Terms

Thank you for choosing Tailor Made Rail.

These Booking Conditions explain what you can expect from us and what we’ll need from you when you book a holiday. They form the agreement between you and Tailor Made Rail Ltd, so we recommend reading them carefully before making your booking.

When you complete your booking and click “I Agree” during the booking process, you’re confirming that you’ve read and accepted these Booking Conditions on behalf of everyone included in your booking.

If anything isn’t clear, please ask us. We’d much rather answer a question before you travel than deal with a misunderstanding later.

Your contract with us

Your contract is with Tailor Made Rail Ltd.

Your booking becomes legally binding once we’ve accepted your booking and sent you our confirmation email.

If you’re making a booking for more than one person, you’re confirming that you have the authority to accept these Booking Conditions on behalf of everyone in your travelling party. References to “you” throughout these Booking Conditions apply to every member of your booking.

Tailor Made Rail Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales.

Company number: 08816522

Registered office:
34-36 Gray’s Inn Road
London
WC1X 8HR
United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0)1692 660805

Email: info@tailormaderail.com

Throughout these Booking Conditions, references to “we”, “us” and “our” mean Tailor Made Rail Ltd.

Every Tailor Made Rail holiday is individually arranged for you.

Your holiday will include the accommodation, rail travel and any other services shown on your confirmation. Some holidays also include transfers, ferry crossings, excursions or other travel arrangements where these have been agreed with you before booking.

Unless we’ve confirmed otherwise in writing, your holiday does not include:

• travel insurance
• passports, visas or entry permits
• local public transport that isn’t shown on your itinerary
• taxis or private transfers you arrange yourself
• meals and drinks unless specifically included
• optional excursions or experiences booked independently
• bike hire or bicycle transport
• parking charges
• tourist taxes or local city taxes payable directly to your accommodation
• any other items not shown on your confirmation

Occasionally there are small elements of an itinerary, such as local buses, ferries or heritage railways, that cannot be booked in advance. Where this applies, we’ll explain this clearly before you travel and provide the information you need to make those arrangements yourself.

Throughout your holiday, you’ll also have access to support from the Tailor Made Rail team should you need our assistance.

Every holiday we sell is a package holiday protected by the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018. This means you’ll benefit from the rights and financial protections provided by those Regulations, as well as the terms set out in these Booking Conditions.

Paying for your holiday

To secure your booking, we require a deposit of 20% of the total holiday price.

The remaining balance must be paid no later than 90 days before your departure date. We’ll send you a reminder before your balance is due.

If you’re booking 90 days or less before departure, the full cost of your holiday is payable at the time of booking.

If your balance isn’t paid

If we haven’t received your balance by 60 days before departure, and we’ve sent you a reminder, we’ll assume you no longer wish to travel. We reserve the right to cancel your booking and retain your deposit in accordance with our cancellation charges.

If you’re experiencing difficulties making payment, please contact us as soon as possible. We’ll always do our best to help where we can.

Passenger names and details

You must provide accurate passenger information for everyone included in your booking. Please check names, dates of birth and any other details carefully before submitting them to us.

For flights, passenger names must match the names shown on the relevant passport or travel document exactly. Airlines may refuse travel where the name on a booking does not match the passenger’s travel document, and correcting a name may involve significant charges or the purchase of a new ticket.

Requirements for rail travel vary between operators. Where a rail operator requires passenger details, we will use the information you have provided to us.

If you notice an error in any passenger information, please tell us as soon as possible. We will do our best to correct it where necessary and possible. Any supplier charges or additional costs arising from incorrect information supplied to us will be payable by you. A minor difference in how a passenger’s name is displayed on a rail ticket, such as the use of an initial rather than a full first name, does not necessarily mean that the ticket is incorrect or invalid.

Travel Documents

Before you travel, it’s your responsibility to check your confirmation and travel documents carefully. If you think anything is incorrect, please let us know immediately so we can investigate before you depart.

Special requests

If you have any special requests, such as a particular room type, dietary requirement or seating preference, please let us know when you book.

We’ll happily pass reasonable requests on to the relevant supplier and will always do our best to help. However, unless we’ve specifically confirmed a request in writing, we can’t guarantee that it will be available.

A request being shown on your confirmation or travel documents simply means we’ve passed it on. It doesn’t mean the supplier has confirmed it.

Unfortunately, we can’t accept bookings that are conditional upon a particular request being fulfilled unless we’ve agreed this with you in writing before your booking is confirmed.

Accessibility and medical requirements

We want everyone to enjoy travelling by rail wherever possible, and we’ll always discuss your individual requirements honestly and openly before you book.

Rail travel can involve walking through stations, using steps, ramps, lifts and footbridges, boarding and leaving trains independently, and managing luggage between platforms and accommodation. The level of accessibility can vary significantly between countries, stations, trains and hotels.

If you, or anyone travelling with you, has a medical condition, reduced mobility or accessibility requirement that may affect your holiday, you must tell us before you book or as soon as your circumstances change.

We’ll always explain what we know about the accessibility of your itinerary and help you choose arrangements that are suitable for your needs. In some cases, we may need to obtain information from our suppliers before confirming whether your holiday is suitable.

Because many parts of your holiday are provided by independent transport operators, hotels and other suppliers, we can’t guarantee that every accessibility request will be possible. Where assistance has been confirmed by a supplier, we’ll let you know before you travel.

If we believe we can’t safely provide your holiday or reasonably meet your essential requirements, we may be unable to accept your booking. If this happens, we’ll explain the reasons fully and discuss any suitable alternatives with you.

We understand that plans sometimes change. If you need to amend or cancel your holiday, we’ll always do our best to help. Because many of the hotels, rail tickets and other travel arrangements we book on your behalf have strict supplier terms and cancellation charges, changes aren’t always possible and may incur additional costs.

If you would like to change your booking

If you’d like to change your holiday after we’ve sent your confirmation email, please contact us as soon as possible.

We’ll always try to accommodate your request, but changes are subject to availability and may not be possible, particularly if your departure date is approaching or your arrangements include non-refundable travel or accommodation.

Any request to change your booking must be made by the lead passenger.

If we’re able to make the change, the following administration charges will apply in addition to any costs or cancellation charges imposed by our suppliers.

Before your balance due date

• £40 per booking, plus any supplier charges.

After your balance has been paid

• More than 14 days before departure:
  • £40 per person for minor changes, such as changing a reserved train time or hotel where this is possible.
  • £100 per person for major changes, such as changing travel dates or transferring a booking to another person (where permitted).
• 14 days or less before departure:
  • Changes may not be possible and, where they are, charges of up to 100% of the affected arrangements may apply.

Certain holidays, including those featuring private luxury trains such as the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, Rocky Mountaineer and the Blue Train, are subject to much stricter supplier conditions and may not permit changes once booked. We’ll explain any additional restrictions before you confirm your booking.

If you need to cancel your holiday

If you decide to cancel your holiday, please let us know as soon as possible by emailing info@tailormaderail.com.

Cancellation takes effect from the date we receive your written confirmation.

Once we’ve confirmed your holiday, we begin paying deposits and committing to hotels, rail operators and other suppliers on your behalf. Many of these costs can’t be recovered, which is why cancellation charges apply.

Our standard cancellation charges are:

For holidays including private luxury trains, different cancellation charges apply because of the booking conditions imposed by the train operator. We’ll make these clear before you book.

If the reason for your cancellation is covered by your travel insurance policy, you may be able to recover these charges directly from your insurer.

Cancelling because of unavoidable & extraordinary circumstances

You have the right to cancel your holiday without paying cancellation charges if unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances at your destination, or in its immediate vicinity, significantly affect either:

• the performance of your holiday; or
• the carriage of passengers to your destination.

If this applies, we’ll provide a full refund of all payments you’ve made for your holiday. No additional compensation will be payable.

When assessing whether these circumstances exist, we’ll consider all relevant information available at the time, including advice issued by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), local authorities, transport providers and our suppliers.

We carefully plan every holiday and rarely need to make changes after a booking has been confirmed. However, rail travel is dependent on timetables published by many different operators across Europe, and occasionally changes become necessary.

Where possible, we’ll always let you know about any changes as soon as we become aware of them.

Rail timetable changes

European rail operators regularly update their timetables, sometimes many months in advance but increasingly within the weeks and days leading up to departure. Most of these changes are relatively small, such as a slightly earlier departure or a revised connection time, and won’t have a significant impact on your holiday.

Where a timetable change does affect your itinerary, we’ll always review it carefully before you travel. In many cases we’ll be able to make alternative reservations or suggest a different route that works better.

If a timetable change has a significant impact on your holiday, we’ll contact you as soon as possible to explain the options available and agree the best solution with you.

Minor changes

Occasionally we may need to make small operational changes before you travel. These might include adjusting a train reservation, changing your seat allocation or making other alterations that don’t materially affect your holiday.

If we do need to make a change, we’ll always let you know as soon as reasonably possible.

Minor changes don’t usually entitle you to cancel your booking or receive compensation.

Significant changes

A significant change is one that we reasonably expect to have a substantial effect on your holiday.

Examples might include:

• a substantial change to your itinerary;
• replacing a hotel with accommodation of a lower standard;
• changing an overnight stop to a different destination;
• a major change to your rail journey that materially affects your holiday; or
• removing an important feature or experience that formed part of your booking.

If we’re considering changing your accommodation, we’ll always aim to offer accommodation of an equivalent or higher standard. Where this isn’t possible, we’ll discuss the available options with you before confirming any changes.

If the law requires us to pay compensation, we’ll do so in accordance with the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018.

If we need to cancel your holiday

We hope this never happens, but occasionally circumstances outside our control mean we’re unable to operate a holiday.

We’ll never cancel your holiday less than eight weeks before departure unless:

• you haven’t paid your balance on time after we’ve reminded you;
• unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances prevent us from operating your holiday; or
• we’re otherwise entitled to do so under these Booking Conditions.

If we cancel your holiday, you’ll be offered the choice of:

• a full refund
• an alternative holiday, where one is available 
• transferring your booking to another departure, where appropriate.

If we’re required by law to pay compensation, we’ll do so in accordance with the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018.

Changes after you’ve started your holiday

If unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances mean we can’t provide a significant part of your holiday after you’ve already departed on your holiday, we’ll do everything we reasonably can to arrange suitable alternative services at no extra cost to you.

If no suitable alternative can be provided, your rights will be those set out in the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018.

We want you to have a wonderful holiday, but if something doesn’t go to plan, please let us know as soon as possible.

Many issues can be resolved quickly if they’re raised at the time. If a hotel, rail operator or other supplier is able to put something right during your holiday, it’s usually much better than discovering the problem after you’ve returned home.

If you experience a problem with any part of your holiday, you should:

• tell the relevant supplier as soon as possible (for example, your hotel or rail operator)  
• contact Tailor Made Rail at the earliest opportunity so we can help where appropriate.

If a problem can’t be resolved during your holiday and you wish to pursue a complaint after you return home, please see our Complaints Procedure.

As the organiser of your package holiday, we’re responsible for making sure the travel services included in your booking are provided as agreed.

If a significant part of your holiday isn’t provided as contracted, please let us know without undue delay so we have the opportunity to investigate and, where possible, put things right.

Where we’re legally responsible for a failure in the services we’ve arranged, you may be entitled to an appropriate price reduction, compensation or both, in accordance with the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018.

However, we won’t be responsible where any failure is caused by:

• you or another member of your travelling party;
• a third party unconnected with the travel services included in your package, where the event couldn’t reasonably have been foreseen or avoided; or
• unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances.

Except in cases involving death, personal injury or illness caused by our negligence, our liability is limited to a maximum of three times the total price of your holiday. This limit applies only where the law allows.

Our liability is also subject to any international conventions or legal limits that apply to the travel services included in your holiday, including travel by rail, sea or other forms of transport.

If unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances make it impossible for you to return home as planned, we’ll provide any assistance required under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, including arranging additional accommodation where we’re legally required to do so.

Nothing in these Booking Conditions limits or excludes any rights you have under applicable law.

Travel insurance

We strongly recommend that everyone travelling has comprehensive travel insurance from the date of booking. Your policy should provide suitable cover for cancellation, medical expenses, personal belongings and any activities you intend to take part in during your holiday.

Passports, visas and entry requirements

It’s your responsibility to ensure that everyone in your party has the correct passport, visa and any other travel documents required for your holiday.

Requirements can change, so we recommend checking the latest official advice well before you travel.

Your behaviour

We want everyone to be able to enjoy their holiday safely. You and everyone in your party are expected to behave reasonably and with respect towards our team, our suppliers and other travellers.

If your behaviour, or that of anyone in your party, causes or is reasonably likely to cause danger, serious disruption or distress to others or involves threatening or abusive behaviour, we may need to end that person’s holiday arrangements. In serious cases, we may end the arrangements immediately.

If we do this, we will not be responsible for arranging or paying for alternative accommodation, transport or your return home. You will also be responsible for any reasonable costs or losses we incur as a direct result of the behaviour. Any refund for unused arrangements will depend on the circumstances and any amounts we are able to recover from our suppliers.

Data protection

We’ll use your personal information only for the purposes of arranging and managing your holiday, in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Financial protection

All package holidays sold by Tailor Made Rail are financially protected through our membership of the Travel Trust Association (TTA), membership number Q2542. 

Details of this protection are available on our website.

Governing law

These Booking Conditions are governed by the law of England and Wales.

Any dispute will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales unless applicable law provides otherwise.