for you to store cases during the day until you leave the resort. Please speak to the resort reception, or Algarve-Connections agents at an early stage of your holiday if arrangements of this type are required.

Changes in Dates or Accomodation

If, after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you wish to change your travel arrangements in any way, for example, change of date, we will do our utmost to make these changes but please note that this will not always be possible. Any requests for changes must be made in writing by the party leader. You will also be charged an admin fee of £25 per person or per change levied, for any change to the booking details sent by Algarve-Connections, in addition to any flight carriers’ charge. However, if changes cannot be made to the clients' satisfaction resulting in the confirmed accommodation not being occupied, cancellation procedures will be invoked. In the unlikely event that Algarve-Connections has to change accommodation selected by the client after the accommodation has been confirmed, we reserve the right to offer alternative accommodation of a similar or better standard (based on the published price) subject to additional costs being charged. Should accommodation of a similar or higher standard not be available, accommodation at a lower retail price will be offered, along with a full refund of the price difference. If this is not acceptable, the limit of our liability will be a full refund of the accommodation costs already paid.

Cancellation

All cancellations must be notified in writing by the party leader nominated on the booking form and addressed to in the initial Algarve-Connections invoice. Clients must also be aware that for cancellation of individual party members i.e. reduction in party size, they may also be subject to a cancellation fee applied by the flight charter company. Cancellation Accommodation cancelled more than 56 days prior to departure – Loss of deposit or 20% of booking value. Accommodation cancelled between 56 and 43 days prior to departure – 25% of booking value. Accommodation cancelled between 42 and 29 days prior to departure – 50% of booking value. Accommodation cancelled between 28 and 15 days prior to departure – 75% of booking value. Accommodation cancelled less than 14 days prior to departure – 100% of booking value.

Pets

Algarve-Connections do not allow pets in our properties. Should you be considering taking your pet, YOU MUST contact us in the first instance. Any agreement to allow pets must be confirmed by us in writing. Should you fail to comply, we reserve the right to terminate your holiday with immediate effect and without liability to Algarve-Connections.

All bathroom and kitchen towels as well as bed linen are provided free of charge. We do ask all clients to bring their own beach towels and not to take the towels provided off the premises for use around the pool.

Gas Water & Electricity

With the exception of long term rentals and selected properties, all gas, water and electricity is included in the weekly rental price. Demand for these services often outstrips supply during peak periods. Lack of rainfall at times can also mean water shortages so please use water sparingly and be patient if any local services fail.

Property Descriptions

Algarve-Connections will not be held responsible for any changes regarding their properties that differ to those shown on our web site. Whilst we endeavour to keep photographs and descriptions as up to date as possible, occasionally there are changes regarding décor, soft furnishings etc. This also applies to resort views which may have changed slightly since the photographs were taken.

Passport & Visas

EU citizens require a full EU passport. A Visitor’s passport is NOT accepted. For passports issued after the 5th October 1998 persons under 16 years cannot travel on their parent’s passports and are required to have their own individual passport. If you or any member of your party is not a EU citizen or holds a non-EU passport, you must check passport and visa requirements with the Embassy or Consulate of the country(ies) you are intending to travel to or through. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are in the possession of all the correct travel documents and that they are in date. Please check the requirements (including Visas) at the time of booking or in good time before departure.

Force-Majeure

Algarve-Connections only accept liability against services sold. No liability will be accepted for other services e.g. car hire or flights unless payment for these services is made directly to Algarve-Connections. The limit of Algarve-Connections liability is the sum of the accommodation costs plus the cost of charges for any other service provided by Algarve-Connections. Algarve-Connections cannot accept liability due to circumstances out of its control, amounting to 'force majeure'. This includes war or threat of war, industrial action, terrorist activities, riot, civil strife, weather, failure of power, gas or water supply, local noise etc. With the increase in demand for overseas property ownership in the Western Algarve, some building work is inevitable. We will endeavour to identify any building work and mention it at the time of booking, however this situation can change without notice and is entirely out of the control of Algarve-Connections. Where we are notified of any additional building work after the booking is made that is likely to impact on the nature of your accommodation we will advise you as soon as possible and (if alternative accommodation is available) give you the option to change your accommodation within the terms outlined under ‘Changes In Dates Or Accommodation’.

No liability can be accepted where this procedure has not been followed. Algarve-Connections undertake to acknowledge the complaint immediately upon receipt and to respond within 1 month unless extenuating circumstances prevail. The response will outline Algarve-Connections acceptance of liability along with a compensation offer if appropriate. In the event this is not acceptable it is the responsibility of the client to take the matter further, by arbitration of the courts. The client is responsible for any damage or breakages caused to the accommodation by any member of the clients' party. The client has agreed to indemnify Algarve-Connections against any claims including legal costs made against Algarve-Connections by or on behalf of any property owner.

Excursions

Excursions or other tours that you may choose to book or pay for whilst you are on holiday are not part of your booking provided by us. For any excursion or other tour that you book, your contract will be with the operator of the excursion or tour and not with us. We are not responsible for the provision of the excursion or tour or for anything that happens during the course of its provision by the operator.