Travel Terms & Conditions
Terms and Conditions
This document outlines the terms and conditions of your travel bookings with Welcome to Travel, please read them carefully.
These Terms and Conditions apply to the person making the booking and all other persons on whose behalf the booking is made.
Please raise any questions you may have with our team.
Cancellations, Changes and Refunds
Each Supplier has specific change/cancellation fees within their own terms & conditions applying to your booking. These can be found on their websites and can be provided to you on request by Welcome to Travel.
We do our best to accommodate changes and cancellations as best to our abilities. This is part of our free service to a reasonable extent. As per our discretion, we have the right to charge a $50AUD admin fee, after 2 free changes are requested and/or multiple complicated itinerary changes have to be made.
Your booking is made up of many separate Suppliers such as transport companies, accommodation providers or tour operators.
Cancellations made by you, the traveller.
Cancellations made by you the traveller will incur a 25% cancellation fee from Welcome to Travel, plus any potential Supplier Fees.
You can avoid the 25% cancellation fee by storing the paid amount (minus Supplier Fees) as travel credit.
This credit has no expiry date and you’re able to use this at any time. Example A: You have booked a $100 tour and decided to cancel. Refund = $75 (25% fee and no Supplier fee).
Travel Credit = $100.
Example B: You have booked a $100 tour and decide to cancel.
The Supplier is charging a 50% cancellation fee.
Refund = $25 (25% fee and 50% Supplier Fee).
Travel Credit = $50
Whichever option you choose it cannot be reverted back to the other option on a later date.
It is possible that no refund or travel credit is applicable as the Supplier Fee could be 100% of the cost of the booking, regardless of whether travel has commenced or not. This will depend on the time of the cancellation/change to the booking and how that relates to their individual terms and conditions. Cancellations within 28 days of any set departure should expect a form of Supplier Fee.
Cancellations/Changes within 48hrs should always expect a 100% cancellation fee.
To ensure you are outside of cancellation fee periods with the suppliers, cancellations need to be communicated to us before 12pm, on the last day outside of that cancellation period. This ensures it’s realistic for us to cancel the booking. For example:
You have a booking for Friday 5th December
48hrs is anything before Wednesday 3rd December
However, if you contact us at 8pm on Tuesday 2nd December, we won’t see this until Wednesday 3rd December and it will be within the cancellation period. If you contact us before 12pm on Tuesday 2nd December, we can action this.
Bus bookings will, in many cases, incur a 100% Supplier Fee. Accommodation bookings cannot be cancelled or altered after check-in.
Accommodation bookings that are altered (eg. cancelling 1 night out of a 5-night booking), even outside of the cancellation period, may incur extra fees. When booking in your travels we use a wholesale booking platform. Because of this, when altering accommodation bookings, we need to cancel your whole stay and re-book your nights. Whilst this is possible, your new booking is subject to the current pricing and availability. Example below:
Dylan has booked 5 nights in Noosa, 8 weeks in advance. Now, 1 week in advance, he decides to cancel his last night and only stay for 4 nights instead.
The original price was $30 per night = $150 total.
The last night will be cancelled (as per the above terms and conditions) and the other 4 nights will be re-booked. As we’re now only 1 week away, the price has gone up to $32 per night = $128.
Dylan will be entitled to a refund of the remaining $22, minus any cancellation fees that may be due. Eg the already above mentioned 25% cancellation fee.
This leaves a balance of $22 ($150 – $128). This can be stored as Travel Credit, or we will apply a 25% cancellation fee on the original amount ($30) before refunding this back to Dylan.
If refunded, Dylan will get back $22 – $7.50 = $14.50.
Price changes in your favour will be refunded or stored as Travel Credit.
Whichever option you choose it cannot be reverted back to the other option on a later date.
If your travel insurance provider requires a breakdown of Supplier Fees and cancellation fees, Welcome to Travel will supply these on request.
Cancellations made by your Supplier
If a booking is cancelled by the Supplier, you have 2 options.
- You can keep the amount paid for this service PLUS 5% of that amount as travel credit for the future. This means if you paid $500AUD, you’d have $525AUD of credit on our system for future use for tours, experience, car/ campervan hire, a bus ticket/ pass or accommodation, which is something you’ll probably need at some point later in your travels.
- The 2nd option is a full refund of the amount you paid. A refund can take up to 28 days.
Whichever option you choose it cannot be reverted back to the other option on a later date.
Scuba Dives
If your booking includes a Scuba Dive – you declare that you have read the medical form and you are aware a Scuba Dive is non-refundable if you were to fail your Medical Exam.
Refunds
We attempt to process refunds, date changes and the restoring of travel credit within 5 business days of the confirmation of cancellation. However, situations (such as natural disasters) may arise that result in this process taking up to 30 days.
Credit card refund fees – if you originally paid by credit card, you’ll be refunded the said % minus a 2.9% credit card fee. E.g. if you are entitled to a 100% refund, but originally paid by credit card, you will be refunded 97.1%.
External Wholesale Booking Platform
When booking in your travels we use a wholesale booking platform. This platform processes payments, bookings and produces the tickets for your adventure.
Although rare, the external nature of the platform means this can have an effect on refund/travel credit timelines. We work closely with the platform and strive for the most efficient outcome at all times.
Travel Insurance
It is your personal responsibility to purchase your own travel insurance to cover any liability which may be incurred to us or a Supplier and other travel misadventures that you wish to be insured against.
We recommend that you source travel insurance with a low excess payment. This makes claiming on cancelled tours worthwhile.
Suppliers
We endeavour to package itineraries that will meet your expectations. Whilst we take no responsibility for any matters that arise with regard to, or during individual tours or arrangements provided by individual Suppliers, we always appreciate your feedback whether they are complaints, compliments or suggestions. This ensures we can keep our high levels of service and expectation.
You will also be sent a feedback form towards the end of your travels, your responses will help us to keep delivering dream adventures for each and every traveller.
To the extent permitted by law, we will not be responsible for any loss, expense or damage that you may suffer during any particular tour, accommodation or travel, no matter the cause. These matters are the responsibility of each individual Supplier and you agree that you will not hold us liable in any such circumstances.
If you have a complaint about your trip, please contact [email protected].
Travel Itinerary and Travel Account
Travel Itinerary
The travel itinerary is created by a Welcome to Travel representative and yourself. Once this has been done, we will provide you with a price for everything included.
We will also make clear things that are not included, as well as highlight any mandatory extra costs charged locally by Suppliers.
Travel Account
Upon outlining an itinerary, we will be able to open a Travel Account for you and your party. We will also enable you and your party to pay across a realistic timeframe for you.
Alternatively you may choose to pay in full, or need to pay in full for us to secure your availability with the Supplier, eg campervan, hostel, tour. As mentioned later on below, availability is not confirmed until paid in full.
Opening a Travel Account requires a minimum payment of $100AUD per person. Once the Travel Account has been opened, you can continue to add funds until the final payment has been made and we will keep a record of what’s been paid and what is owed, communicating this with you throughout the payment plan.
Even after your first payment, changes can continue to be made to the itinerary, whether it be the destination, inclusions or dates. Please note, if you do change an inclusion within the Supplier’s cancellation/change policy dates, you may be liable for a fee. We would always aim to avoid this by notifying you in advance. Changes can also affect your final price and therefore the outstanding amount owing.
If you wish to cancel your travel itinerary and your travel account is fully paid, the Travel Account cancellation fees are in line with the above mentioned Cancellation, Changes and Refunds Policy.
If you wish to cancel your travel itinerary and your travel account is NOT fully paid, we are able to refund everything paid, minus a $50 administration fee.*
*On occasions Welcome to Travel representatives book in parts of your trip with different Suppliers to secure your availability to avoid disappointment, if this happens then you may be charged a cancellation fee by the Supplier.
Example A: $3500 of a $4000 Travel Itinerary has been paid, you need to return home and ask to cancel the trip. A refund of $3450 ($3500-$50) will be processed.
Example B: $4000 of a $4000 Travel Itinerary has been paid, you need to return home and ask to cancel the trip. It is likely that every part of the trip has been booked in and a refund of 75%, $3000 will be processed.
Example C: $3500 of a $4000 Travel Itinerary has been paid, you need to return home and ask to cancel the trip. Welcome to Travel would normally refund $3450 of the $3500, but in this instance we have booked you a campervan to secure the price and availability. On this occasion this is within the Supplier’s cancellation period and they have opted to charge a $100 cancellation fee. This results in a total refund of $3350.
Paying Your Balance and Availability
Opening your Travel Account does not secure your availability with Suppliers on every part of your Travel Itinerary. Understandably, we are unable to book in every part of a $4000 trip with a first payment of $100. This is why we recommend Travel Itineraries are paid for in full as soon as possible.
If you are choosing to pay for your Travel Itinerary over a timeframe that suits you, as opposed to initially making full payment, we recommend paying your trip in full 4 weeks before your departure date.
In some instances, Welcome to Travel may book elements of your Travel Itinerary to guarantee availability, even before full payment is made. This will be done if your Travel Account has enough funds to cover that element of the tour.
Example D: Travel Itinerary Total $2500
Travel Account Paid So Far: $1500
Remaining Balance: $1000
If this Travel Itinerary includes a campervan booking that costs less than $1500, Welcome to Travel may choose to book this so that you are not disappointed.
If you later choose to cancel this, you may be charged a cancellation fee by the Supplier, in this instance, the company offering the campervan as per Example C above.
Extra Costs
To the extent reasonably practicable, we will inform you of any mandatory extra costs charged locally by Suppliers.
However, you must also check with each individual Supplier when you reconfirm your booking.
Your Travel Itinerary Bookings and Ticket
Upon full payment being made, Welcome to Travel will book every aspect of your Travel Itinerary with each Supplier.
Upon all bookings being made, Welcome to Travel will send you your tickets via email.
Each element of your Travel Itinerary will have a specific ticket that is to be shown to the Supplier when you travel.
These tickets will include any specific information. For example where to pick up your campervan, or what time you will be picked up on a tour. It will also include anything requested by Suppliers.
Most Suppliers request that you reconfirm your attendance, often 48hrs before. If this is requested then please ensure this is done. This is the Supplier asking us, to ask you to do this. This is especially important for tours/trips.
If you have specific dietary or health requirements, we always recommend that you reconfirm these with the Supplier.
We advise that you read through each ticket thoroughly, double checking the dates are correct and align with the agreed Travel Itinerary.
It is your responsibility to be in the right place at the right time for each element of your Travel Itinerary.
Flights
If flights are part of your itinerary, they are not included (with the exception of tours that include flights, eg. Scenic Flights or Skydives) and this will be explained on your Travel Itinerary by marking them in “red”.
It is your responsibility to ensure that you book the correct flights, to the right location and for the right times, corresponding with your Travel Itinerary. If you are unsure, please contact the team before booking your flights.
Passport & Visas
As we provide international travel itineraries, it may be required that you need a valid passport and visa.
It is your responsibility to ensure that you have valid passports, visas and re-entry permits which meet the requirements of immigration and other government authorities from the country of travel.
Any fines, penalties, payments or expenditures incurred as a result of such documents not meeting the requirements of those authorities will be your sole responsibility.
All travellers must have a valid passport for international travel and many countries require at least 6 months validity from the date of return and some countries require a machine-readable passport.
*Updated 01 February 2024
