|
|
|
|
|
Adventure Tours |
 PERMITS & POLICIES Islazul Tours is a registered travel agency in Ecuador: Islazul Viajes Cia. Ltda. RUC Nr.: 1791714768001 We are also members of CAPTUR, the provincial tourist bureau. Booking and Payment procedures: As you are probably already aware of, you can find all our programs and their costs on the individual pages of this section. I want to stress again that those are not written in stone and all trips can be adjusted to your wishes and interests. All this and new prices will be determined before you make a financial commitment to us. Once everything is agreed upon, we will ask you for a non-refundable 25% downpayment of the complete value within a week. In most cases, unless you are in Quito, this has to be done by a money transaction to our bank in Europe or USA (see below). Once the money is deposited in our bank account we will send you by E-mail a confirmation with an invoice and the trip is then firmly reserved for you. The final payment of the rest of the amount can then be paid on arrival in Quito in USD cash (no credit cards). The full amount has to be received before starting on the trip and there will be no refund in case of a last minute cancellation on your part. Galapagos Cruises and Jungle Lodges: Apart from our own tours, we sell principally two other trips, Galapagos cruises and Amazon lodges with the correspondent flights. There, the procedure is similar but with some differences. First you contact us and tell us of the cruise or lodge and time frame you are interested in. Then we check with the owners for availability and a definite price. Once you agree to it, we will block your spaces for a week to give you time to make your non-refundable reservation payment of 25% of the total value. The final payment has to be received at least 2 weeks before start of the trip. For more detailed reservation information on Galapagos cruises, click to www.ecuador-travel.net/galapagos.cruises.htm Cancellation There will be no refund of any money in case of cancellation on your part no matter what the circumstances. IMPORTANT: For personal, business and safety reasons WE DO NOT ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS either by Internet or at our office in Quito. So the payments have to be made either in USD cash or by money wire to our banks either in USA or Holland. Money Wire: Once you like to book a trip through us, we will give you the transaction details. Be aware that all transaction fees, go on your account as our two banks do not charge us any transaction costs. The fees of your bank has to be paid by you. Our bank in Holland, Europe accepts SWIFT transfers in USD, CANADIAN DOLLARS and EUROS. For EURO transfers inside the European community you might also use IBAN deposits as they are much cheaper in fees. Our US and Canadian customers can make payments in USD or CAD by way of the ABA SYSTEM to our US Bank located in Antigua. Security and Travel Insurance As in any other country, personal safety is always an issue while traveling (click to information.safety). In Ecuador crimes against tourists increased in the last years because of a long and hard economic recession in the country and border problems with Colombia. Most assaults happen in public buses, bus terminals and other public places where tourists abound. In an organized trip you are not as susceptible to that as there is always a car around and the guide knows how to behave and what to avoid. But it can also happen on those trips and you should know that we are not insured against robbery and accidents. Therefore if you are worried about that you should get a good travel insurance plan in your home country. This is especially true if you take part in any of the high risk adventure programs like climbing, rafting, cycling, etc... No insurance is available in the country and you should get an appropriate one in your country which covers all the costs of rescue, hospital stays or god forbid death. This holds also true for any trips outside of Ecuador. Also no liability for any accident, loss, damage or death, or any other expense, is accepted or entertained by Islazul Viajes Cia. Ltda. Another problem which may arise while visiting the country are regional and national strikes where often roads are blocked and other measures taken, where free travel throughout the country is not possible. In case of those circumstances there will be no refund but we will try to offer alternative trips which are still possible and close to the original tour plan. A final Note: As we do all our business by internet, some of you might have some concerns about dealing with us directly without having personal contact. That is understandable so check out our credentials by contacting the Ecuadorian Ministry of Tourism or Captur for our legal status. We asked also a few of our former guests to give us references and you find their addresses at our links page. It happens once or twice a year that people let us do all the work and everything is booked and suddenly they get cold feet and ask for some proof of existence, etc... Please, if you are of the suspicious type, check us out before contacting us and only contact us once you fell confident about us. If you like just free advice, we try to help you too but state that clearly in your mail. |
|
|
|
