ATW Tours, Inc. TERMS & CONDITIONS

ATW Tours, Inc. offers door-to-door service from various locations where tours start and end.. ATW Tours, Inc. acts as an agent for the attractions available on their tours and shall not be held responsible for any inconvenience, loss, injury, or damage that results from the acts or omissions of any company or person operating such attractions.

ATW Tours, Inc. reserves the right to alter itineraries and routes due to conditions beyond our control, such as traffic construction, weather and safety, and is not responsible for viewing conditions due to weather. All tour duration, pick-ups and return times are approximate.

ATW Tours, Inc. reserves the right to determine vehicle selection.

Tour guide gratuities are not included in price unless otherwise stated.

ATW Tours, Inc. accepts all major credit cards and cash. Credit card required to hold and guarantee all bookings.

ATW Tours, Inc. may cancel a tour if minimum number of guests is not met.

Child rate indicates ages 2-12. Children under the age of 2 are not permitted on public tours.

Confirmed day tours with ATW Tours, Inc. canceled less than 48 hours prior to tour departure and no shows will be charged in full.

Confirmed day tours with ATW Tours, Inc. Adventures canceled less than 72 hours prior to tour departure and no shows will be charged in full.

Confirmed day tours with ATW Tours, Inc. Native America canceled less than 7 days prior to tour departure and no shows will be charged in full.

Confirmed private tours canceled less than 7 days prior to tour departure and no shows will be charged in full.

Confirmed overnight reservations require a $150 non-refundable deposit at the time of booking. Overnight tours canceled less than 7 days prior to tour departure and no shows will be charged in full. Confirmed multi-day tours require a 10% non-refundable deposit at the time of booking. Final tour balance is due 36 days prior to tour departure date. Multi-day tours canceled less than 36 days prior to departure or no shows will be charged in full. Fuel surcharges may apply.

Booking / Cancellations

BOOKING

Indicate if your passenger wants a single room: single supplement or willing to share, double, triple, or quad room. We offer to match up singles of the same sex from other companies also willing to share. If we can not find a share, we will never charge a single supplement. To guarantee a single room, a passenger has to pay a single supplement. We will confirm any booking within 1 day (longer over the weekends or holidays), issuing a booking number. Current booking conditions can be found on our extranet at www.adventuretravelwest.com. Bookings are live availability, however bookings have to be confirmed by the office. Tours are sold first come first sold. To request access to our B2B website, please go www.adventuretravelwest.com and signup. Please allow up to 24 hours for approval. For questions, contact us at [email protected]

Tour’s status can be in any of the following:

“Open” – we accept bookings,

“Guaranteed” – we have enough bookings to operate the tour and will not cancel this departure,

“On request” – a tour is almost full, better check with us if we still have space,

“Full” – a tour is sold out, or

“Cancelled / Not Available”.

LANGUAGES

We have pre-set languages for the tours. Should there ever be any language changes after your passengers have booked, you would be notified well in advance. We may add a third language in order to guarantee a tour or accept late bookings for a small group. If we change the second language, or add a third language, you will be notified and a 10% discount will be offered if the language we offered wont be available once promised.

PRIVATE TOURS

If you would like to book a closed or private group please contact us. We may be able to set aside a private tour for you from an existing room block.

CONFIRMATION OF TOURS

We will confirm the departure of a tour no later than 45 days prior to departure. Once a tour is confirmed it will never be unconfirmed. Even when cancellations are received after the tour was confirmed.

If Adventure Travel West, Inc. cancels a tour due to lack of participation, we will issue a $300 credit per person applicable towards any rebooking on any tour offered by Adventure Travel West, Inc. for that calendar year.

PAYMENT DUE DATE

Full payment is due 30 days prior to departure. If we do not receive full payment we reserve the right to cancel your booking at any time. If your payment is late we may require you to pay by credit card and charge a 4% processing fee.

CANCELLATIONS

Summary cancellation fees:

At time of booking – 30 days prior departure 25%

29 days – 22 days prior departure 30%

21 days – 15 days prior departure 40%

14 days – 7 days prior departure 60%

6 days – 3 days prior departure 75%

2 days prior departure, or no-show 80%

Trip interruption 100%

Passenger cancellations (due to illness) receive a 20% rebooking credit on any future tours booked that is operated by Adventure Travel West, Inc.

LUGGAGE RESTRICTIONS

Due to limited space on our vehicles and luggage trailers, passengers are allowed to bring one piece of luggage, with a maximum weight of 23 kg, plus one carry-on item. Laundry can be washed for a small fee at most hotels. Depending on group size, passengers may be restricted in their shopping while on tour and may have to postpone purchasing heavy items until the end of the tour. We are not responsible for passenger’s luggage while left in our van or trailer.

DISRUPTIVE PASSENGERS

We reserve the right to remove a passenger from tour if he / she is not fit enough to keep up, a disturbance to the group, disruptive or sick. We will try to make any possible arrangement to keep passengers from having to leave the group but if a group member cannot keep up with the schedule they may be asked to stay behind in the hotel.

IN CASE OF SICKNESS

In case a passenger gets sick or injured while on tour, the tour director will send him / her to the nearest emergency room or a doctor. However, it is the tour director’s responsibility to stay with the group and continue with the program. He / she may not be able to assist the sick passenger, and if hospitalized, the group will have to continue with the tour. It is therefore a tour requirement that all passengers have travel insurance.

TRAVEL INSURANCE

ATW requires that all passengers carry current traveler’s insurance. The tour director will collect the information at the start of the tour. Should a passenger not have traveler’s insurance, he / she will be required to purchase one from your office. ATW does not offer traveler’s insurance. Please check that your passengers carry current traveler’s insurance. ATW does not take responsibility for lost or stolen items (e.g., luggage) regardless of whether item(s) were lost or stolen from hotel rooms, trailers, vans, or tents.

WAIVERS

All participants have to sign a waiver before the start of the tour. Please inform your passengers that this is a US law requirement set forth by our insurance company. While participating in optional activities, passengers will be required to sign additional waivers by other companies.

LATE BOOKINGS

We can accept late bookings up to 1 week prior to arrival. However with late bookings we do require that we receive full payment before arrival of the client.

HOTEL SUBSTITUTIONS

ATW reserves the right to change hotels when needed. Hotel substitutions are generally of equal or higher value; however in some instances a lower class hotel is selected if no better alternative is available. In some cases a hotel may be in a different or nearby town if all hotels in the original town are sold out. Please review the hotel list that we send out with the booking confirmation to confirm where passengers are being accommodated.

START AND END HOTEL

Please carefully check the start and end hotel of the tour, as the hotels in the cities may change from tour to tour. Not all series are at the same hotel for all dates! It is the tour operator’s responsibility to check the hotel list that we provide with the booking confirmation. ATW is not responsible for any last minute hotel changes due to hotel closure or an oversell situation at a hotel.

CHANGE OF TOUR ASSIGNMENT AFTER BOOKING

ATW reserves the right to change the passenger’s tour for yield management purposes. For example, if your passenger is booked on tour group “A” we may decide to move your passenger to group “B” in order to separate the languages (SAME DATE, SAME ARRIVAL CITY). In rare occasions this may lead to a change of a hotel. These changes are made more than 30 days before the start of the tour. We recommend you do not notify your client of the hotel list until 30 days prior to tour start. Should we change a tour for your passenger we will automatically notify you with all relevant information. (Separating languages and nationalities leads to a higher customer satisfaction while on tour.)

COMPLAINTS

All complaints must be brought to the guide’s attention during the tour and must be documented. ATW must be given the opportunity to remedy the situation before any recourse is possible. The complaint therefore should be made to the guide in writing or emailed to the office at [email protected]. Complaints must be submitted to ATW no later than 60 days after the end of a tour to be considered.

HOW WE OPERATE TOURS

Our tours are conducted with a 15-passenger van with or without enclosed luggage trailer (depending on group size). We operate most of our tours in 15 Pax Ford Transit vans. Our vans do not have overhead storage nor do they have storage for the day packs. Daypacks are either stored in the trailer or on the floor on a short drive to the trailhead.

In Hawaii we operate with the older mode Ford E 350. The vans have benches as seats and no headrests.

ONE person, the driver / guide, will be both the driver as well as the tour director. This person is allowed to work a maximum of 70 hours in 8 days. He / she will also lead most of the hikes. When tours are multilingual, the same information will be repeated in the necessary languages. For safety reasons, the tour director is not allowed to give commentary while driving. Some hikes are self-guided (e.g. all hikes inside Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Glacier National Park, and any hike on national forest land), and some hikes are self-guided due to the fact that they are one-way hikes (e.g. Yosemite’s Panorama Trail). All lunches are self-made picnic lunches. Picnics are prepared next to the cooler/trailer. The food is stored in the cooler where it is kept safe and cold. Lunches will be prepared next to the trailer on portable tables. Breakfasts are typically eaten at the hotel.

When camping, passengers need to help with camp setup as. All group meals are prepared by the group on a rotation basis. Pax are expected to swipe out their tents after the tour.

TRANSPORTATION

We typically use Ford Transit Vans and Mercedes Sprinter Vans in the Western USA. However a variety of vans are used to accommodate groups. In Hawaii we use older Ford E350 vans. These are smaller than the current Ford models.

Depending on group size we may or may not tow a small luggage trailer. Our vans are not tour buses. They do not have middle isles. They do not have overhead storage space. Seating is on benches. Day packs have to be stored under the seats, on the floor, or in the trailers.

MEALS

-Breakfasts: All of our tours include breakfast and lunches. Breakfasts are typically taken at the hotel. It is often a typical continental breakfast, or a full American breakfast (eggs and bacon). At times the tour director may decide to leave before breakfast is served to avoid long lines at national park entry gates. In this case he/she may decide to make a picnic breakfast and forgo the restaurant breakfast. This is up to the discretion of the guide. At times our tours stay in apartments with kitchenettes. In this case ATW will provide food so passengers can make their own breakfasts. Due to health department regulations, most continental breakfasts are typically served on plastic or paper plates.

-Lunches: Our tour directors purchase lunch food for sandwiches before the arrival of the group. If you have any food preferences (more vegetables, food allergies etc) please communicate that at the introduction meeting. Shopping is very limited while in the parks, as the towns are very small and food is trucked in from the major cities nearby. We can cater to a variety of vegetarian diets but it will be nearly impossible to cater to vegan diets. Lunches are prepared by passengers in the parking lot next to the trailer on portable tables. We provide fresh cold cuts, cheeses, bread, snacks such as nuts and trail mix, fresh or dried fruit. Food is stored in coolers on ice in our luggage trailers. We do NOT provide soft drinks or bottled water. To reduce waste we urge you to refill your water bottle and not buy single use plastic bottles. Most national parks have water bottle fill stations.

-Dinners: are typically not included. Most hotels are in walking distance to restaurants. Our tour directors typically do not eat with the groups. If dinners are included while staying in apartments or camps, the group should help prepare the meals and clean the dishes.

ACCOMMODATION

-Hotels: All hotels are pre-booked. A hotel list is sent at the time of booking. In rare cases hotels are oversold and will change on short notice. This is out of our control and we do not refund any monies for hotel changes. Many hotels have pools. Pool opening months depend on each hotel. Please check online when outdoor pools open. Many hotels have laundry facilities (washer and drier). We recommend that you bring some soap to wash your hiking socks and such in the sink of the hotel room. Some tours stay in cabins with communal bathrooms. These instances are clearly indicated in the program. Some groups stay in multi-share condos. Condos or vacation rentals typically only clean after the group’s departure. Living room / kitchen areas will have to be shared while staying in apartments or vacation homes. In some cases bathrooms are shared as well. All of these scenarios are clearly indicated in our day-to-day tour descriptions.

-Camping: Some tours include camping nights. ATW will provide the tents, the sleeping pads (foam and / or inflatable), a portable kitchen, roll (portable) tables. Passengers need to bring their own sleeping bag. Not all campgrounds offer (free) showers, some charge for showers (up to $5). Some of ATW’s tours include wilderness camps. These are typically dry camps with no infrastructure. ATW will bring portable tables and chairs, and enough water for dry camping. However there are no showers. In some wilderness areas passengers are expected to use plastic bags to carry out all human waste. In this case ATW will provide these “Wag Bags”. Passengers are expected to pitch and take down their own tents. If camp dinners are included in the tour package, passengers are expected to help with meal preparation and the cleaning of the dishes. This is done on a rotation basis. Camp meals are simple, easy-to-prepare, planned by the tour director. Only soft duffel bags are allowed inside tents, otherwise they would tear the floors.

CURRENCY

Bring ALL your funds in US $. Money exchange facilities will NOT be available on tour. Use your ATM / Cash Point Card to withdraw cash, provided you bring your safety (PIN) number. VISA and MasterCard are commonly accepted for meals, excursions and souvenirs, Diners Club and American Express are not frequently accepted. Some group meals and excursions only accept cash. Traveler’s Checks are no longer accepted.

TIPPING

It is common in the USA to tip those working in the service industry. Please tip taxi drivers 10% of fare, the maid $1-2 per night, and 18-20% for your restaurant meals. Tips are mandatory and expected. Expect to tip the tour director around $5-7 per person / day according to his / her performance.

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT AND PRECAUTIONS FOR SLOT CANYON HIKES

Check your tour documents if you are expected to hike in wet slot canyons. Buckskin, Kanarra Creek and Zion Narrows are wet canyon hikes. Some slot canyon hikes are likely to be wet and/or muddy and require proper canyon hiking shoes (non-slip soles) and hiking poles. To safely walk in these canyons you need to bring the proper footwear. These boots CAN NOT be obtained locally. Canyoneering boots can be rented for the Zion Narrows only. Slot canyons are dangerous when rain threatens and group must follow the tour leader’s guidance. They may become impassable after rainstorms. The leader will not know the conditions of each canyon in advance as the conditions change daily.

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT FOR CAMPING NIGHTS

If your tour includes camping you are required to bring the following:

Sleeping bag for up to zero or – 5C (April- May, September to October departures)
Summer weight sleeping bag for any tours departing in June – August
Colorado and Wyoming tours require warm sleeping bags to zero or -5C due to the elevation nights are cold
Light gloves and a hat for cold mornings
Headlamp, spare batteries
Camp shoes
Sport sandals for swimming in creeks and lakes
Soft duffel bags to take inside your tents (hard shelled luggage is not allowed)

4×4 SELF DRIVE TOURS

In order to be added as a driver on the 4×4 vehicles you will need to bring your driver’s license. You are fully insured through the car rental agency. All gasoline, fuel (diesel) and insurance deductibles are covered by ATW. You must notify us at your intent of driving.

On self drive tours equipment may be stored in the back of the pickups. To prevent luggage from getting wet we recommend you use our duffel bags and store your luggage in the waterproof containers we provide. While parked luggage has to be moved into the hotel rooms or the cab as the back of the pick ups is not locked. ATW is not responsible for stolen or damaged equipment. Rough roads / washboard may damage fancy luggage.

HIKES AND OPTIONAL EXCURSIONS

We list a number of hikes for each day and a selection of optional activities that would enhance the program. Generally the tour director will try to offer the walks that fit the majority of the group, however he / she may choose to offer harder or easier walks as well. On certain days, passengers must decide between either an optional excursion or the day’s walk. Not all options and activities are possible on all days or all months (some excursions only operate from June – August). While at the Grand Canyon, helicopter rides are ALWAYS offered except in rare cases when they are cancelled due to weather. In Monument Valley a jeep tour will ALWAYS be offered. While in Page, an Antelope Canyon excursion will ALWAYS be offered. While in Hawaii, a nighttime lava walk will ALWAYS be offered as long as the lava can be safely reached. In San Francisco, the passengers must book Alcatraz tours directly as we are not allowed to pre book this excursion. This can be done online in advance of the journey.