Products sold by us

We sell various travel/holiday products as agent on behalf of numerous transportation, accommodation and other service providers, such as airlines, coach, rail and cruise line operators, as well as all of our wholesalers. Any booking, advisory and other services (such as processing a change or cancellation with the relevant travel services provider) that we provide to you are collateral to that agency relationship. Our obligation to you is to (and you expressly authorise us to) provide booking and advisory services, including making travel bookings on your behalf and arranging relevant contracts between you and travel service providers. We exercise care in the selection of reputable travel service providers, but we are not ourselves a provider of travel services and have no control over, or liability for, the services provided by third parties. All bookings are made on your behalf subject to the terms and conditions, including conditions of carriage, cancellations policy and limitations of liability, imposed by these travel service providers.

We can provide you with copies of the relevant travel service provider terms and conditions on request. Your legal rights in connection with the provision of travel services are against the specific travel service provider and, except to the extent a problem is caused by fault on our part, are not against us. Each travel component of a Self-Guided Tour (such as rail, accommodation, or activities) is provided by an independent service provider. Our role is limited to arranging these services. Your legal rights in case of service failure rest with the respective provider. Specifically, if for any reason (excluding fault on our part) any travel service provider is unable to provide the services for which you have contracted, your rights are against that provider and not against us. Self-Guided Tours are pre-packaged travel products and cannot be customised. Participation in a Self-Guided Tour do not include any accompanying tour leader or guide and requires you to follow the provided itinerary and make use of the included transportation, accommodation, and activity vouchers. Please note that airfare is not included in Self-Guided Tours; customers are responsible for arranging their own flights to and from Japan.

Pricing

All prices on our website are in Australian Dollars.

Prices for Australian Domestic tours include GST (Goods and Services Tax).

All prices are subject to availability and can be withdrawn or varied without notice. The price is only guaranteed once your booking has been paid for in full by you. Please note that prices quoted are subject to change. Price changes may occur by reason of matters outside our control which increase the cost of the product or service. Such factors include, but are not limited to, adverse currency fluctuations, fuel surcharges, taxes and airfare increases. Please contact your consultant for up-to-date prices.

We receive remuneration through commissions, financial incentives and other means (together, "financial arrangements") from booking travel and travel-related products and services on your behalf with third party travel service providers. We are not required by law to disclose the nature or value of these financial arrangements.

Self-Guided Tours are sold as pre-packaged products. Prices for these tours are fixed and cannot be customised. Each package price includes the travel components specified in the itinerary (such as accommodation, transportation, and selected activities). Prices for Self-Guided Tours are payable in full at the time of booking. Once payment has been received, the price is guaranteed and will not be subject to later adjustment, except where expressly stated (for example, in the case of optional add-ons or additional services purchased separately).

Please note that optional services not included in the standard itinerary (such as baggage delivery, extended stays, or extra activities) may incur additional charges.

Travel Planning Fee

Travel Planning Fee – This fee applies only to Personalised itinerary design & tailor-made bookings, and does not apply to pre-packaged products such as Self-Guided Tours.

A Travel Planning fee is:

• Standard – *$200.00 Itinerary planning fee per quote/booking – 1 – 2 hours
• Extensive – *$500.00 Itinerary planning fee per quote/booking – 2 or more hours

This fee is applicable for the independent research and time required to design your personalised/tailored travel itinerary. This is payable at time of your initial consultation. On finalisation of your booking this amount will be deducted from your total balance. If you decide not to proceed with your booking and/or your travel arrangements are cancelled for any reason, this payment/fee is non-refundable.

Deposit & Final Payment

Australian Domestic and New Zealand tours

A non-refundable deposit of 10% of the tour price per person for all land-only booking is payable within 3 business days of our acceptance of your booking. The balance must be paid no later than 30 days prior to your tour commencement date.

Self-Guided Tour, Escorted Tour, Ski and Japan Tour arrangements

(Except for marathon products. Please refer to the product pages.)

A non-refundable deposit of 20% of the tour price per person for all land-only booking is payable within 7 days of our acceptance of booking. The balance must be paid no later than 85 days prior to your tour commencement date.

Payment Methods

We accept credit card (via PayPal or in person) and direct deposit. Please make payments by the payment due date as per our deposit and final payment terms. Credit & Debit card merchant fees apply. PayPal 2.6% (In person: Visa and Master 1% and Amex 2% in person). If you make a direct deposit, please send us a copy of your bank transaction receipts by email. Direct deposits may incur an additional bank fee which is payable by customers. If you purchase from overseas, we accept credit card only. Please note, for security reasons, we only accept credit card details in person and not via email.

We do not accept credit card payments from a third party without the cardholder's written authorisation together with a copy of the front and back of the card used to make the purchase.

If for any reason the deposit or the final balance is not received by us by the due date, we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled and apply the appropriate cancellation charges. Any deposit paid will be forfeited.

Cancellation of bookings by Customers

Should you or a member of your party decide to cancel a booking or any part of the booking, you must advise us via email immediately. Cancellations by phone will not be accepted. The Cancellation date is the date we acknowledged receipt of your written cancellation via email. If you email us outside our business hours, the next earliest operation date will be the date of receipt of your cancellation request.

Our website applies Australian Eastern Standard Time, AEST (UTC+10).

All cancellations will be subject to the following cancellation charges:

Australian Domestic Tour and New Zealand Tour

If you cancel:

• More than 30 days prior to your tour commencement date; loss of deposit
• Between 29 and 15 days prior to your tour commencement date; 50% of the total cost
• Less than 15 days prior to your tour commencement date; 100% of the total cost

If you are not present on the tour commencement date, 100% of the total cost of tour.

Any booking once made in relation to pre or post-tour rail tickets and hotel accommodation can not be cancelled and any money paid is not refundable.

If you have purchased any air ticket from us, then the rules of the airline applicable will set out the cancellation and/or amendment charges. Please refer to the below Domestic & International Service, Amendment & Cancellation Fees.

Self-Guided Tours, Escorted Tour and Japan Tour Arrangements

(Except for Ski and Marathon products. Please refer to the product pages.)

If you cancel:

• More than 55 days and 41 days prior to your tour commencement; loss of deposit; 20% of the total cost of tour
• Between 40 and 26 days prior to your tour commencement; 50% of the total cost of tour
• Between 25 and 13 days or less prior to your tour commencement; 75% of the total cost of tour
• Between 12 and 1 days or less your tour commencement; 100% of the total cost of tour

If you are not present on the tour commencement date, 100% of total cost of tour

Self-Guided Tours – Ski Tour Arrangements

If you cancel:

• More than 85 days and 41 days prior to your tour commencement; loss of deposit; 20% of the total cost of tour
• Between 40 and 26 days prior to your tour commencement; 50% of the total cost of tour
• Between 25 and 13 days or less prior to your tour commencement; 75% of the total cost of tour
• Between 12 and 1 days or less your tour commencement; 100% of the total cost of tour

If you are not present on the tour commencement date, 100% of total cost of tour

Cancellation due to Force Majeure and other reasons

1. Minimum Numbers

We reserve the right to cancel any tour if the minimum number of the participants is not achieved. We will advise you no less than 75 days prior to your tour commencement date if your tour is going to be canceled for this reason. In this instance, the amount you have paid so far including the deposit will be fully refunded. If the payment is made using a Kintetsu Travel Voucher/Kintetsu Gift Voucher, the amount will be credited back to your voucher.

2. Force Majeure

In these Terms and Conditions "Force Majeure" means any cause outside a travel service provider's reasonable control which could not have been prevented or avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken by the travel service provider (including, but not limited to, war, threat of war, riot, civil disturbances, industrial dispute, terrorist activity and its consequences, plague, epidemic, pandemic, infectious disease outbreak or any other public health crisis (including quarantine or other employee restrictions), natural or other disaster (such as volcanic ash or hurricanes or similar events), nuclear incident, fire or bushfires, adverse weather conditions (actual or threatened, including snow and fog), closed or congested airports or ports or other modes of transport, unavoidable technical problems with transport, unforeseen alterations to transport schedules, transportation disruptions or cancellations, domestic and/or international travel restrictions, changes to travel advisories and restrictions, changes to health advisories and quarantines, changes to immigration, labour and free-movement law, rescheduling of aircraft or boats or other modes of transport, changes to applicable laws and/or other government mandates (including evacuation orders and border closures), and similar events).

In the event of Force Majeure, a travel service provider may materially modify or cancel your booking. A material modification is one that has a serious impact on your booking and would cause substantial inconvenience to you (including a change of departure date, departure point or airport, or change of departure time of more than twelve hours).

If your tour is cancelled (or if you decide to cancel the tour because of the material modification) due to Force Majeure before the commencement date of the tour: we will refund all monies paid by you less any unrecoverable third-party costs and less fair compensation for work undertaken by us up until the time of cancellation and in connection with the processing of any refund.

3. In the event of Force Majeure occurring after commencement of the tour

Please refer to our Terms & Conditions under "Acceptance".

4. Self-Guided Tours

In the case of Self-Guided Tours, which consist of pre-booked travel components such as transportation, accommodation, and activities, refunds in the event of cancellation due to Force Majeure will be limited to the amounts recoverable from the respective service providers. Any unrecoverable third-party costs will be deducted, together with fair compensation for work undertaken by us up until the time of cancellation. Please note that optional services (such as baggage delivery or additional activities) are strictly non-refundable once booked, even in the event of Force Majeure.

Domestic & International Service, Amendment & Cancellation Fees

We will charge the following service fees. Service fees are inclusive of GST and are applicable per person and are all non-refundable. These service and change fees are in addition to the penalty fee, airfare and taxes differential levied by the airlines, Japan Rail Pass & Kintetsu Rail Pass as per their conditions at the time of purchase and our suppliers' fee. For the Self-Guided Tour - package components cannot be amended individually.

DOMESTIC AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND ARRANGEMENT

INTERNATIONAL ARRANGEMENT

Travel Documents & Visa requirement

For Australian passport holders, visas are not required to enter New Zealand or Japan. Australian passport holders can stay in Japan for a maximum of 90 days without a visa. Australian travelling overseas must have a valid passport and the validity of the passport must be at least six months after the date of return. Furthermore, travellers residing in Australia who do not hold an Australian passport shall require a valid Resident Return Visa for Australia. All travellers should familiarise themselves with any health or visa requirement that may be applicable, and, you will be responsible for all exit, entry, health and other documents required by laws, regulations, orders, demands or requirements. If you are not holding an Australian Passport, please consult us for any visa requirements.

For non-Australian Passport holders travelling to New Zealand, a NZeTA (New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority) must be obtained at least 72 hours prior to departure. Furthermore, travellers residing in Australia who do not hold an Australian passport shall require a valid Resident Return Visa for Australia.

Additional Terms

Please note that this is a partial extract of our General Booking Terms & Conditions. For complete terms including sections on Health Requirements, Travel Insurance, Liability, Privacy Policy, and other important information, please contact our office or request the full document.