Terms and Conditions

We want you to be clear about what to expect from your stay at SnowHQ. The information below spells out in detail what we will provide and what we expect from you. All detail is based on a 7 night stay.

Amendments to the following details may be specified on your booking form.

What your holiday includes

• Seven nights accommodation at your chosen chalet
• Six mornings’ breakfast, including at least one cooked option on six mornings
• Afternoon tea, including home baked cake or biscuits, tea and coffee for seven days a week
• Four course evening meal for six nights, with complimentary wine
• Canapés and champagne on arrival and departure evenings
• Private shuttle service morning and evening, excluding transfer days
• Daily cleaning of bedrooms and bathrooms, excluding chalet staff day off
• Free wi-fi and Internet access

What your holiday does not include

• Lunches (packed lunches are available for small charge)
• Ski school / lessons
• Lift passes
• Ski equipment hire
• Child care
• Travel insurance
• Travel costs (flights, trains, car etc)
• Airport transfers
• Use of telephone / fax
• Use of washing machine

Arrival and Departure

Check-in time is 3pm on your arrival day.

Check-out time is 10am on your departure day.

Unless you have prior agreement with SnowHQ, you cannot access the chalet before your check-in time, or after your checkout-time. We have to be strict about this as each chalet has to be thoroughly cleaned, have maintenance performed, beds changed and much more during this period on changeover day.

This particularly applies to guests arriving on the snow train, which gets in to Bourg very early in the morning and leaves late at night. We will endeavour to make things works smoothly wherever possible, but please be aware of any difficulties this may cause.

Booking Confirmation

SnowHQ cannot confirm your booking until we have received full payment of your deposit amount, for your entire party, or in the case of late bookings the entire balancing payment. We will reserve bookings for up to a week to allow you to gather funds and to allow for payments to clear.

If the deposit or full payment is not received in a timely fashion we reserve the right to consider the booking lapsed, and the slot will be made available to other interested groups. Obviously we will keep you informed about this and will endeavour to keep things open for you as long as possible.

Client Responsibility

We cannot coordinate all the details of the booking for your entire group. Therefore we require you to nominate a group leader. The group leader will be responsible for providing all relevant information for every member of the group, including dietary requirements, lift passes, equipment hire and ski lesson needs, as well as airport transfers.

The group leader is also responsible for ensuring full payment of both the deposit payment and the balancing payment for all members of the group.

Failure by the group leader to provide all relevant information or make proper payments in a timely manner may lead to cancellation of the booking for all members of the group, or non-provision of services such as ski rental etc.

All members of the party must agree to adhere to decisions made by the group leader on their behalf.

Information about the booking will be sent to all group members for whom an email address has been provided by the group leader. Group Leaders are encouraged to provide email addresses for all adults in the party so that information can be reliably distributed amongst the entire group.

Payments and Deposit

A non-refundable deposit payment is required if booking a holiday more than ten weeks in advance of the arrival date. The deposit amount is £100 per person. The balancing payment will then be required in full at least ten weeks before your arrival date.

If booking a holiday less than ten weeks in advance of your arrival date, a deposit is not required, and instead full payment for all group members is required.

Children – Ages 2 to 15

For the purposes of booking, SnowHQ considers children to be between the ages of 2 and 15 years old. Children of 16 years and above are considered as adults. Infants are those under 2 years of age.

Children between 2 and 15 years old receive a 15% discount on the advertised prices, unless they share a bedroom with their parents in which case a 50% discount can be applied.

If there are multiple groups in the chalet during the same week, we will only accept groups with children under 10 years of age at the discretion of the other groups. This is to ensure a cohesive environment and to avoid conflicts between groups. The only exception to this is during school holidays (Christmas and New Year, and the February Half Term weeks) when all guests should expect children in the chalet unless of course the chalet is booked by a single group of adults.

Infants Under 2 Years

If you bring infants with you (those under 2 years of age) then SnowHQ will levy a cost of £50 per infant to cover the cost of provisioning them within SnowHQ premises. Infants are not counted in the group size.

We will, of course, provide cots if required. You must inform us at the time of booking if you need a cot.

Do remember that it can be very cold and icy in ski resorts which may make it difficult to look after very young children.

Food

All menus are flexible and can be adjusted by our chefs, within limits, according to the preferences of the guests. However, the menus will generally contain a mix of traditional local cuisine and more modern dishes.

All dietary requirements can be catered for. However, we require a minimum of one week’s notice in advance of your arrival date in order to fully accommodate special requirements.

Children will be provided for in one of two ways. They can either eat the same menu as the adults, at the same time as the adults dine, or they can be provided with a simpler menu at an earlier time, usually around 6pm.

Single Person Supplements

SnowHQ reserves the right to levy a “single person supplement”. This is applied in the case of only a single person taking on a twin or larger room. Often, we can accommodate guests without incurring an extra charge, but this is not guaranteed. All additional charges will be shown on your booking form.

Amendments by You

Once a booking has been confirmed, either by paying of a deposit amount, or the full balancing payment, and changes to the booking will be considered as amendments and will be considered as follows:

• Increase in party size – if you would like to increase the size of your party, we will accommodate this at our discretion, usually based upon availability. Additional payments (either deposit or full payment) will be required immediately in line with payments made for existing members of the party. If the increase in party size cannot be accommodated, the original booking agreement will stand. Subsequent cancellation of the booking will be in line with our standard cancellation terms.
• Reduction in party size – if you need to reduce the size of your party, we reserve the right to consider this as a cancellation of the entire booking. However, under normal circumstances, we will endeavour to cancel individual bookings based on our standard cancellation policy. This may lead to the remaining group becoming liable for a single person supplement, which must be paid immediately – failure to do so may be considered as a cancellation of the entire booking.
• Change in party members – if you need to alter the names included in the party, SnowHQ will consider this as a minor booking alteration and will be subject to a £20 administration fee per changed name.

Cancellations by You

Any cancellations will lead to loss of any deposit paid. Additional cancellations depend of the time of cancellation, as follows:

Period of Cancellation – Amounts Payable

• 10 weeks or more before arrival date – Loss of deposit
• 7-10 weeks before arrival date – Deposit or 33% of total holiday cost, whichever is the greater
• 4-7 weeks before arrival date – Deposit or 50% of total holiday cost, whichever is the greater
• 2-4 weeks before arrival date – Deposit or 75% of total holiday cost, whichever is the greater
• Less than 2 weeks before arrival date – 100% of holiday cost

The holiday cost is considered to be the cost of accommodation, plus the cost of any booked airport transfers. It does not cover the costs of any pre-paid lift passes or ski lessons which will be refunded in full, minus any cancellation fees.

All cancellations or alterations to the booking must be made in writing, by letter or email, by the group leader.

Amendments and Cancellation by Us

On occasion, SnowHQ may need to alter your booking. Terms will be applied as follows:

Minor Changes in Booking

These are defined as:

• Assignment of an alternative bedroom to that defined on the booking form
• Unavailability of bedrooms more than two hours outside of standard arrival and departure times

For each of the above changes, you will be entitled to a maximum of a £20 refund per person.

Major Change in Booking

• Complete or partial cancellation of your holiday booking
• Change of date of booked holiday

You will be entitled to 100% refund of your holiday cost, and no more. However, this is at your discretion. Obviously it would be preferable for us to work together so that we can continue to provide your holiday. Where such changes are as a result of a “force majeure”, SnowHQ will not be held responsible, and the above refunds will not apply.

Provision of Transfers

SnowHQ acts as agents for any transfer services booked via ourselves, and do not provide said services direct. Customers will have to abide by the terms and conditions of the specific company in question, which can be provided upon request.

One key point to note is that where transfers are booked for a specific flight, and that flight is, for any reason, delayed (or cancelled) by a period of three hours or more, the transfer company may then be unable to provide the service that was booked. In such instances we will endeavour to find an alternative source of transport, but the cost of this may have to be borne by the client. In most instances such costs can normally be recuperated via travel insurance policies held by the customer.

Ski School, Ski Hire, Crèche, and Lift Passes

SnowHQ can advise on booking of these services, however we are not affiliated with any of the providers, and you will undertake an arrangement directly with said providers. However, we can offer pre-booking services and take advance payments to ensure you receive the best service.

Snow Guarantee

We cannot control the weather, and cannot be held responsible for any lack of or excess of snow, rain, storms, continuous sunshine or other weather conditions.

Damage or Loss of Property at SnowHQ Premises

SnowHQ will not be held responsible for the loss or damage of any client or clients’ property whilst on SnowHQ premises, except where this can be proven to be as a result of our negligence. Please note that no individual rooms on SnowHQ property can be locked, so valuables should be kept on your person at all times, rather than on SnowHQ premises.

Any theft or suspected theft or other damage to property will be referred on to the local police.

Where such damage or loss of property is caused by you, or a member of your party, the party leader will be held responsible for any costs incurred in the repair or replacement of such items, whether they belong to us or to a third party.

Client Conduct

All clients will be expected to act in a fair and reasonable manner whilst on a SnowHQ holiday. Where the behaviour of any member of a party is deemed by SnowHQ (or any reasonable person in authority such as the local police) to be unreasonable and outside the bounds of that typically expected by society, SnowHQ reserves the right to instantly terminate the holiday of the individual party member, or even the entire party where relevant. In such instances, the party or parties will be expected to vacate SnowHQ premises within a fair and reasonable time (normally no less than an hour, but no more than eight hours) – all costs associated with the exit will be borne by the party or parties in question, and the party or parties will lose all rights to compensation and refunds for said termination.

Disputes

Any disputes must be formally submitted in writing. This can be via email or post. If you would like to write to SnowHQ Ltd. please send communications to: