Those who book a service through WWW.TURKEYSPECIALIST.COM are bound to be with the following as this constitutes full acceptance of these general terms and conditions by both our company and our esteemed clients/guests.
01-Our Tours and Rates
02-The Validity of the Prices
03-Guaranteed (Seat-In-Coach) Tours Policy
04-Minimum Person Requirement / Single Occupancy
05-The Sequence of the Visits
06-Luggage Allowance
07-Exclusions on Our Services
08-Booking Issues
09-Children Policy
10-Smoking Policy
11-Payments
12-Changes
13-Pick Up / Drop-Off Issues for the Regular (Seat-in-coach) Tours
14-Availability Issues
15-Early Check-In/Out Requirements
16-Airport Arrival Issues
17-Missed Connected Flights
18-Air Tickets
19-Hotel Rates
20-Passport and Visas
21-Right to Refuse
22-Lost and Left Items
23-Responsibility
24-Tour Documents
25-Packages/Mails Shipped to Our Company
26-Cancellation Policy
27-Services for the Handicapped People
28-Closures
29-Transfer Pick-Up Issues
30-Complimentary Airport Transfer Services by the Hotels
31-Unused Services
32-Baby Seat Availability
33-The Disputes
34-Accuracy of the Information
35-Copyright
01-Our Tours and Rates:
On our price lists there are two different rates as “regular / seat-in-coach” and “private” ones. The main difference between these two is that there might be some other participants as well in a regular tour whereas private tours are made without any others rather than the clients who have booked it. Though private tours are relatively more expensive they are more convenient and flexible for the people who are keen on their privacy. Due to the fact that our regular tours can be booked until the very last moment we can never give you the exact number of the tour participants when asked in advance. It is also nature of the regular tours to combine some different tours having the same itineraries and therefore the guides and vehicles may be replaced with others at the time of touring.
On the price lists, the first column refers to “regular/seat-in-coach” rates while the rest are based on “private” ones and they are given on per person basis depending on the number of the participants. One person private rates do not include the single supplement fee and therefore is to be additionally charged.
Our private rates are given for up to 9 persons and if there become 10 or more participants a special rate will be given.
All the rates are given net except those with the tour codes of PRX, inclusive of tax and commission free in American dollars and valid between 01.01.2022 – 31.12.2022. (To make it easier for our esteemed colleagues, our retail rates have also been quoted for most of the tours).
All the tour rates include guidance in English (Private tours can be carried out on the required language with an additional amount of $50 on daily basis – depending on the guide availability), air-conditioned transportation and admission fees as specified on the itinerary, if otherwise noted. Depending on the situation we can use a guide who can also drive at the same time or a separate guide and a chauffeur. Parasol Tours reserves the right to make decision in this respect without informing the other parties – unless otherwise is contracted in advance.
All of our minimum 2-day tour rates include accommodation at the designated hotels on the specified basis. However, we keep the right to change the hotels quoted under the tour details when necessary (Without any surcharge). If the hotel bookings are made by other parties than us only $15 per person/per night will be deducted from the total tour fee.
The included meals on our tours are identified by letter codes in the tour descriptions as shown below. (However, all of our “private tours” are exclusive of lunch).
(B) = Breakfast (L) = Lunch (D) = Dinner
On our tours, no breakfast on the first day and no dinner on the last day are served unless otherwise noted.
Daily tours’ rates do not include airport pick-up and drop-off fees while two day or longer ones with at least one night accommodation cover pick-ups and drop-offs from/at the airports.
Timings given for the daily tours are approximate ones and they are all subject to change. Pick-up times may vary depending on the number of the participants and hotel locations.
For all the accommodation included tours there will be 2.5 % discount for the third person who shares the same room with other two persons.
02-The Validity of the Prices:
While all care has been taken to ensure that all the quoted prices are correct, circumstances beyond the control of Parasol Tours may necessitate a change in the prices quoted. Parasol Tours reserves the right to adjust the price of any travel arrangements at any time due to the increases in the cost of airfares, tours, exchange rate fluctuations, fuel surcharges, value added tax, etc. However, the quoted prices are guaranteed upon the receipt of full payment. Any further taxes to be imposed by the government further to the release of this Confidential Tariff may also cause the rates to change. When the updated tariff is released the previous versions expire.
All the specific quotes/proposals submitted by our company are valid for 30 days after the release date. Such proposals will be considered void unless converted into a reservation within this 30-day period.
03-Guaranteed (Seat-In-Coach) Tours Policy:
Our guarantee is given only for the bookings requested until 7 days prior to the commencement of the services though we will still do our best to carry out all the requirements even if they are forwarded to us at the last moment. However, all the last minute booking requests forwarded within the last 7 days prior to the service commencement date need to be confirmed by us.
Guaranteed departures are valid in case the guests join the tour on the very first day of the tour. Demands for joining to these tours at a different date and location are needed to be confirmed by us as a private rate will be applied if there become no other participants on these tours. However, further to our confirmation, if the already available participants cancel the tour and consequently no more people join the regular tour then Parasol Tours keeps the right to cancel the arrangements for the clients who will join the tour at a different stage rather than the original commencement date or to charge on private basis.
Parasol Tours also keeps the right to cooperate with other travel companies that have a similar tour, if a necessity arises.
04-Minimum Person Requirement / Single Occupancy:
Some tours are subject to minimum person requirement. They need to be confirmed by us in advance. However, after the further confirmation if the rest of the participants cancel the trip at a later time and consequently there becomes fewer participants than the guaranteed number, Parasol Tours reserves the right to cancel any tour. On the other hand, if a guaranteed departure is restricted to minimum 2 persons and there is only one single participating person then this tour is made only with private rates. Even if payment is made for total 2 persons in lieu of 1 single person this is not acceptable.
As a general practice, if more than 5 single rooms are requested at the hotels, the 6th and the further rooms are charged as double rooms regardless they are used for single or double occupancy. However, this situation can be reconsidered in accordance with the hotel policies and we can be more flexible in this regard.
05-The Sequence of the Visits:
Though our guides show the utmost care to follow the itineraries in the same sequence there might be alterations in the sequence of the visits to the scheduled sites and no refund can be demanded for that reason unless any sites or museums are missed. On the other hand, some visits can be carried out in rush or skipped (though not a common practice on our itineraries) during the short winter months (December, January and February) at which sun sets early evening.
06- Luggage Allowance:
Every participant on our tours is allowed maximum 2 bags weighing no more than 30 kgs (66 pounds). Extra luggage can be accepted only when there is enough space on our vehicles. However, if there is no sufficient space for the third bag Parasol Tours keeps the right to refuse the extra luggage.
07-Exclusions on Our Services:
Our rates do not include passport and visa charges, travel and medical health insurance (This is recommended to be obtained in the origin country), excess baggage, all items not specifically mentioned as being included, and all items of personal nature such as laundry, telephone and other communication costs, all the beverages also including bottled water, tea and coffee, meals not detailed in the itinerary, and gratuities. Tips to the guides and drivers are customary and are left to the discretion of the guests.
08-Booking Issues:
We will sincerely appreciate if the following details are submitted at the very initial stage of the booking to avoid any further problems:
- Full names and surname as appear on the passports (Further name changes are not allowed on the air tickets)
- Whether twin beds or one large bed at the hotel rooms is requested (Further requests may be overlooked by the hotels)
- Whether smoking or non-smoking rooms are preferred (Further requests may be overlooked by the hotels)
Despite the fact that we will still do our best to accommodate our guests’ further requests about these issues we do not assume responsibility unless these issues are advised at the earliest booking stage. Some hotels may also not offer twin, large (king) bed or non-smoking rooms and this may also be beyond our control.
We strongly recommend to book 4 or 5 star hotels instead of the boutique (special category) ones for the groups of 8 or more participants due to the following reasons while boutique (special category) hotels may be good choices for the individually travelling guests.
– The room numbers at the boutique (special category) hotels are insufficient and therefore are not very flexible to replace them when our guests do not like their rooms.
– Their prices are more expensive while most of them demand (at least half of) the money at the time of booking.
– As being small facilities they generally hire unqualified staff who can hardly speak foreign languages.
– As generally being located in the small narrow streets of the historical parts of the towns, access to such hotels with a big bus is fairly difficult.
– As they are mostly historical venues their original architectural plans cannot be changed at the time of construction and therefore all the rooms do not have the same size or quality (In other words, there are no certain standards). The guests may compare their rooms with those of the others and may turn out to be unhappy thinking that some others are given better rooms
– The breakfast they supply is relatively simple when compared to those supplied by the 4 or 5 star hotels.
Please be aware that triple rooms are relatively smaller in many hotels due to the addition of rollaway beds to the double/twin rooms. We assume no responsibility for any inconvenience in this regard.
Physical conditions and service quality can relatively be poorer in some of the eastern/southeastern sectors of the country. Therefore, those to travel to these regions should be prepared for such a situation.
09-Children Policy:
50 % discount is made for children between 03-08 years old while 00-02 years old ones are free on all the tours even if these tours are daily ones. (The discounts apply if the child shares the same room with their parents as the third person on the minimum two day lasting tours. If a twin room is booked for children at the hotels then no child discount is applied).
As for the transfer services, children of 00-12 years old are not taken into account when the number of the participants in a vehicle are taken into consideration.
10-Smoking Policy:
Smoking is strictly prohibited in the tour vehicles. However, frequent stops are made so that smoking breaks may be taken outside the vehicles.
11-Payments:
Further to a 40% deposit to be received at the time of booking, the remainder of the balance should be received in full 30 days (for individuals) and 60 days (for groups of 10 or more) prior to the service commencement date through one of the options outlined below.
The payments can be made through the following methods:
1- Wire transfer to one of our account numbers the details of which can be obtained on request.
All bank charges and fees need to be debited to the sender.
2- By a credit card through VISA, MasterCard or American Express. You may be billed in Turkish Lira at the current exchange rate and therefore the USD amount you authorize might be slightly different than quoted by you on your credit card statement report due to fluctuations on the currency rates and the conversion commissions that may be charged by your bank.
Please be advised that most banks charge commission for up to 5 % for international transactions though we do not charge anything extra for VISA and MasterCard transactions. (We charge 4% for American Express, though)
USD effective buying rate of the Central Bank on the tour commencement day is taken into consideration on our invoices. The pre-payments made in Turkish Lira should also reflect the USD buying rate of the Central Bank on the payment date.
12-Changes:
First change on the requested services is free. However, for each additional change made to the original booking, a service fee of $50 per service will be charged. The related change fees incurred by the hotels and airlines will also be additionally charged.
Last minute changes just prior to the service commencement date or at the time of implementation stage cause a lot of problems and extra expenses for us. However, we always do our best to assist to our esteemed clients to comply with their last minute requests. Any extra costs for such requests should be settled right away while any refunds can only be worked out at the conclusion of the services – 15 days later after the completion of the overall services.
13-Pick Up / Drop-Off Issues for the Regular (Seat-in-Coach) Tours:
At regular (seat-in-coach) tours, as a general practice, pick up time on the tour commencement day is 08.30 at the airports and 09.00 at the cities. The guests who arrive at the airport before 08.30 should wait until the pick-up time. Those who arrive in train station in Ankara should also wait until 09.00 for the other participants of the group.
The general drop-off time is 17.00 at the cities and 18.00 at the airports on our regular (seat-in-coach) tours. Those who are scheduled to fly on later flights can be taken to the airport around our routine times and no responsibility is assumed for the long waiting hours at the airports or train stations (We recommend private tours for such cases or drop-off plans at the city centers with a further extra transfer service).
Regular tours are offered from only central city hotels and an additional transfer fee can be requested depending on the location of the hotels (For instance, airport hotels in Ankara and Istanbul, Asian side hotels in Istanbul as well as those located along the European bank of Bosphorus beyond the limits of the Bosphorus Bridge.
All of our services are supplied between 08.00-19.00 within the day. If further services beyond these limits are required by the clients at the spot, Parasol Tours will charge this from them directly, unless confirmed and charged at an earlier stage.
14-Availability Issues:
We are asked from time to time whether there is any availability on a certain date at a certain hotel. Unless we make reservation with regards to this request availability can never be guaranteed. When we ask to the hotels about availability and they say the rooms are available this is valid only for that very moment. The rooms can be imminent to any others right away. Therefore, we strongly recommend to ask for reservation to guarantee the room as otherwise the availability at that moment does not guarantee the room even for the requests to be made in the following few hours.
Some boutique hotels with limited room numbers – especially those in Istanbul – do not confirm the booking requests from the travel agents on busy periods even if they have rooms available on their Internet pages since they may prefer selling their rooms with much higher rates or the rooms might have been allocated for the Central Reservation System (like Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, etc.) that are used by some tour operators and retail agents around the globe. Therefore, we suggest our clients/guests to check the web pages of the hotels or CRS to make direct booking with them unless we can confirm a certain hotel with lower rates.
15-Early/Late Check-In/Out Requirements:
The hotels cannot confirm this until the very last moment as this opportunity is possible only in cases when the hotels are not fully booked on the night prior to check in date or the night after the check-out date. Therefore it is not possible for us to confirm this well in advance and should be checked through the hotel at the time of arrival. However, most of the hotels will be helpful on this issue as long as they are convenient while a few of them like Ciragan Hotel, Four Seasons Hotel and some other deluxe hotels will require full payment for the guarantee. For your information, the general check-in and check-out times at the hotels are 14.00 and 11.00/12.00 respectively.
16-Airport Arrival Issues:
Due to the delays emerging from lost luggage problems in the planes or passport problems at the Customs Parasol Tours cannot be held responsible and the guests can be waited up to maximum 30 minutes on the regular tours if some other participants are already awaiting in the tour vehicle. However, if there are no other participants waiting or it is a private tour then our team will do their best to assist the problem to be settled.
All the visa formalities at the arrived airports should be processed by our guests on their own since our staff is not allowed to access this point.
Those who have lost luggage problems sometimes do not get through the Customs and inform our staff promptly about the case by just waiting inside for quite some time. Our staff is not allowed to get inside by the Customs authorities and therefore there is no chance for them to look for our guests. That there is nobody out could make our staff think that our guests were not in the plane as all the other passengers of the same plane were already out. Therefore we kindly ask our guests to go out of the Customs and inform our staff that they are still awaiting inside due to the luggage problem before inquiring the issue as otherwise our staff can leave the terminal after having waited 30 minutes further to the leave of the last passenger of the same plane and no refund is given on such a case.
As our transfer staff is not allowed to the point beyond the Customs our guests are supposed to deal with the luggage handling on their own. Once they proceed to the terminal meeting point they will be assisted properly. For the groups with more than 10 participants the portage will be paid by our transfer staff while individual travelers should settle this on their own.
While our team is already waiting at the airport, some guests may have difficulties from time to time in meeting them on arrival to the airports due to the extreme crowd despite their names are written on the boards that are held by our staff. If the guests take a taxi to their hotel without extensively looking for our staff and calling our office promptly no refund will be given in case our staff is still at the airport. Similarly all the guests who arrive at the airport earlier than the scheduled time are supposed to contact our office as our staff arrives to the airport 15 minutes ago prior to the scheduled landing time of the planes. For the delayed flights our staff can wait up to maximum 2 hours. For further delays our guests are expected to take a taxi to their hotel without any refund from our side. However, if the delays are advised to us in advance then there is no problem at all as our transfer service will be amended accordingly.
17-Missed Connected Flights:
If the guests miss the connected domestic flights due to the late arrival of the international ones no responsibility is taken and all the extra costs are charged from the guests. Therefore short connection intervals between the international and domestic flights are at the risk of our guests.
18-Air Tickets:
We do not take responsibility for the air tickets that are not issued by Parasol Tours and any reconfirmations or follow-ups should directly be handled by the guests themselves. We can also not be held responsible for the flight changes/cancellations incurred by the airlines.
We always consider the original departure schedule that is advised to us by our contacts. If the final departure details are different than what is given to us and we are not informed in this regard on timely manner we do not take responsibility for any inconvenience that may emerge on the airport transfer services.
19-Hotel Rates:
We give the utmost care to provide our colleagues with the most updated and current hotel rates list. However, on some certain periods like New Year’s Eve, Religious and National Festivals, Conventions, International Competitions, Special Anniversaries, etc. almost all the hotels apply surcharge. Therefore, Parasol Tours keeps the right to revise the quoted hotel rates list at the time of booking. However, once the bookings are confirmed with their specific rates, no further charges are applied.
20-Passport and Visas:
All the participants must have a valid passport for at least three (3) months with the appropriate tourist visa for the destination and/or transit country. It is the responsibility of the passenger to have the necessary documentation in their possession before travelling. Consult the appropriate consulate(s) for information on passport requirements. If the participant is unable to be on the trip or its part due to the absence of the documents required, he/she is obliged to cover any costs involved at his own expense.
21-Right to Refuse:
We reserve the right, upon reasonable grounds, to refuse any passenger any part of the tour services, the right to decline to accept or retain any person as a tour participant, should such person’s health, mental or physical condition (or the person’s general conduct) impede the operation of the tour and/or the rights, welfare or enjoyment of other tour participants. In such cases, our (or our agents’) responsibility, if any, will be limited to the refund of costs for any unused tour services.
22-Lost and Left Items:
Parasol Tours assumes no responsibility for the lost and left items at the time of the tours. However, if anything is returned to us by the hotels or other related parties we can ship these items on to the required addresses. Then, the full shipment fee is charged by us prior to the shipment of the item. For the credit card payments, a convenience fee of 2.5% of the shipment fee is added on to the total charges. We regretfully do not accept payments on the destination.
23-Responsibility:
Parasol Tours regrets, but cannot be responsible for any damage or injury to participants while touring – unless the shortcoming is caused by our company. We assume responsibility only for the services booked through us. Any extra services booked through our contacts or others at the time of the tour are under the sole responsibility of our guests.
24-Tour Documents:
When obligatory, some of the tour documents may be shipped to the hotels that the guests will be staying. However, we assume no responsibility for the documents that are received by the hotels, but not forwarded on to the guests on timely manner.
25- Packages/Mails Shipped to Our Company:
The packages and mails sent to our company from abroad might be subject to Customs processing. We assume no responsibility for any merchandise that is not physically handed to us at our offices and we will nether take any action nor pay any dues for any merchandise sent without our approval.
26-Cancellation Policy:
The notice of cancellations by participants should be given in writing, and all such cancellations will be effective on the date the written notification is received.
In the event of cancellation by a participant sharing same accommodation, the rate charged to the remaining participant will have to be increased to the “Single Occupancy” rate, unless we can arrange for a Shared Accommodation.
Cancellation fees / charges are agreed to be “Liquidated Damages”, and not a penalty. Deposit towards a tour constitutes full acceptance of these “General Terms & Conditions” and to the Cancellation Policy.
If applicable, refunds can be made only to the bank accounts and credit cards that the services have originally been charged.
The Cancellation Fees, in addition to any applicable Airline Penalties, are as follows:
- If a booking is cancelled more than 30 days prior to the scheduled departure, full payment (less $25 per person cancellation processing fee) shall be refunded upon receipt of the cancellation notice.
- If cancelled 21 to 30 days prior to departure, the cancellation fee shall be 10% of the total cost
- If cancelled 11 to 20 days prior to departure, the cancellation fee shall be 25% of the total cost
- If cancelled 2 to 10 days prior to departure, or thereafter, the cancellation fee shall be 50% of the total cost
- Since tour rates are based on group participation / or minimum person requirements, NO REFUNDS can be made for any services or any part of the program not used, for the cancellations made within the last 48 hours prior to the service commencement date.
- Some hotels may also charge cancellation fee for the bookings cancelled within the last 30-45 days prior to the check-in date. If such a remark is noted on our confirmation sheet this hotel fee will also be charged in full regardless what is standing above.
- If the cancellations are made due to the obligatory reasons like force-majeure situations beyond the control of the participants our company can be flexible on this issue as to charge only the expenses imposed on to us by the third parties or may waive any of the cancellation charges depending on the situation.
27-Services for Handicapped People:
Parasol Tours is a handicapped friendly travel company and carries out specific private services for the handicapped people. However, we do not offer regular/seat-in-coach services as such tours are carried out in a speedy tempo and with limited space availability due to the participation of many other guests.
28-Closures:
The museums and historical sites that are under the control of the Ministry of Culture are closed during the first morning of the public holidays while shopping malls and other stores can be closed during the entire official holiday. The museums like Green Mausoleum in Bursa that are governed by the other institutions rather than the Ministry of Culture and some historical shopping arcades like Covered Bazaar and Egyptian Bazaar are generally closed during the whole public holiday period. Modern shopping malls are generally open except the first day of the religious holidays, though. Below are the official holiday dates that are current for the year 2022.
Please note that we take no responsibility for any kind of inconvenience that may emerge due to the closures.
01 January New Year’s Day
23 April National Independence & Children’s Day
19 May Youth Sports Day
02-04 May Ramadan Feast
15 July Democracy and National Solidarity Day
09-12 July Feast of Sacrifice (Feast of Adha)
30 August Victory Day
29 October Republic Day (Anniversary of the declaration of the Turkish Republic)
Beyond these specific closures the routine closure days have been designated at the related itinerary to avoid any potential problem in this respect.
For your information, some of the museums/sites and roads may temporarily be closed for restoration purposes or due to the visit of a dignitary, ceremonies with regard to the National Days, etc. beyond our knowledge and control. Parasol Tours does not assume any responsibility on such a case and accordingly no refunds are made for any missing visits.
29-Transfer Pick-Up Issues:
When we assign the pickup times for the airport transfers we generally reserve ample time between the pick-up and flight take-off times (Approximately 4 hours for the international departures and 2 hours for the domestic departures in the consideration of some unexpected situations like road closures, flat tire, fender bender, etc.). If the pick-up times are moved further by the guests, our company will not assume any responsibility for any missed flights.
30-Complimentary Airport Transfers by the Hotels:
Some hotels may claim to have been providing free transfer services on arrival. However, most of these transfer services are valid with the much higher Rack/Internet rates of the hotels and are not applicable with the reservations required from us as our contract prices are generally lower than those released by the hotels.
31-Unused Services:
Since tour rates are based on group participation NO REFUNDS can be made for any services or any part of the program not used, after the start of the tour.
32-Baby Seat Availability:
Travelling with a baby is a great fun for the families and therefore we, as Parasol Tours, are available to supply you with a baby seat on our services commencing in Istanbul, Ankara and Cappadocia free of charge (this is an extra charge on the rental car services supplied by the rental car companies though). However, there may be extra charges at the other locations. Baby seat request should be made 7 days prior to the service commencement date as otherwise such an extra service cannot be guaranteed.
33-The Disputes:
Should the tour participants have any complaints about any of the tour arrangements, these should be immediately brought to the attention of us, in order to remedy the problem momentarily. Furthermore, any such complaints about our tours must be submitted to us in writing, within 30 days after the completion of the services.
As Parasol Tours we do not handle any visa issues. Visa handling companies should directly be contacted for such cases.
Neither does Parasol Tours accept any liability for lost, stolen or damaged personal property (including money), losses or expenses due to delay or changes in schedules, hotel overbooking or defaults, sickness, epidemics, weather conditions, strikes, war, quarantine, force major, acts of God, or any other causes beyond the direct control of Parasol Tours, nor carriers’ or hotel owners’ liability is governed by applicable laws or international conventions. In such cases all additional expenses have to be covered by the participant. If participant arrives too late at the port of embarkation and the ship has sailed then all consequences and costs that may occur will be borne by the participant.
34-Accuracy of the Information:
The information submitted to Parasol Tours with regards to the names of the guests and age of children should reflect the passport information. We take no responsibility for any inconvenience stemming from the submission of the false information. The airlines may deny boarding if the booking and passport names do not match.
35-Copyright:
All rights of this Confidential Tariff are reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this tariff may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Parasol Tours.