TERMS AND CONDITIONS
1. Introduction
Please read these Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) before making any travel bookings through www.hiddengemsta.com (“Website”, “Site”). These Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you (the “Client”, “You”, or “Your”) and 9362 1910 Québec Inc t/a Hidden Gems (“Hidden Gems”, “Company”, “We”, “Us”, or “Our”) in accordance with the laws of Québec, Canada from its head office located at [INSERT COMPANY ADDRESS].
These Terms, along with our Privacy Policy (collectively referred to as “Agreement”) form the entire agreement and understanding between you and the Company.
By accessing our Website and/or purchasing a travel package, you represent and warrant to the Company that you have read and agree to be bound by this Agreement.
2. Key Terms
Unless expressly stated otherwise, whenever used in the Agreement, the following terms shall have the following meaning:
“Booking” – refers to the acceptance of a Company quote by the Client.
“Client/s” – refers to the person making the booking with the Company as well as any individual, group or entity who is represented by the person making the booking.
“Service fee” – refers to the fee charged by the Company in addition to the cost of travel package.
“Travel Package” – refers to any bookings made by the Company on behalf of the Client with third-party vendors including but not limited to flight tickets, accommodation and activities in the holiday destination.
“Third-party Vendors” – refers to businesses that are neither owned nor operated by the Company including but not limited airline companies, hotels, tour and travel operators.
“Quote” – refers to the amount specified the Company in the quotation email to the Client for the surprise holiday.
“Service” – refers to the travel services offered by the Company including but not limited to selecting surprise holiday destination for the client, booking accommodation, flight tickets and activities.
“User/s” – refers to any person who accesses the website and includes any reference to Client/s, You or Your.
3. Eligibility
You must be at least eighteen years of age to make a booking through the Website. Please do not complete our online Survey and book any Services through the website if you do not meet the age eligibility criteria. We cannot enter into legally binding agreements with people under the age of eighteen. Where you enter into this Agreement on behalf of another individual, group or entity, you represent and warrant to the Company that you have the authority to act on behalf of that individual, group or entity and to bind the former to this Agreement. You further agree to communicate these terms to such other individual or group on whose behalf you are entering into this Agreement.
IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF THIRTEEN YEARS, YOU MAY NOT ACCESS THIS SITE AND YOU MAY NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SUBMIT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION THROUGH THE SITE.
4. Amendments
The Company reserves the right to amend any provision of this Agreement as well as the right to discontinue the Website and Services offered by the Company. Where we make any amendments to this Agreement, we will notify you by updating the last updated date on the top. Please review this Agreement every time you visit our Site. Please note that any changes to this Agreement will not impact any confirmed travel service bookings.
5. Travel Service – Terms and Conditions
The Company operates a travel agency offering surprise holidays for clients around the world. The Company relies upon the information provided by the client during the online survey to choose a surprise holiday destination based on client’s unique preference. Depending on the client budget and preference the Company will make a travel package which may include one or more of the following: booking flight tickets to the secret holiday destination, accommodation bookings and pre-organised activities.
By booking a travel package with the Company, the Client expressly authorizes the Company to select a surprise holiday destination for the client and any other arrangements included in the travel package. The Client understands and accepts that the Company is unable to offer any guarantees as to Client satisfaction with the selected holiday destination. The Client accepts and agrees that the Client will not be able to claim any refunds for a travel package if the Client does not like the selected destination, accommodation or activity which formed part of the travel package.
a. How it works
To get started simply complete our online survey at www.hiddengemsta.com and provide us with all requested information including your budget. Once we receive your information we will analyse the ideal destination for your holiday and send you a quote via email provided by you during the survey. Once you accept our quote and make the full payment, we will start planning your holiday and making all relevant bookings included in your travel package. Please ensure that you provide us with accurate personal information for all clients. We will not be responsible for any cancellation fees resulting from any inaccurate information. We will send you a confirmation email as soon as your travel package has been booked and at least 15 days before your set departure date.
Two weeks before your departure date, we will send you an email containing relevant information on what you need to pack for your holiday. One week before you are set to leave for your surprise holiday destination, we will send you relevant travel documents and booking information. We encourage you to refrain from looking at your surprise destination until you arrive at your port of departure to fully experience your surprise.
Please note that we do not have any legal or moral obligation to accept any bookings and we may decline to accept your booking in our sole discretion. In the event we decide to cancel your booking, we will refund the full amount paid by you in accordance with our refund policy outlined in this Agreement.
You accept and agree that we do not own, operate or control any third-party vendors. All flight tickets, accommodation, activities booked and paid for by the Company on your behalf, as part of your travel package, are subject to their own terms and conditions. By accepting our quote and booking your holiday with the Company you authorize us to act on your behalf and bind you to these third-party vendor terms and conditions.
b. Pricing and Payment Policy
Please note that our quote is only valid for 14 days from the issuing date. To accept the quote you will be required to make the full payment at the time of your booking. We currently use secure Paypal Payment Gateway to process all travel package payments. By accepting our quote and making a payment through our selected payment processor, you further agree to abide by our selected payment processor’s terms and policies. To learn more about the legal policies and practices of Paypal, please visit Paypal’s legal agreement here.
All travel package quotes offered by the Company are quoted in Canadian Dollars. You are required to authorize the payment at the time you make the booking.
Although we take all reasonable care to ensure the quote as offered by the Company to you is correct, we cannot offer any guarantees as to the accuracy of this information. If we are of the view that the quote we offered you was incorrect after you made the booking, we will contact you and offer you an opportunity to rebook at the correct quote amount.
Please note that your travel package does not include food, drinks and any amount payable for any government / tourist taxes that are only payable when you arrive at the holiday destination. Furthermore, should you decide to change your travel and activity plans when you arrive at your surprise destination, we are not able to cover the charges for such changes or offer you any refunds for any no-shows.
c. Travel Insurance, Booking Changes and Cancellation Policy
We encourage you to acquire a travel insurance at the time you make your booking to avoid incurring any costs as a result of any changes in your travel plans. You can purchase a travel insurance from the Company or from another travel insurance provider. Please note that if you decide to cancel or make any changes in your booking you may incur a cancellation fee or additional charges and you may be able to recover these under your travel insurance.
i. Booking Changes and Cancellations by Clients – If you wish to cancel your booking or make any changes in your travel plans / passenger details, you must contact us immediately at info@hiddengemsta.com with the word “Urgent Request” in the subject line and a detailed description of your specific request. Please note that wherever possible, we will try to contact the airline company and other third-party vendor to make the relevant changes, cancellation or rescheduling requests on your behalf and communicate all updated details to you as soon as possible. However, you understand that these third-party vendors have their own terms and condition and any booking changes or cancellation requests may incur cancellation fee equal to full price of your booking. Such cancellation fees are for your own account and the Company will not be held liable for reimbursing you for any such costs. If the grounds of your cancellation and/or amendments are covered under your travel insurance, you will be able to claim such cancellation fees under your travel insurance.
ii. Booking Changes and Cancellations by the Company – Please note that we reserve the right to but are not under any obligation to make any booking changes. In the unlikely event where the Company makes any changes to your booking, we will immediately communicate such changes to you. In the event where we have to cancel your booking, we will refund the full amount paid by you for the travel package in accordance with our refund policy. Please note, where the changes or booking cancellations are initiated by a third-party vendor such as the Airline Company or Hotel, we will try to communicate these changes to you as soon as possible and you will have the option to either accept an alternative arrangement or cancel your booking and request a full refund payable in accordance with our refund policy.
d. Client’s Obligations
It is solely the responsibility of Client to provide complete and correct requested information to the Company at the time of booking.
The Company relies upon the information provided by the Client to deliver its services and to contact the client in the event of any unforeseen changes. Please ensure that you provide us with correct phone number and emails address to enable us to contact you, if needed. Any failure on the Client’s part to provide us with correct information may result in additional costs and cancellation fees which will be borne by the Client.
The Client is solely responsible for organising additional travel documentation from relevant authorities for international travels such as: passport and visa requirements based on the information provided by the Company.
It is solely the responsibility of the Client to ensure that their passport, visa and travel insurance documents are in order and to carry these documents with them on the set departure date. If and when requested by the Company, the Client is obligated to send a proof of travel insurance to the Company.
Please note that any no-show or missed flights may result in Client forfeiting their full booking fee. The Company will not be liable for such loss of booking fee arising as a result of an error on the part of the Client.
e. Company’s Obligations
It is solely the responsibility of the Company to offer a quote to the Client based on the survey completed by the Client.
It is Company’s responsibility to confirm the travel package including flight bookings, accommodation and any other pre-organised activities for the clients after the client has made the booking.
The Company must send all relevant travel documents and information to the Clients at least one week before the set departure date and communicate clearly the date and time when the Client must arrive at the port of departure.
f. Refund Policy
Where you qualify for a full or partial refund, we will process the refund within 30 days from the date of refund confirmation. All refunds are processed using the same payment method that you used to make the booking and made to the person who made the original payment. As we rely upon our Payment Processor to process refunds, we cannot offer you any guarantees as to the exact date and time for refunds reaching your account.
6. User Conduct
You agree that you will:
- Not use the website and services for any illegal or immoral purposes;
- You will familiarise yourself with all relevant travel regulations and requirements including but not limited to baggage restrictions that may be applicable to your booking;
- Not post any content on the Website that may be potentially or actually harmful to the Company or any User;
- Not post any content or information on the website that is false, inaccurate, misleading or deceptive in nature;
- Not infringe any User’s or third party’s copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights or intellectual property rights including but not limited to rights of publicity, confidentiality or privacy;
- Not act in any manner that may lead to violation of any local or international applicable laws or regulation;
- Not post any content on the Website that may be deemed defamatory, libellous, threatening or harassing any group or individual;
- Not post any content that is obscene or contain any material, that we may in our sole discretion deem inappropriate or unlawful;
- Not intentionally or unintentionally cause harm or subvert the function of the Website by introducing any viruses or other computer programming routines that may damage, modify, delete or interfere with any system, data or personal information stored on the Website;
7. Intellectual Property
Unless expressly stated otherwise, all content made available by the Company including without limitation, the text, graphics, logos, trademarks, audio, video, interactive features, software and the like (“Company Content”) are owned by and/or licensed to the Company and subject to trademark, copyright and other intellectual property rights under the local and international laws and conventions.
Unless expressly specified otherwise, you are not authorized to copy, sell, transfer, sublicense, assign, reproduce, republish, disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer or distribute any Company Content in any way.
You agree that you will not remove any copyright, trademarks and any proprietary notices from any Company Content or any other User Content (“Third-Party Intellectual Property”) that you do not have rights and licences to use. You understand that any use of Company Content or any Third-Party Intellectual Property on any website, system or application that is not owned and operated by us is strictly prohibited.
We hereby grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Website and content therein in accordance with this Agreement.
We reserve the right to prosecute any violations of this provision to the fullest extent permitted by law. You acknowledge that breach of this provision can incur criminal as well as civil liability.
8. User Generated Content
We encourage our Users to connect with us. By submitting your images, videos and other similar content on our Website or our social media pages (“User Generated Content”), you grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, transferable, irrevocable and full sub-licensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, distribute, publish, create derivative work from, publicly display and perform such User Generated Content in any media. You also grant the Company and its authorized personnel the right to identify you as the author of such User Generated Content by name, username, or email address where appropriate and/or required by law.
You understand that all information submitted by a User to our Website is the sole responsibility of the User from whom such Content originated; that the Company will not be liable for any errors or omissions in any User Generated Content.
By making any submission, you represent and warrant to us that you are the author / creator of such User Generated Content and you acknowledge and agree that your contribution is non-confidential and non-proprietary. You waive any and all moral rights in your User Generated Content and authorize the Company to publish, use, modify, delete or in any other way exploit your User Generated Content without any obligation to compensate you.
9. Feeback
We appreciate your feedback, suggestions on how we can improve our Service. You understand that when you send us your suggestions, ideas and feedback, you represent and warrant that you are not violating any intellectual property rights of another individual or entity. You also agree to grant us any and all legal rights in such feedback, ideas or suggestions and allow us to use, disclose and/or otherwise exploit your submission, in whole or in part, without any restriction or compensation to you. You understand that you will be waiving all claims now and in future to any monetary compensation against the Company.
10. Third-Party Website Links
The website may contain links to third-party websites which are not owned or operated by us. These links are only provided for your convenience and such links do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the Company of such third-party website services. We do not review or verify the content and claims made by such third-party website or any products/services offered by them. We will not be held responsible for the content of such third-party websites. Please note that these third-party sites are governed by their own terms and conditions and privacy policy which may be different from those contained in this Agreement. You should always review the terms and conditions and privacy policy of such third-party sites before accessing or making use of their service.
11. Promotions
The Company may, in its sole discretion create promotional codes, vouchers or offers (collectively referred to as “offers”) that can only be used towards Services offered by the Company. You understand and accept that the Company uses these offers to increase its marketing reach and therefore offers can only be used once per User. Please note that additional terms and conditions may apply to offers and when you access or make use of an offer. You agree to be bound by those additional terms and conditions. Offers may expire upon the date specified and may not be redeemed for cash or transferred to another User. The Company reserves the right to refuse redeeming an offer if we are of the view that there has been abuse, fraud or any other illegal activity on your part.
12. Information Disclaimer
ALL INFORMATION/CONTENT AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE IS PROVIDED FOR YOUR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY. THE COMPANY MAKES NO CLAIMS OR REPRESENTATION AS TO ANY SPECIFIC RESULTS THAT MAY BE ACHIEVED THROUGH THE USE OF OUR WEBSITE AND/OR SERVICES.
ALTHOUGH WE TAKE ALL REASONABLE STEPS TO ENSURE THAT ALL INFORMATION ON THE SITE IS ACCURATE, WE ARE UNABLE TO OFFER ANY GUARANTEES AS TO THE ACCURACY OF ANY INFORMATION. ACCORDINGLY, ANY DECISION YOU TAKE BASED ON ANY INFORMATION / CONTENT YOU RECEIVE THROUGH THE WEBSITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.
13. Limitation of Liability
NOTHING IN THIS AGREEMENT SHALL ACT TO EXCLUDE OR LIMIT THE LIABILITY OF THE COMPANY FOR DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY RESULTING FROM NEGLIGENCE, FRAUD OR ANY OTHER LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED BY APPLICABLE LAW.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COMPANY, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES AND AGENTS BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR SERVICES OFFERED BY THE COMPANY INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY PERSONAL LOSS, INJURY, COST, DAMAGE OR INCONVENIENCE SUFFERED BY YOU AS A RESULT OF ANY ACTION OR OMISSION ON THE PART OF THIRD-PARTY VENDOR INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DELAY, CANCELLATION, ACCIDENTS OR EQUIPMENT FAILURE.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE COMPANY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES THAT ARE NOT EXPRESSLY REFERENCED HEREIN.
ANY CLAIM AGAINST THE COMPANY, ARISING FROM THIS AGREEMENT OR THE USE OF SERVICES, MUST BE BROUGHT BY THE CLIENT WITHIN THREE (3) MONTHS FROM THE DATE WHEN THE CLAIM FIRST AROSE. ANY FAILURE ON THE PART OF THE CLIENT TO BRING THE CLAIM WITHIN THE THREE MONTH PERIOD WILL RESULT IN WAIVER OF SUCH CLIENTS RIGHT TO BRING SUCH ACTION AT A LATER STAGE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE TOTAL LIABILITY OF THE COMPANY ITS DIRECTORS, SHAREHOLDERS, EMPLOYEES AND CONTRACTORS, WHETHER ARISING IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY THE CLIENT TO THE COMPANY FOR TRAVEL SERVICES WHICH GAVE RISE TO THE CLAIM.
THE COMPANY MAKES NO REPRESENTATION REGARDING THE SUITABILITY OR AVAILABILITY OF THE SERVICES IN LOCATIONS OTHER THAN THOSE SPECIFIED ON OUR WEBSITE.
14. Indemnity
You agree to release, defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Company, its founders, affiliates, subsidiaries against any claims, liabilities, charges, damages, losses, and expenses, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees, arising out of or in any way connected with:
(i) Your use or inability to use the Website,
(ii) violation of this Agreement by you,
(iii) violation of any applicable law by you,
(ii) Your gross negligence or willful misconduct
The Company reserves the right, at its own expense to assume exclusive defence of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification. You agree that you will not settle any claim without the express written consent of the Company.
15. Governing Law
These Terms of Use shall be governed by the laws of the Province of Québec and the federal laws of Canada without giving effect to any principles of conflict of laws. The User and the Company both agree to bring any action or claim arising out of or related to this Agreement in the court of law located in Montreal, Québec.
16. Severability
If applicable law finds any provision of this Agreement to be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then such provision will only be limited to the minimum extent necessary and such limitation will not impact the validity and enforceability of the remainder of this Agreement.
17. Force Majeure
The Company will not be held liable for failure to perform any of its obligations towards the Clients, Users or any third-party if such failure is as a result of Acts of God (including fire, flood, earthquake, storm, hurricane or other natural disaster), war, invasion, act of foreign enemies, hostilities (regardless of whether war is declared), civil war, rebellion, revolution, insurrection, military or usurped power or confiscation, terrorist activities, nationalisation, government sanction, blockage, embargo, labor dispute, strike, lockout or any interruption or any failure of electricity or server, system, computer, internet or telephone service.
