• If it is the last couple of places on a tour you can’t hold an Incomplete booking unless you have an Ops request or you take the deposit / full payment whichever is applicable.
• You can hold an incomplete booking for short haul & long haul while a live ops request is open however once it comes back to you, you must action asap to get the booking confirmed.
• You cannot make an Incomplete booking Inside 6 weeks of departure unless you have a live Ops request !
• Short haul -  If there is no live op’s request and you are waiting on a client to confirm a detail like the names as per ppt or insurance etc, you can hold a booking for 48 hours but it must be cancelled or confirmed immediately and only if its not the last few places available on the tour !!
• Long haul – as people may need to transfer monies etc around to pay this (as the value is much higher) you have 10 business days to get this one confirmed (again once you are not holding the last remaining places on a tour)
• Please ensure if you are holding an incomplete booking that you leave really good detailed ST notes so we can follow up and chase it to get it over the line.
• If these rules are not adhered to your booking will be canceled without notice

Please see below.

Cancellation Policy

Period before departure within which written
notification of cancellation is received by: Cancellation charge per person cancelling:

More than 10 weeks Loss of deposit/non-refundable payment (including extras e.g. event tickets, insurance premiums etc.)
10 - 6 weeks 40% of holiday value or loss of deposit (whichever is the greater amount)
6 - 4 weeks 50% of holiday value
4 weeks to 15 days 80% of holiday value
14 days or less 100% of holiday value

• We can take a cancellation verbally over the phone.

• If it is an email you get regarding a cancellation, please give the customer a call to confirm that you will cancel the booking, and please go through the cancellation policy as per terms and conditions.

• If a customer cancels, please make sure the cancellation amount is correct and, the amount to be refunded is correct also.

• If a customer cancels at a partial loss of holiday, please make sure you refund the balance to the customer and send on the cancellation invoice.

• If one customer person cancels from a booking party, please make sure the cancellation charge is correct and if any refund is due, please make sure this amount is correct.

• Please ensure you get the address, email address and phone number of the person that is cancelling if they are not the lead. So, we can send their cancellation invoice directly to them.

• If there is a promo code in the booking and one person cancels, it will show the promo is due to be refunded but they do not get a refund for the promo amount. So please make sure to check the refund calculations are correct.

• We must send a manual cancellation invoice for these customers on head paper.

Bespoke Group Procedures 2023

Overview:

Bespoke Groups are limited to our current product range i.e., we cannot offer tailored itineraries currently.

Please do not accept any enquiries from groups looking for a fully bespoke tour.

There are two types of group tours that we can currently accommodate:

1. A Group Booking on an Existing Tours. (They will share with other pax on the tour)
2. Booking Private Groups who are taking the entire allocation on an Existing Tour/or for a different date on an Existing Itinerary.

Note: Single rooms are very limited in our hotels. If groups are looking for multiple single rooms this won’t be achievable and should be advised at the enquiry stage.

Incomplete rules apply for all group bookings. Please hold the booking under one name i.e. the Lead until the group is separated and set up in ST.

1. A Group booking is any group of 10 or more people (Under 50% of the total group size)
   Process as follows:
2. A provisional (incomplete) booking should be made in the regular group to hold places/names. Incomplete rules apply.
3. Next step is to flag to Products & Operations who will in turn separate this group from the main group in both ST1 and ST2 for reporting and more importantly for ease of operations. 
   Example:

• Provisional booking made to hold places in ST where necessary.
• Email sent to relevant Products person and create costing line in ST2
• Ops to set up/clone tour for bespoke pax with tour and add ID where necessary 
  
   

2. Private Group Bookings

Defined as the entire group take over the tour on one of our regular itineraries.

1. The group size must be a minimum of 60% of our regular group size (e.g. on an Italian core tour we would need 35-40 to look at a standalone group but on walking we can look at maybe 20-24 pax).

This is because:

• The price increase would be prohibitive for anything lower than 60%.
• It will not give the best group experience to those who are travelling outside of that bespoke group on the same coach.

1. Each request will need to be assessed when the enquiry is made to decide the best way to proceed.
2. The Bespoke Enquiry form detailed in this document needs to be fully completed and sent to Brian/Caroline to revert with the best way forward.
3. The Process:

There are 2 scenarios.

1. If the group is taking over the entire existing tour date already on sale.
2. If the group is looking for an entirely new date for an existing itinerary.

Process for scenario 1.

• Set the group as private and inform the relevant product person [email protected] for Travel Department and [email protected]  for TD active Holidays.

Process for scenario 2 i.e. a new date for an existing itinerary:

• The request must be sent to [email protected] for Travel Department and [email protected]  for TD active Holidays to look into availability.
• Set expectations with the group lead as we need to allow up to 2 weeks to the request, receive back availability and price the group.
• If the group size is smaller than the regular tour size, ensure that you advise the group lead that prices will likely be higher than those already advertised.
• Product will advise if it is possible to hold rooms and how long of a deadline the group have to come back and book.
• If all going ahead, product will send to operations to load the tour and it will be set to “private” so the group can call in and book and make payment.

Bespoke Group Enquiry Form

 

Below is a template for sending an offer on a group request, with different text depending on whether we have seats held or not. Please ensure that this is sent on the correct letterhead.

Offer Template:

City/Tour Name

START DATE – No. of NIGHTS - ONLY € per person sharing.

This superb price includes:

• Return direct flights to AIRPORT with AIRLINE NAME
• Transfer on arrival by coach to your hotel in CITY NAME (with guide assistance)
• X nights 3 **** 4 **** hotel accommodation in the Hotel Name or similar, on a bed and breakfast / half board basis. (hotel website link) 
• Excursions
• Transfer from your hotel to the airport for your return flight. (Guide not included)

Notes:

• Price is based on x people travelling including x free places.
• Price is per person based on 2 people sharing. Single room supplements of €X will apply.
• Price is inclusive of taxes and charges and one piece of hand luggage (max 10 kg)
• Fees will apply for checked in baggage, please contact us for details.
• Travel insurance available – please enquire.
• A non-refundable/non-transferable deposit of €200 per person is required to book.
• Balances are due 10 weeks before departure.
• This is a quotation only; no services are being held at present. Price is subject to availability at booking date.
• Not all services are guaranteed until a final confirmation is received from Travel Department.
• Prices and availability are subject to change. E&OE

OR if using from allocation where we have seats held:

Notes:

• Price is based on x people travelling including x free places.
• Price is per person based on 2 people sharing. Single room supplements of €X will apply.
• Price is inclusive of taxes and charges and one piece of hand luggage (max 10 kg)
• Fees will apply for checked in baggage, please contact us for details.
• Travel insurance available – please enquire.
• A non-refundable/non-transferable deposit of €200 per person is required to book
• Balances are due 10 weeks before departure.
• We can hold these rooms and prices for you until XXX date. If no payment has been received by this date all rooms held will be released.
• Not all services are guaranteed until a final confirmation is received from Travel Department.
• Prices and availability are subject to change. E&OE

Insurance

If customers book travel insurance with TD, it is imperative that we advise them of the following.

• Travel Insurance must be paid for at the time of booking the insurance.
• They must read the policy carefully, so they know what is covered.
• If the customer has any pre-existing conditions or if they are taking medication, they must declare this to the insurance company. On the medical screening line on 0818286537
• If they are not happy with the policy, there is a 14-day cooling off period from the date they booked the insurance.
• If a customer has made a booking and calls back, a few weeks later to book travel insurance, and It is inside 28 days of departure please inform them they will have the standard cover, but will not be covered for anything covid related.

We do not offer insurance on any sterling bookings at present.

When making bookings for people who live Northern Ireland and are flying from Dublin, we can offer them insurance with blue insurance, however the holiday must be booked in Euro.

If a customer is booking a TDActive holiday, please make sure you book the TDActive insurance for them, so they are fully covered.

If you don’t see the correct insurance for the TDActive holidays, please let us know and we will get this set up in Smart Tours.

Please see link below for a copy of the insurance policy, the insurance IPID and for the Master policy certificate.

\\ttdsvrfil\Company\2023\Sales\Insuarnce           

Barrhead Travel & Other Agents / Oasis ETC:

• Barrhead travel also have subsidiary agents, ensure to ask “are you part of Barrhead”

Company” avoiding confusion with other agents, all subsidiaries are listed in ST.

• All other Travel agents will be listed also.
• You cannot hold Incomplete bookings for travel agents!! This will change soon as we are aware we will require this, and we will update once this is possible.
• I would recommend the enquire functionality as a backup for now and pass on your direct number (If you comfortable with that) or again give your e-mail.
• All ops’ requests must be followed up in a timely manner, if you do not have the request back from Ops in 48 hours, contact the agent and let them know you are following up on the request for them and will be back ASAP, lets show how professional we are from the start.
• If a client calls us that have made a booking via an agent, when you retrieve in ST, you will see in Red “TRAVEL AGENT” any changes amendments, payments or adding something on they must go back to the agent, If It’s just info IE flight times ETC you can give this information to them.
• I would highly recommend building a rapport with the agent, where possible use e-mail much easier & quicker for you and the agent and avoids them possibly being on hold and being in the Q and will help you with Ops requests ETC.  

All other Travel agents except Barrhead who are on Account:

• Barrhead travel & all subsidiary agents are on account therefore no deposit or balance or intermediary payments to be taken on any of their bookings!
• GBP Bookings only so we ensure that the booking flow and the agent portal work seamlessly with each other.
• Agent bookings need to be paid by CC NOT statement as there are no statement schedules setup for them.
• Always send the invoice directly from step 5 in the booking process.
• Always go through step 1 – 5 laid out in the booking process to ensure no issues arise and we have a clean booking. Any exceptions should be raised with Brian.
• Only a deposit payment and/or full balance payment should be taken to avoid errors with commissions amounts. No partial payments will be allowed.
• If taking a balance payment on a booking that already has paid deposit. The Invoice needs to be sent again so the agent portal is updated with the latest payment.

Agent Discount Codes:

• AGENT25
• AGENT50
• AGENT75
• AGENT100

For all ground agent contact details.  Please see information in sales folder F:\2023\Sales in excel sheet titled Master Supplier Contact details 2023

Airline Baggage Rules for our most used Airlines.
Please use the following as guidance for airline baggage rules that are currently in use by airlines at present, please note this document is subject to change and will be reviewed regularly in line with airline baggage policies in use.
Aerlingus – EI
Aerlingus standard baggage allowance 10kg checked in baggage. Additional extras – 20/25kg bag pricing varies on tour available. Ryanair – FR/RYR
Ryanair standard baggage allowance 10kg checked in baggage. Additional extra 20kg bag this is €80 that can be added as per client request. Easy Jet- EZY Easy jet DO NOT allow baggage as standard with flight tickets purchased clients are intitled to a bag under the seat only.- Additional extras a 15kg or 23kg bag can be purchased as per request this is pricing is subject to tour on offer. ( please liaise with operations) EgyptAir -MS
Clients are entitled to 23kg as standard as part of there tickets.- Hand luggage allowance is 8kg allowance onboard.

Turkish Airlines- TK
Clients are entitled to 23kg as standard as part of their package – hand luggage Allowance 8kg Emirates Airlines -EK
Clients are entitled to 25kg as part of their ticket – hand luggage Allowance 7kg Qatar Airways -QR
Clients are entitled to 23kg please advise clients this is the maximum allowance as excess in these countries are at a high additional premium for anything over this – hand luggage allowance 7kg only Jet 2 – J2 Jet 2 DO NOT allow baggage as standard with flight tickets purchased clients are entitled to a bag under the seat only.- Additional extras a 22kg bag can be purchased as per request this is pricing is subject to tour on offer. ( please liaise with operations) 80 GBP as standard in most cases
Play Airlines -OG
Play Airlines do not allow baggage as part of their tickets – all bags are additional cost to the client please liaise with operations should client require for up to date pricing bags allowed 20kg / 12kg only – only free bags are to be placed under seat.
Bangkok airlines -PG 
Clients are entitled to 20kg allowance onboard as part of there tickets- 7kg allowance is allowed onboard.
Vietnam Airlines -VN
Clients are entitled to 20kg allowance as checked in baggage- hand luggage allowance allowed by airline is 7kg only.
Lufthansa -LH Clients are entitled 8kg hand luggage to Europe only for long haul clients are entitled to 20kg baggage as part of there ticket
Air Canada – AC
Clients are entitled to 23kg baggage as part of their ticket. – hand luggage is 10kg max allowed as per standard requirements
Iberia -IB
Clients are entitled to 23kg as per there ticket- 10kg max allowance for hand luggage is 10kg only

Name Change Fee

Short haul flights

Outside 2wks - €135 per person

2wks-72hrs - €165 per person