Our address
King’s Place
12-42 Wood Street
Kingston-upon-Thames
Surrey
KT1 1JY
Minimum age
We do not accept bookings made in the name of persons aged under 18 years.
Holiday insurance
It is a condition of booking that you take travel insurance which must be of at least equal standard to Crystal-recommended insurance (page 126). You must either take the cover recommended by us (see page 126) or take out another policy offering at least the same or better cover (no liability will be accepted for the consequences of your travelling without adequate travel insurance).
Accuracy of brochure
All information in the brochure is to the best of our knowledge and belief correct at the time of publication. However, we reserve the right to make changes to information contained within our brochure and will advise you of these changes at point of booking or when they are known to us. This advice will be limited to that which is fundamental to the contract or which we believe may affect the enjoyment of your holiday.
If any facility detailed in this brochure is essential to the enjoyment of your holiday, please advise us at the time of booking and we will try to advise you of the latest information. However, we are sure you will understand that at times certain advertised facilities may not be in operation and we may have no information or prior warning of such matters. Many pictures are included for their attractiveness and general relevance; those with specific notation refer to hotels or relevant features. Photographs of rooms represent the type of accommodation available, but not all rooms will be the same and room sizes, decor and furnishings will vary, particularly in older or historical buildings. Where a property is described as having skiing to/from the door, this is naturally subject to the individual skier’s ability and normal snow conditions in that resort at the time.
Early and late season/peak dates
During local or national holidays abroad, you may find facilities like ski schools and shops are closed or have limited opening hours. If visiting a specific place is important to you, call your destination’s local tourist office direct. You may find certain facilities, such as restaurants or nightclubs, closed during your stay, perhaps for redecoration. These closures may affect facilities in your accommodation as well as in the resort, especially early and late in the season.
At the beginning and end of the season some ski lifts and advertised activities may not be open and ski and public bus services may not be fully functional. Similarly, some advertised resort and hotel facilities like swimming pools, cable cars, chair lifts, sporting activities, leisure facilities etc. may not be in operation. If you are free to travel at any time and not tied to school holidays, we would recommend that you avoid peak dates such as half-term as many resorts are extremely busy.
Excursions/evening events: The advertised programme of events is dependent upon achieving a minimum number of participants and, therefore, some events may not always be available due to insufficient demand or, in some cases, adverse weather conditions.
Resort development & local events
The noise and inconvenience of building work inevitably seems worse on holiday. That is why our overseas staff keep us constantly informed about developments. Ask your travel agent for up-to-date information from our reservations team. As the situation may change quickly at a local level, we can have no control over building schedules. We will, however, always do our best to tell you about any specific work going on near your accommodation if time allows before you go on holiday.
Events such as concerts, festivals, conferences, sporting events etc. may sometimes cause restricted access to resort amenities i.e. roads, shops, bars and restaurants.
Artist’s impression and computer generated images
In some cases in this brochure we have had to use an artist’s impression or a computer generated image of a hotel, apartment residence, club hotel or chalet. This image will be an accurate representation of the property based upon the information available to us at the time of publication of this brochure.
Special requests
For any special requests consult your travel agent or the Crystal reservations department when you confirm your holiday booking. We shall always do our best to meet your requirements, but no guarantee is given as this does not form part of our holiday contract with you, irrespective, of the fact that details of the request may be found on your confirmation invoice. If, however, your request is essential to your holiday arrangements, please make this known at the time of booking in order that we can ascertain whether this is possible with our supplier. This will require us contacting the supplier and confirming the request to you in writing, for which there will be an administration charge of £25.
Après ski events
The advertised events are dependant upon achieving a minimum number of participants and, therefore, some events may not always be available due to insufficient demand or, in some cases, adverse weather conditions. All mentioned restaurants and other venues featured in this brochure which are not owned by Crystal are not under our direct control and have not been inspected by us. Therefore, any recommendation is merely an indication that these facilities have proved popular and are worthy of mention and not a personal recommendation by Crystal. Representation
We have at least one resident resort rep based in the majority of our destinations. For the few resorts where this is not the case, you will have the services either of a Crystal rep from a nearby resort or from an appointed local agent/hotelier who will give guidance and assistance. Details of an emergency contact number will be provided with your travel documents.
On holidays which involve a city destination, travel from the airport to the city and then on to your chosen resort (if applicable) will be planned by us and all tickets and itineraries will be provided. However, few city destinations are served by a representative.
Ski Escorts
Please note the Crystal Escort service may be restricted or curtailed by local regulations. A local charge may have to be levied if local authorities insist on the use of local instructors and we are obliged to use this service.
Excursions/activities
If you intend to participate in any potentially hazardous activities, please check the details of your holiday insurance to ensure you are covered beforehand.
As will all adventure sports, you partake at your own risk and you may be required to sign a disclaimer prior to some activities. Any excursions or hazardous activity in which you partake locally, such as white water rafting, horse riding etc. are at your own risk and liability may not be covered under the terms of your holiday insurance. Please check the details of your individual before participation.
i) Heli-skiing opportunities offered in the brochure, or locally, are arranged with the best local operator. As with all adventure sports, you partake at your own risk and you will be required to sign a disclaimer prior to the activity. Please also note that if, due to adverse weather conditions, or other circumstances beyond our control, the heli-ski package is unavailable during your stay, our liability is limited to a full refund of the cost paid.
ii) Any other excursions or hazardous activity in which you partake locally, such as tobogganing, paragliding, inner-tubing or snow-mobiling etc., are at your own risk and liability and may not be covered under the terms of your holiday insurance. Please check the details of your individual policy before participation
Other excursion information
- Days of operation of excursions are sometimes subject to change which may occasionally mean that it may not be convenient or it may coincide with a weekly transfer day. Also excursions may be cancelled due to poor volume of support, or poor weather conditions. In such circumstances we will always try our best to offer alternatives locally but should this not be possible a full refund of the excursion cost will be paid.
- Some excursions may involve a fairly lengthy journey for a relatively short time at the destination and we would therefore suggest you make enquiries before booking
- On some excursions the commentary may be conducted in several languages and an English speaking guide may not always be available
- The size of vehicle used will be dependent upon the number of passengers
- Entrance fees, road tolls, boat crossings and optional extras are not included in the excursion prices shown including ‘free’ excursions and are payable locally
- In the event of Sterling dropping significantly below our estimated exchange rates, Crystal must reserve the right to increase these costs at any time or to withdraw the excursion
- The prices detailed in this brochure may be higher or lower than resort prices due to exchange rates or special offers available locally at the time. However, should this be the case no refunds or extra costs are due on items pre-booked.
- Please note that no refunds can be made except in the case of cancellation by the local operator
- If credit cards are used to book tours locally, a handling charge will be added at a percentage rate advised in resort
Noise
In early and late season, resorts are less busy and, consequently, quieter. Italy, for example, is not an excessively noisy country, but traffic and other sounds can present problems in most places of the world today, particularly in cities. Also, as many lakeside resorts are serviced by a perimeter road around the lake, at busy times some traffic congestion and noise is inevitable. Make sure you read the resort and hotel descriptions carefully to help you identify those which are stated to be in quieter locations and those which may not be (eg hotels in or close to town centres, or near main railway lines or roads).
Superdeals/starbuys/late availability
Neither Crystal nor the travel agent know precisely which resort or accommodation will be allocated at the time of booking, as this is done locally, except where supplements have been paid to guarantee a specified resort area, termed a Resort Superdeal. In all cases the standard of accommodation will vary according to availability but we will provide you with accommodation of the star rating selected by you. However, we cannot guarantee any specific facilities will be available other than those confirmed on the invoice and accommodation may be provided in non-smoking or family chalets. Accommodation is not always from that advertised within our brochure and may or may not represent a financial saving on brochure prices, particularly when extra flights or accommodation have been contracted to meet demand. As rooms are allocated locally, we cannot guarantee that rooms booked on a Superdeal for groups will all be in the same property.
If half-board is requested this will be indicated on your invoices as “CA or HB”. However, this does not guarantee either hotel or chalet accommodation will be provided. Half-board arrangements may be provided by way of vouchers for restaurants, hotels in the resort, or by an arrangement with one specific hotel or restaurant. A “CA or HB” Superdeal allocated into one of our chalets or club hotels would receive meals on the same basis as described on pages 9 and 85 where dinner is for 6 nights per week only.
Please note: we are unable to guarantee any special requests on Superdeal holidays or specify the bed type.
For bookings within 2 weeks of travel, a ticket on departure is compulsory at an extra charge of £15 per person, or more if express delivery is required.
SUPERDEAL BOOKINGS DO NOT QUALIFY FOR ANY SPECIAL OFFERS ADVERTISED IN THE BROCHURE AS AVAILABLE AT THEIR DESIGNATED ACCOMMODATION.
Children’s prices
• When children’s prices are available, these are detailed throughout the brochure and on the relevant price panels
• Where FREE child or reduced price places are advertised, these are strictly limited and available on a first come, first served basis on selected flights. Maximum 1 Free child per booking.
• ‘Adults’ include any children older than the maximum ‘child’ age which is stated
• Up to date reductions will be confirmed at the time of booking (and for travel agents are available on Viewdata)
• Child prices do not include any supplements, e.g. under-occupancy, any flight, room and board arrangements (where applicable), ski packs, nanny service charges etc.
In all European apartments, studios and chalets and in all American and Canadian accommodation, (on scheduled flights only) children paying a special reduced price holiday do not qualify as full fare paying passengers and as such do not count towards the occupancy, or qualify for group reductions.
• Child ages may vary but the applicable child ages for each property are stated in the price panel. The child age is determined by the age at the date of return travel to UK. Proof of age is required at the time of booking.
• To qualify for a special offer or a child price, the child or children must share a room (or apartment/studio) with two full fare paying passengers except where stated.
• All child prices and reductions apply to method of transport as described on the resort page
• One parent saver reductions are for genuine one parent families travelling alone. Any persons that take advantage of this offer who do not meet this criteria will be charged the balance of the holiday price in resort
Group reductions
All names must be supplied in writing at least 10 weeks before departure date. Name changes may be made on charter flights only, up until ticket issue, usually 4 weeks before departure. However, after this time an administration charge will be levied on all bookings where names have either not been supplied or changes are made to named passengers travelling.
If the group size reduces your booking, the number of free places will be reduced accordingly and may be lost if all the conditions are not complied with.
If the group size increases after booking we cannot alter the original group discount.
Whilst on holiday
(i) If you want to make changes to the booked arrangements in resort, for example upgrading your accommodation, changing resort or extending or reducing your holiday duration, changes will be subject to availability. Any extra costs or cancellation charges must be paid by you locally. All changes must be arranged with us in writing, either through our local representative/agent, area office or, if this is not possible, our head office in the UK.
(ii) The accommodation booked must only be used by those persons named on your invoice unless otherwise agreed by us in writing. You are not allowed to share the accommodation or let anyone else stay there.
(iii) You are responsible for any damage caused to your holiday accommodation during your stay, except by unknown third parties and any justifiable charges made by the owner/hotel manager in this respect must be paid by you locally. |
