In these terms and conditions, the words "we" or “us”
refer to Jasmine's China Adventure Tours (CST 2034611-40). If you send us a
deposit or payment for a tour, you are agreeing to be bound by all these General
Terms and Conditions.
1. Prices: The prices for the tours are as follows (all amounts in U.S. dollars, per person, based on double occupancy):
Ancient Capitals and Scenic Wonders: $3,650 USD
China Panorama: $2,900 USD
Journey to the Roof of the World: $4,480 USD
Dragon River Odyssey: $3,450 USD
Journey to the (North)West: $3,450 USD
Classic and Modern China: $3,650 USD
2. Price changes: The prices are based on the most current information on costs in China and on the rate of currency exchange. If there are significant changes in either of these things prior to departure, we may have to increase the cost of the trip. We will always inform you of this, if it is necessary, as far in advance of the trip as possible. If we have to increase the cost of the trip 10% or more, we will let you cancel your trip without any penalty. Your tour price will be guaranteed, and will not be changed, after the date for final payment has passed and you have made full payment for the tour.
3. What the price includes: Airport pickup upon your arrival on the tour’s scheduled day of arrival in China and transfer to your hotel; all air and other transportation within China; all airport departure taxes on included flights; all accommodations (double occupancy); all daily meals and local flavors (including one beverage), except for excluded meals as specified in the tour itineraries; transfers and permits; entry fees for sightseeing attractions; music and dance performances and other cultural events described in the itineraries; the services of English- guides in each place of your trip; and drop off service at the airport of departure from China on the last scheduled day of the tour.
4. What the price does not include: Roundtrip air travel between your home and China; airport departure taxes on such travel; the cost of your Chinese visa; airport transfers for arrivals in China and departures from China on days other than the days scheduled for arrival and departure in the itineraries; meals, sightseeing or other activities on days designated in the itineraries as free time; meals specifically excluded in the tour itineraries; personal insurance; personal items such as extra beverages at meals, food or snacks at times other than regular meal times, laundry, telephone, fax or Internet/E-mail access charges, film, fees for taking photographs or videos in certain locations, fees for changing money, individual transfers, medical expenses, excess baggage fees, customs duties, shopping and tips or gratuities for local guides and drivers. (For tipping, see paragraph 5, below.)
5. Tipping: Tips to your local guides and drivers are not required, but are commonly expected and appreciated from foreign tourists in China. If you give a tip, the recommended standard is $5 USD per person per day for the local guide and $3 USD per person per day for the driver, but you may give whatever amount you wish, based on the service you receive.
6. Reservations and Payments: A deposit of $300.00 and a completed and signed tour booking form are required to reserve your space on the trip. Payment of the balance of the tour price is due 90 days prior to departure. If payment in full is not received at this time, we reserve the right to regard your reservation as cancelled, and there will be no refund of payments already made. For bookings made within 90 days of departure, full payment is due at the time of your booking. Please make payment in U.S. dollars by personal or bank check made payable to “Jasmine’s China Adventure Tours”. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept payment by credit card.
7. Cancellation by You and Refund Policy: All cancellations by participants must be in writing, and are not effective until received by us. If you cancel more than 90 days before departure, you will get a full refund. If you cancel between 60 and 90 days prior to departure, we will charge a cancellation penalty of 50% of the cost. If you cancel less than 60 days prior to departure, all payments are non-refundable because payment and arrangements for the trip will have been made final. Please see paragraph 16 regarding trip cancellation insurance.
8. Cancellation of the Tour by Us: We reserve the right to cancel the tour at any time up to the date final payment is due under the following conditions:
1. For all tours: In our opinion, health and/or safety factors related to conditions in China would make the tour inadvisable.
2. For all tours except “Journey to the (North)West”: Fewer than 2 persons have signed up for the tour.
3. For all departures of “Journey to the (North)West: Fewer than 6 persons
have signed up for the tour.
If we cancel the tour for any of these reasons prior to the date final payment
is due, all money paid by the participants will be refunded. If cancellation
occurs because the group does not have the required minimum number of participants,
we may offer all those who have signed up the opportunity to have the same tour,
but the price may have to be increased. We will notify you of any increase,
and give you a reasonable period of time to make your decision. You may, but
are under no obligation to, take the tour under these new terms.
After the date final payment is due, we may cancel the tour only if, in our opinion, health and/or safety factors related to conditions in China would make the tour inadvisable. Since cancellation in this case involves factors which may arise suddenly and are entirely outside our control, including but not limited to natural disasters and civil unrest, we cannot guarantee a refund in this case. This is because payment will already have been made to our cooperating agencies in China in order to finalize the arrangements. Please see paragraph 16 regarding trip cancellation insurance.
8A. Refunds: Subject to all the provisions of the California Seller of Travel Statute (Business and Professions Code sections 17550 - 17550.59), upon cancellation of the travel services you have paid for, or upon failure on our part to provide the transportation or travel services you have paid for, where you are not at fault and have not cancelled in violation of any terms and conditions previously clearly and conspicuously disclosed to and agreed to by you, all sums paid by you to us for services not provided will be promptly paid to you, unless you otherwise advise us in writing, after cancellation.
9. Participation by minors: Persons under 18 may take this tour only if they are traveling with a parent or legal guardian. There can be no exceptions to this policy.
10. Changes to Itineraries and Arrangements: All itineraries, tour arrangements and activities are subject to change without notice, although we will try to give you notice as soon as possible. We reserve the right to rearrange the itinerary, alter tour arrangements and substitute or delete activities from the schedule if this becomes necessary due to local conditions, the convenience of the parties or the proper and safe conduct of the tour. If this happens, we will try to provide you with alternate arrangements of comparable quality.
11. Group Size: All tours will be limited to no more than 12 people.
12. Guides and Tour Escorts: English-speaking local guides will be provided for your tour (except on days designated as free time) through licensed Chinese tour agencies that regularly supply us with guides for our tours. You will have a different guide at each stop on the tour, and the guides will not travel with you from place to place. Most of the tours do not have a tour escort to travel with the group. The exceptions are the September 2010 and July 2011 departures of the “Journey to the (North)West” tour: Jasmine Zheng-Behrens, the owner of Jasmine’s China Adventure Tours, will personally guide those departures and travel with the group as the tour escort.
13. Accommodations: All hotels in larger cities are 4 or 5 star hotels. Rooms have an attached private bath and individual heating/air conditioning, as well as a telephone capable of international direct dialing and a television (although usually only Chinese channels are available). In smaller towns or rural areas, the best available hotel will be used. We will provide you with a final list of hotels along with contact information approximately 30 days prior to departure.
14. Room assignments/Single supplement: All hotel accommodations are based on double occupancy. If you tell us that you are willing to share a room on the trip when you sign up, we won't charge you a single supplement if we can't match you with a roommate. If you tell us when you sign up that you want to have your own room, there will be an extra charge of $600 USD, which will guarantee you a single room throughout the trip. If you wish to request a particular person as your roommate, please indicate that on your application form or by e-mail or letter to Jasmine, and you will be given a room together. In the absence of such a request, room assignments will be same-gender and random.
15. No Refunds after Tour Begins: There will be no refund for any reason once the trip has begun, unless through our fault you do not receive the trip you paid for. There will be no refund for unused hotel rooms, meals, sightseeing or any other charges once the trip begins.
16. Insurance: We strongly recommend that you obtain a trip cancellation, accident and baggage insurance policy. We do not sell such coverage ourselves or receive any compensation from the sale of such coverage, and we do not recommend particular carriers, as coverages and individual requirements differ.
17. Travel Documents: A visa is required to travel in China. You will need to obtain an individual 30-day tourist visa from a Chinese consulate approximately two months before your departure date. (We will provide you with information about how to apply for the visa.) Although visa applications are rarely denied, in case your application is denied, we cannot provide a refund of the tour price. In addition, citizens and residents of the United States must have a valid passport that will not expire for at least six months after the end of the trip. If you are not a U.S. citizen, you must also have a valid "green card" to re-enter the U.S. Citizens and residents of other nations should consult immigration authorities in their home country regarding re-entry requirements.
18. Baggage/Personal Property: You carry your baggage and personal property at your own risk at all times throughout the tour. Excess and oversized baggage charges are your responsibility.
19. Medical Responsibility: It is your responsibility to determine whether the tour you choose is suited to your physical condition. You are responsible for the cost of any medicines or medical care you may require during the trip for any reason. Please make sure you have adequate personal medical insurance to meet any medical emergency which might arise. In some cases, if you need medical care during the tour, you may be required to pay for it at the time it is rendered and seek reimbursement from your insurer after you return home. Please check with your medical insurer for details. In the event of a medical emergency, we will make every effort to assist you in obtaining necessary care and, if necessary, assist you in making arrangements to transfer funds from home to pay for it. We accept no liability for any medical care you may receive while traveling on the tour. Please tell us if you suffer from any allergies or other physical conditions which might affect you during the tour. Finally, please check with your doctor to find out what inoculations may be recommended for the areas you will be visiting. It is your responsibility to obtain all necessary inoculations. We reserve the right to decline to accept any person as a member of the tour, or to decline to retain any person, if such person's physical condition, mental well-being or behavior interferes with the operation of the tour. There will be no refund in such cases.
20. Special Note Regarding Elevation: The following tours visit high elevation areas in Yunnan, Gansu and Tibet: Ancient Capitals and Scenic Wonders (up to 11,000 feet); Journey to the (North)West (up to 10,000 feet); and Journey to the Roof of the World (in excess of 12,000 feet). Please consult your personal physician regarding travel to high-elevation areas if you are considering one of these tours. If you have experienced difficulty with high elevations in the past, we recommend that you do not take these tours.
21. Special Provisions for Yangtze River Three Gorges Cruise (Dragon River Odyssey tour):
A. Booking: We do not operate the Yangtze River Three Gorges cruises. We will book your cruise for you through the appointed booking agent of the cruise line, and will make the travel arrangements necessary for you to connect the cruise with the remainder of the tour.
B. Cruise Packages: The Three Gorges cruise is offered as a complete package that includes meals, activities and a program of sightseeing and shore excursions. It is not a private tour and in all activities you will be part of a larger group. The cruise line provides its own English-speaking guides and tour coordinators. We do not provide a guide to accompany you on the cruise, but we will provide transfers to and from the cruise ship docks.
C. Limitation of Liability: We are making the arrangements for the Yangtze River Three Gorges cruise on your behalf as a convenience to permit you to combine the cruise with the rest of this tour. In making such arrangements, we do not accept any liability for injury, loss, damage or expense of any kind that may occur for any reason as the result of the operation of the cruise. We do not have any control over the operation of the cruise and accordingly accept no liability for injury, loss, damage or expense of any kind that may arise out of the operation of the cruise from any cause whatsoever, including, but not limited to, cancellation of departure, schedule changes, changes in or elimination of activities or shore excursions, overbooking, inclement weather or adverse water conditions, tardy arrival resulting in missed onward travel connections, negligence of the cruise operator or failure of the cruise operator to provide promised services and/or facilities, or any other cause.
22. Limitation of Liability: We are not liable for delays, inconveniences, accidents, injuries or expenses of any kind resulting entirely, or in part, from the negligence of others or from causes beyond our control, including but not limited to natural disasters, civil unrest, war, terrorism, transportation accidents or delays, illness, crime and exposure to environmental conditions such as air pollution. As stated above, the guides for your tour will be provided by a licensed Chinese travel service. Such travel service, its employees and agents are not employees, agents, or in any way under the control of Jasmine's China Adventure Tours. We are not liable for any injury or damage occurring as the result of the acts, negligent or otherwise, of any cooperating Chinese travel service, its agents or employees. Participants assume all risks of personal injury and aggravation of any medical condition related in any way to the activities of the tour. Baggage and other personal property are the responsibility of the owner and we are not liable for any loss. Also, please see the paragraph on "Free Time" below.
23. Special Note Regarding Procedure in Case of Air or Ground Transportation Delays:
Over the years, the vast majority of our tours have been able to keep to the planned itinerary. Still, as is the case anywhere else in the world, delays can occur as the result of factors outside our control. Chinese domestic air travel has become quite reliable, but occasionally flights are delayed or even cancelled as the result of bad weather, mechanical problems, or other factors (just as they might be in the U.S.).
Similarly, although the Chinese highway system has improved greatly in recent years, road travel delays may occur as the result of weather or other factors, particularly during holiday periods.
In case of airline flight delays or cancellations, this is the procedure your group will follow:
If your flight is delayed, you will wait and take the flight at its new departure time.
If your flight is cancelled, normally the airline will re-book you on another airline or on a later flight on the same airline. In that case, you will wait and take the re-booked flight.
On rare occasions, your cancelled flight may be the last available flight that day, or an airport may be closed by bad weather for the rest of the day so that no more departing flights are available that day. In that case, the normal procedure is for the airline or the local airport authority to provide passengers who are delayed overnight with hotel accommodations and then a re-booking on a departing flight after the airport reopens. You will follow that procedure.
If you are delayed overnight and are not offered accommodations and/or rebooking by the airline or the airport authority, we and our Chinese guides and agents will do everything reasonably possible to obtain for you accommodations near the airport and onward transportation to the next destination on the tour itinerary at no extra cost to you. (We will provide you with a telephone number to contact our local agent in China for assistance in case of this kind of situation.)
Any alternate arrangements, such as road transport to another city not on the itinerary, and accommodations in and onward flights from that city, will be at your own cost based on your individual agreement with our agents or other third parties. If you make such alternate arrangements through our local agents, the cost of such arrangements must be paid to our agents in advance.
In case of road travel delays or closures occurring as the result of weather or any other cause, your guides and drivers will make every reasonable effort to get you to your next destination as soon as possible, consistent with safety. This may require a change in routing.
If you encounter delays or travel obstacles of this kind, naturally there will be some impact on your plans. Of course we will do everything reasonably possible to make sure that you stay as close to your schedule as possible, and that you still get to enjoy as many of the activities we have planned for your tour as possible. But if a transportation delay causes you to arrive late in your next destination, it might be necessary and even unavoidable to cancel or condense some of your planned activities there. There is no refund for activities that are lost or for travel arrangements that are unused as the result of transportation delays. We also do not accept any liability for losses, damages or extra expenses of any kind that occur as the result of transportation delays.
24. Free Time: Certain periods during the tour are, or will be, designated as "free time". These periods are provided primarily to give you a chance to rest and relax. You are, however, free to use the time as you wish. We will be happy to give you some information about things to do or see, but we do not accept responsibility for any loss, accident or injury which occurs during free time.
25. Disclosures Required Under California Law:
[For residents of California only:]
This business is a participant in the Travel Consumer Restitution Corporation
(TCRC).
You, the passenger, may request reimbursement from TCRC if you are owed a refund of more than $50 for transportation or travel services which was not refunded in a timely manner by a seller of travel who was registered and participating in the TCRC at the time of sale. The maximum amount which may be paid by the TCRC to any one passenger is the total amount paid on behalf of the passenger to the seller of travel, not to exceed $15,000.
A claim must be submitted to the TCRC within six months after the scheduled completion date of the travel. A claim must include sufficient information and documentation to prove your claim and a $35 processing fee. You must agree to waive your right to other civil remedies against a registered participating seller of travel for matters arising out of a sale for which you file a claim with the TCRC, if you are located in California at the time of the sale.
You may request a claim form by writing to Travel Consumer Restitution Corporation, P.O. Box 6001, Larkspur, California 94977-6001; or by faxing a request to (415) 927-7698.
California law requires certain sellers of travel to have a trust account or bond. Jasmine's China Adventure Tours has a trust account.
[For all other persons:]
This transaction is not covered by the California Travel Consumer Restitution
Corporation.
California law requires certain sellers of travel to have a trust account
or bond. Jasmine's China Adventure Tours has a trust account.