Terms and Conditions

Terms and Conditions

ISBH PTY LTD trading as RENAISSANCE TOURS accepts bookings subject to the following conditions:

1. BOOKINGS
Bookings can be made in person at our office, by telephone, or in writing by mail, email or fax.

A non-refundable deposit is due at the time of booking and in order to confirm your place on the tour. Please refer to the specific tour for the deposit amount required. You will also be required to complete, sign and return a Booking Form available from Renaissance Tours together with a photocopy of the information page (photo page) of your valid passport.

2. TOUR PRICES
Prices quoted in our tour information brochures and/or on our website are based on exchange rates, cost of services and applicable taxes at the time of publication.

Prices may be subject to change in the event of significant currency fluctuations and/or the introduction of new taxes, up until final payment is received. We will advise you at the earliest opportunity in the event of a price increase, whether because of a currency fluctuation, increase in taxes and/or a correction in advertised prices. You will then have the option of accepting the amended prices, inclusions and booking conditions or withdrawing from the tour and receiving a full refund of all monies paid. Once final payment is received, all prices will be guaranteed and no surcharges will apply.

3. PAYMENT
A deposit is due at the time of booking and is non-refundable in the event of your cancellation. This deposit is used to pay for hotels, performance tickets and other land arrangements to be made on your behalf.

Your final payment is due 60 days before the tour’s departure. Failure to make your final payment by the due date may result in the cancellation of your booking and loss of any payments made to date. We reserve the right to charge a late payment fee in the event of late booking and/or payment to cover additional communication and other expenses.

For tours that include international flights in the tour price, payment of the international airfare component is due 120 days before departure.

Payment by cheque, direct deposit, American Express, MasterCard and Visa is accepted. A 1.3% service charge applies to payments made by MasterCard and Visa. A 3% service charge applies to payment made by American Express.

4. FLIGHT BOOKINGS & FARES AND THIRD-PARTY SUPPLIERS
Renaissance Tours will use its best endeavours to ensure that all flight prices are correct at the time that they are quoted. Once a deposit is paid on an airfare, it guarantees that a booking is being held for you, however it does not guarantee the fare and applicable taxes. The fare and taxes can only be guaranteed when the flight booking has been paid in full and a ticket has been issued. Flight bookings cannot be transferred.

To the extent bookings apply to services for travel, accommodation, meals and other services and activities that are supplied by third parties (such as airlines, ticket agencies and aggregators, cruise operators, land activities, entertainment venues, museums, galleries, hoteliers and the like), referred to as “third-party suppliers” in these Terms & Conditions, we act as your agent in acquiring those services and activities from the third-party suppliers. Those services and activities may be subject to separate terms and conditions specified by the third-party suppliers (including limitation and exclusion of liability), and by making a booking with us, you accept the third-party suppliers’ terms and conditions in respect of services and activities provided by them.

If for any reason (other than due to something that is our fault) any third-party supplier is unable to provide the services for which you have contracted, your rights are against that third-party supplier and not against us.

5. CHANGES
a) Changes by You – Because of additional communication and other expenses, we reserve the right to charge an appropriate administration fee per amendment to your original booking. While every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate changes and additional requests, their availability cannot be guaranteed. Third-party supplier fees may also apply where a booking is changed and when tickets or documents are re-issued.

b) Changes by Us – While we will use our best endeavours to operate all tours as advertised, by entering into this contract you accept that it may prove necessary or advisable to vary or modify a tour or its contents due to prevailing local conditions, changes to events, performance schedules, performers, and the like. We reserve the right at any time to cancel or change any of the facilities, services or prices described in the brochure (including flights, transport, accommodation or other arrangements) and to substitute alternative arrangements of comparable monetary value without compensation.

If a service or facility becomes unavailable due to circumstances beyond our control (‘force majeure’) and no alternative arrangement of comparable monetary value is available, we will substitute the best alternative available and will refund you for any cost saving or charge you for any additional costs incurred. ‘Force majeure’ includes any event beyond our control which Renaissance Tours or its third-party suppliers could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid (e.g. advice against travel from any government including the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), war, threat of war, riot, civil strife, industrial dispute, epidemics, pandemics, health risks, terrorist activity, natural or nuclear disaster, fire or adverse weather conditions, technical or maintenance problems with transport, changes imposed by cancellation or rescheduling of flights by an airline or main charterer, the alteration of airline or aircraft type). Renaissance Tours is not liable for any penalty charges associated with ‘supersaver’-type connecting rail or air fares in the event of a change to a holiday departure time, date or airport.

6. SUBSTITUTION OF CLIENT
If any member of the party is prevented from travelling because of the death, injury or serious illness of the passenger, close relative or friend, redundancy or jury service, it may be possible to transfer the booking to another suitable person (acceptable to Renaissance Tours) provided that written notice is given at least one calendar month prior to departure. An administration fee of $100 + GST per person will be levied plus any costs imposed by our third-party suppliers. Airlines may impose up to 100% cancellation charges.

7. CANCELLATION AND REFUNDS
a) Cancellation by You – Cancellation charges will be applied as shown below, calculated from the day written notification is received by Renaissance Tours. In addition to the charges shown below, airlines may impose up to 100% cancellation charges.

60 days or more            Forfeit of deposit*
59 – 30 days                    50% of tour price*
Less than 30 days         100% of tour price*

*Plus any deposits or other additional payments including for flights and any other components of the tour that are non-refundable, noting that cancellations may also incur third-party supplier fees, which can be up to 100% of the cost of the booking, including cancellation charges imposed by airlines. Where we incur any liability for a third-party supplier cancellation fee for any booking which you change or cancel, you are liable to us for the amount of that fee.

We may also charge you our reasonable administrative costs in respect of the cancellation. The above cancellation charges include applicable GST.

In addition to the above cancellation charges, the full insurance premium together with any existing administration fees is also payable in the event of a cancellation by you. If the reason for cancellation is covered by the insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.

b) Cancellation by Us – We reserve the right to cancel a tour for any reason (such as failure to reach minimum tour participant numbers). Except for force majeure (as outlined in clause 5b) or your failure to pay the final balance, we will endeavour not to cancel a tour less than 60 days before commencement of the tours. Unless you fail to pay the final balance, we will provide a refund (or credit voucher) in accordance with clause 15. No compensation will be paid in the event of cancellation by Renaissance Tours. The provision of a credit voucher or a refund in accordance with clause 15 will be the full extent of our liability.

8. PASSPORTS, VISAS AND VACCINATIONS
It is your responsibility to be in possession of a passport valid for 6 months after the date of your return home. You are also responsible for obtaining all necessary visas, inoculations and preventative medicines as may be required for the duration of the tour. Information about these matters or related items is given in good faith but without responsibility on the part of Renaissance Tours.

9. TRAVEL INSURANCE
It is highly recommended that you are covered by comprehensive travel insurance for domestic tours. However, it is a condition of travel that you are covered by comprehensive travel insurance for international tours. It is strongly recommended that you secure this insurance cover as soon as you have made a booking and have made a non-refundable payment. You can make your own arrangements or your travel insurance can be arranged by Renaissance Tours. In either case all participants must provide the following information no later than 60 days prior to commencement of travel:
•    a copy of your travel insurance policy (or details of master policy)
•    the emergency telephone number of your insurance company
•    next of kin emergency contact

10. PARTICIPATION IN TOURS
Most of our tours require a MODERATE level of fitness. However, in certain destinations, or in certain seasons, or because of the nature of travel, certain tours will require an ABOVE MODERATE or CHALLENGING level of fitness. For the overall benefit of the group, at the time of booking we will require you to declare in writing that you are fit to participate in your chosen tour according to the level of fitness required for that tour. If you (or we) have any doubts about your level of fitness, you may be required to undergo a doctor’s appraisal. This would require your doctor to read the itinerary of your chosen tour, including the fitness level, and provide you (and us) with a written confirmation of your ability to participate.

We reserve the right to refuse admission to the tour for any reason before commencement of the tour. Further, if after the tour has begun it becomes apparent that you are unfit or unsuitable to travel on the tour, we reserve the right to require you to withdraw from the tour at the earliest opportunity to do so. No refund will be provided.

It is also a requirement that you do not cause any significant disruption to the tour or the tour group, and we may refuse admission on the tour, or require you to withdraw from the tour at any time if your participation causes significant disruption for other guests or the tour group or there is any safety issue as a result of your ongoing participation in the tour.

FITNESS TO PARTICIPATE
MODERATE
Tour members must be able to:
•    negotiate airports and railway stations without wheelchair assistance
•    use combined shower/bath facilities (it is impossible to guarantee walk-in shower facilities)
•    undertake walking tours of 1-2 hours duration, including using stairs, walking over cobblestones and other uneven surfaces
•    stand for long periods in museums and other sites
•    embark / disembark coaches, trains and other methods of transportation without assistance
•    handle your own luggage

ABOVE MODERATE
In addition to the above, tour members must also be able to:
•    undertake walking tours of 2-3 hours
•    climb staircases of 100 or more steps

CHALLENGING*
In addition to the above, tour members must also be able to:
•    handle extremes of temperature (e.g. below 0 or above 35 degrees)
•    handle extremes of altitudes (e.g. 4000 metres and above)

*Please also read specific details in the relevant tour itinerary

11. ILLNESS OR DISABILITY
Anyone suffering from illness or disability or undergoing treatment for any physical or medical condition must declare the true nature of that condition at the time of booking and make arrangements for the provision of any medication or other treatment which may be required during the tour. Failure to make such disclosure will constitute a breach of these booking conditions and result in such persons being excluded from the tour in which case all monies paid will be forfeited.

12. LOCAL LAWS
All participants of the tours we operate must obey the laws and regulations of the countries visited and any failure to do so will relieve Renaissance Tours of all obligations that they may otherwise have under these booking conditions.

13. IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT
If you have a complaint about any of the tour arrangements, you must bring it to the attention of the tour leader or other representative of Renaissance Tours at the time so that they may use their best endeavours to rectify the situation. It is only if we are made aware of any problems that there will be the opportunity to put things right. Any complaints must be made in writing to Renaissance Tours within 28 days of the completion of the tour.

14. OUR RESPONSIBILITIES
All bookings are accepted on the understanding that you appreciate that travel does involve some risk and that you undertake all tours of your own volition.

i) Renaissance Tours accepts liability should any part of the tour arrangements booked with us not be supplied as described in the brochure(s) and not be of reasonable standard. In such a case, we will pay reasonable compensation if your enjoyment of the tour has been adversely affected but will pay no compensation if there has been no fault on the part of Renaissance Tours or our third-party suppliers and the reason for the failure in the tour arrangements was your fault, the actions of someone unconnected with the tour arrangements or could not have been foreseen or avoided by Renaissance Tours or its third party suppliers even if all due care had been exercised.

ii) Our acceptance of liability to pay compensation pursuant to clause 14(i) is limited, in the case of air travel, rail travel, sea travel or hotel accommodation, to the amount set out in the provisions of, respectively, the Warsaw Convention as amended by the Hague Protocol 1955, the 1961 Berne Convention, the 1974 Athens Convention and the 1962 Paris Convention, and in relation to any other items, is limited to the amount actually paid for the relevant component of the tour.

iii) Our acceptance of liability in clauses 14(i) and 14(ii) above is subject to assignment by you to Renaissance Tours of your rights against any agent, supplier or sub-contractor of Renaissance Tours which is in any way responsible for the unsatisfactory tour arrangements.

The provisions of this clause 14 are also subject to the third-party suppliers’ terms, conditions and limitations. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we do not accept responsibility or liability for matters for which the third party suppliers are liable (which will be dealt with in accordance with the third party suppliers’ terms, conditions and limitations).

15. CREDITS AND REFUNDS
Where a tour is cancelled by us due to a force majeure event, you are entitled to a credit voucher (or at our discretion, we may offer you a refund but we are not obliged to do so). Where a tour is cancelled by us other than due to a force majeure event, in the case where an equivalent tour is offered, we will offer you the opportunity to rebook on that tour with no additional fees for that rebooking, or if you do not wish to rebook, then you are entitled to a credit voucher (or at our discretion, we may offer you a refund instead). Where we cannot offer you a suitable equivalent tour, we will provide a refund (unless you decide to take a credit voucher instead).

In the case of both credit vouchers and refunds, the amount excludes costs incurred by us (so the amount is limited to the amount we recover from third party suppliers, and in relation to our fees, net of any administrative fees or commissions in relation to the cancellation) and travel insurance.

Credit vouchers are valid for 24 months from the date of issue.

We will process a refund in relation to our fees of placing you on the tour within 90 days, and in relation to third-party supplier amounts, by the later of 90 days or once we receive funds from the relevant third-party supplier. This means that you may receive the refund by way of more than one payment.

16. YOUR CONSUMER RIGHTS
Nothing in these Terms & Conditions is intended to limit, exclude or modify the guarantees implied by statute that cannot be limited, excluded or modified under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) or any equivalent applicable State or Territory law. If any guarantees are implied by law that cannot be excluded, then to the extent permitted by law, our liability for such guarantees is limited, at our option, to:

i) in the case of goods, the replacement of the goods or the supply of equivalent goods, or the payment of the costs of replacing the goods or of acquiring equivalent goods; and

ii) in the case of services, the supply of the services again, or the payment of the cost of having the services supplied again.

To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any indirect or consequential loss, cost, damage, liability or expense.  

Renaissance Tours reserves the right to amend these Terms & Conditions from time to time, without notice, and these Terms & Conditions apply as at the date of your initial booking.

Updated February 2023