Please read these booking conditions and holiday information carefully, since they, along with the other information on this website, set out the terms and conditions of the contract between you and The Villa Agency, which will be referred to as "The Villa Agency" or "we". We act as the booking agent for the suppliers of the component parts of the holidays we organise and, as such, bookings for their services will form a direct contract between you and the relevant supplier and will be subject to that supplier's standard terms and conditions. However, although we act as an agent on behalf of these suppliers, where the booking made with or through us is for a Package, we voluntarily accept the legal liabilities imposed on "organisers" by the Package Travel, Package Holidays & Package Tours Regulations 1992.Your contract will be read in accordance with English law & is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England & Wales.
ALL OUR HOLIDAYS ARE FULLY BONDED, SO YOUR MONEY IS 100% SAFE
As a member of the Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT 5022), The Villa Agency has provided a bond to meet the requirements of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992. In the event of insolvency, protection is provided for non-flight packages commencing in and returning to the UK and other non-flight packages excluding pre arranged travel to and from your destination. Please note that packages booked outside the UK are only protected when purchased directly with The Villa Agency. In the above circumstances, if you have not yet travelled you may claim a refund, or if you have already travelled, you may claim repatriation to the starting point of your non-flight package.
We take great care to make this website accurate. Because changes outside our control may occur we reserve the right to change any facilities, services or prices contained herein. We will tell you of any change before you make a booking. Scenic pictures on this website are to convey an impression of the region, but may not have been taken in the immediate vicinity of the location or accommodation on the web page on which they appear. There is a great deal of development in Portugal and we cannot accept liability for any inconvenience caused by any building works or similar.
Your party leader should complete a booking form with all relevant details, including any special requests, sign it on behalf of all members of your party & send it to us with the appropriate villa booking deposit (see the booking form), £50 per person for each flight or the appropriate sum required by the airline and full insurance premiums (UK residents only). In the case of bookings 8 weeks or less before departure, full payment will be required. The booking may be made over the telephone with payment by credit/debit card and a faxed or online booking form. If you are a UK resident, you must take out insurance for all party members. If you are not resident in the UK, or if you do not wish to take the insurance recommended by us, you must have travel insurance covering cancellation and emergency assistance, including repatriation in the event of accident or illness, which matches or betters ours and name it on the booking form. Our staff are not authorised to interpret any insurance policy or to make promises in respect of cover. If you require clarification of cover, please contact your brokers. We reserve the right to refuse any booking made by a group of individuals of the same gender or to cancel any holiday where the original party is, or appears to be, of mixed gender but which subsequently is found to be of the same gender. Although we will communicate any special requests that you specify on the booking form to the relevant supplier, we cannot guarantee that they will be met and will not have any liability to you if they are not met. Only those persons named on the booking form may occupy the villa; any additional persons added or changes made to the booking by you, once it has been confirmed, must be approved by The Villa Agency.
Provided the holiday is available, we will send you a confirmation invoice setting out the holiday details & showing how much remains to be paid (please check these carefully as any amendments made following the issue of this invoice may be charged for). The contract between us is made when we issue your confirmation invoice and this is the point from which your deposit becomes non refundable. The balance must be paid at least 8 weeks before departure. The party leader will be responsible for payment for everyone named on the booking form, even if some names were added after the initial booking was made. If you do not pay the balance by the due date, we may cancel your booking and levy the appropriate cancellation charge set out below. Any monies paid to a travel agent will be held on behalf of The Villa Agency.
We guarantee that the price of your villa will not be subject to surcharges less than 30 days before departure. Surcharges may be imposed by our suppliers to cover the costs of variations in transportation costs, including the cost of fuel, dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services such as landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports & airports, & the exchange rate applied to the particular package. Similarly, if the villa rental is paid by us in euros and the €/£ exchange rate deteriorates substantially, we reserve the right to impose a surcharge as necessary. Where a surcharge is payable, there will be an administration fee of £1 per person together with an amount to cover agents' commission.
The Villa Agency is occasionally forced to make changes to holidays and reserves the right to do so. A change may be "significant" or "minor". A significant change will be a change of accommodation to a lower grade, a change of planned departure time by more than 12 hours or a price surcharge in excess of 10% of the villa rental. Any other changes will be "minor". We reserve the right to make minor changes at any time. We will, if practicable, advise you or your travel agent of minor changes before you leave. However, we are not obliged to do so, nor are we obliged to pay you compensation for the change. Where there is a significant change, we will inform you or your travel agent as soon as practicable and you will have 3 options. The first option is to accept our suggested alteration. The second option is to change your booking to another holiday operated by us and available. If the replacement you choose is more expensive, you will have to pay the difference, but if it is cheaper we will give you the appropriate refund. The third option will be to cancel your holiday altogether and to receive a full refund. On rare occasions, significant changes become necessary after departure. If this happens, or if we become unable to provide a significant proportion of services booked, we will either arrange for you to return to the UK (if you wish) and give you a refund in proportion to the cost of the services not received, or we will make alternative holiday arrangements for you. If we make a significant change, we will, if appropriate, also pay you compensation on the following scale:-
| More than 56 days before departure | NIL per person |
| 29 - 56 days before departure | £6 per person |
| 15 - 28 days before departure | £12 per person |
| 0 - 14 days before departure | £18 per person |
An example of a situation in which it would not be appropriate to award compensation is if we have to make a major change for reasons of "force majeure" (that is unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which neither we nor our suppliers could avoid, for example war, threat of war, riots, civil strife, terrorist activity, industrial disputes, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions, level of water in rivers or similar events beyond our control).
Any changes after confirmation will be subject to availability and there will be a fee of £20 for each amendment made to the original booking. Requests for alterations may be made by telephone, fax or email, by the party leader & accompanied by the relevant fee.
You may change your booking up to 30 days before departure by transferring it to another person if you are unavoidably prevented from travelling and the transferee meets any conditions which may apply to the holiday. The right to transfer is subject to payment of an administration fee of £20 per person and all additional charges of whatever sort imposed by suppliers providing the component parts of the holiday. Requests for transfers must be in writing and signed by the person taking over the booking, who must agree to be bound by our booking conditions. The request must reach us at least 14 days before you are due to depart and must be accompanied by any final balance due, the administration charge of £20 per person and all additional charges of whatever sort our suppliers may impose. (Some airlines may charge a 100% cancellation fee and the cost of a replacement ticket). We will require full details of the proposed new passenger. Please note that insurance companies will not transfer cover and will require additional premiums in respect of new names.
The Villa Agency is occasionally forced to cancel holidays and reserve the right to do so up to 8 weeks before departure. After that, we will only cancel your holiday for reasons of "force majeure" (see the definition in "Changes to your Holiday by The Villa Agency"). In the unlikely event that we cancel your holiday, we will offer you the choice of an alternative holiday if available, or a full and prompt refund. If the only acceptable alternatives are more expensive than the holiday booked you will have to pay the difference; if the alternative you choose is cheaper, we will make the appropriate refund. Unless the cancellation was caused by "force majeure" we will, if appropriate, pay you compensation on the scale set out above in "Changes to your holiday by The Villa Agency". We reserve the right to cancel your holiday and levy cancellation charges set out under the heading "Cancellation of your holiday by you" should you fail to pay the final balance when due, or if you behave in an improper manner (see paragraph under the heading "Your responsibilities").
All cancellations must be made in writing and signed by the party leader. Your insurance premium will be forfeited whenever you cancel. You will also be liable for the appropriate cancellation charge set out below:-
| More than 56 days before departure | Loss of deposit |
| 29 to 56 days before departure | 50% |
| 15 - 28 days before departure | 75% |
| 1 - 14 days before departure | 100% |
| Departure date or after | 100% |
While on holiday you must behave with propriety and not cause damage to the villa or distress, danger or annoyance to other clients, neighbours or their property. If you do not comply with these responsibilities, we reserve the right to move your party to an alternative property, or terminate your holiday immediately and in either case without any further liability. You must not damage any property with which you come into contact but, if you do, you will be liable for the cost of repairs or replacements. In order to cover such costs, you will be required to pay a security deposit, which will be payable with the balance of the total holiday cost. This will be refunded, less any costs as detailed above. You are responsible for ensuring that the property is properly secured at all times; if you do not take appropriate care with security and a burglary results, you will be responsible for any costs. Should you subsequently wish to be moved to another property you will be charged the additional rent.
There are currently no visa requirements for UK or EEC nationals travelling to Portugal, but you must ensure your passport is valid for the duration of the holiday. Nationals of other countries should check with their embassy or consulate in relation to any passport or visa requirements, but a passport valid for at least 6 months after the end of the holiday is usually required. It is your responsibility to report promptly at stated times for all transport arrangements and to ensure that you have all travel tickets & documents. We cannot be held responsible for any additional costs if you fail to do so. Please note that there are currently no particular health formalities to be satisfied by UK nationals travelling to Portugal.
The suppliers of your holiday will have their own booking conditions or conditions of carriage and you will be bound by these so far as the relevant supplier is concerned. Some of these conditions may limit or exclude liability on the part of the relevant supplier. Where relevant, copies of such conditions may be available for inspection at the offices of the relevant supplier. Flight timings are set by the airline and are subject to air traffic control restrictions, weather conditions etc. We cannot guarantee that flights will leave at the times shown in our literature or on tickets and we cannot be held liable for any delays or expenses incurred. In the event of delay on your outward or homeward journey we will do our best to ensure that airlines reimburse any additional expenses incurred.
If you have a complaint while on holiday, it is essential to make it known to our representative, local agent, or property owner immediately so that remedial action, where possible, can be taken. If no representative/agent/owner is available, or if the problem is not resolved to your satisfaction, please contact our office in Brighton without delay. If your complaint cannot be completely resolved locally, you must inform our representative/agent/owner & our Brighton office immediately & follow this up within 28 days of your return home by writing to our Brighton office. If you fail to follow this simple procedure, we cannot accept responsibility for any claim, as we have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate & rectify the problem.
If you suffer personal injury or death from an activity which is not part of the holiday arrangements we make for you, we will not be liable to pay you any compensation, but we will give you assistance if you are in difficulty. This assistance will consist of advice, guidance and, where appropriate and at our discretion, financial assistance in the form of a Legal Expenses Insurance up to a limit of £5,000 per booking form. Any financial assistance we give you is for the sole purpose of enabling you to take legal proceedings against any third party responsible for your personal injury or death and is conditional upon you repaying us out of any monies you may recover from the third party in question.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) strictly monitors all flight and accommodation packages sold in the UK, but if you buy a flight via the internet and accommodation from a link on the airline's website, your holiday is NOT bonded, so you will probably lose your money if the airline or accommodation provider ceases trading. You take the same risk if you make your own flight arrangements and rent a property through a UK villa rental agency that does not bond non-flight packages (illegal, but it happens). Similarly, you have no guarantees if you rent a villa direct from a villa owner, especially if the owner is resident overseas. For our clients' peace of mind, ALL HOLIDAYS IN THIS BROCHURE ARE FULLY BONDED, so your money is 100% safe. [read more]
We recommend Travel & General Insurance Services who offers a variety of insurance from single trips to annual multi trip cover. [visit Travel & General Insurance Services]
VILLA LISTINGS | VILLA INFORMATION | BOOKING CONDITIONS | FAQs | CONTACT US | FACEBOOK
Copyright 2010, The Villa Agency Ltd. All rights reserved. Telephone +44 (0) 1273 747811.
Villas and apartments with private pools in the Algarve & Lisbon Coast of Portugal for Holiday and Vacation rental. Late Deals available.
The air holidays shown are ATOL protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is 3340. ATOL protection extends primarily to customers who book and pay in the United Kingdom.
Registered in England. Company No. 01841001.