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| Luxurious Sri Lanka FAQ’s |
| Do you sell outside the UK? |
| Yes, we do. Luxurious Sri Lanka is ATOL registered to sell flight holidays from the UK under the licence of Red Dot Tours Limited, the UK holding company. Our booking conditions comply with EC travel regulations. But the Colombo-based sales staff can design holidays for anyone, anywhere. |
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| What is the best way to make contact about my holiday? |
The sales team for Luxurious Sri Lanka are based in Colombo. This enables us to offer up-to-the-minute advice and highly competitive prices, as well as supporting the local economy. We can deal effectively with enquiries from anywhere in the world. We prefer that you contact us initially by email. This method is not as impersonal as it sounds! Whenever you need to discuss your holiday with a consultant, simply phone our holiday hotline or request that your consultant phones you back.
Tel: (from UK) 0871 210 4526 (10p a minute from BT landline).
Tel: (Outside UK): +94 114 717742 (normal international call rates).
Note: Our UK office deals in admin, management, development and marketing and does not normally offer a holiday sales service. |
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| Do you have a brochure? |
| Our holiday brochure is our Internet site athttp://luxurioussrilanka.com which offers all the information that you need. For further information you may also visit www.reddottours.com. Please take time to surf around them. You will be surprised by the wealth of information on offer. We believe that extensive use of the Internet allows us to respond flexibly to changing circumstances, such as price cuts and last-minute offers, and offer a wider range of accommodation and specialist tours, while keeping our costs to a minimum. That is reflected in our prices. |
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| How should I prepare before I contact you? |
| Try to have a good idea of what most interests you. All the pre-planning you do is to your advantage as it helps us provide the exact holiday you need. Changes of mind are inevitable, but it can be frustrating for you when hotels and flights can become unavailable while itineraries are being fine-tuned. However, if you have no ideas at all, tell us your budget and we will make suggestions. |
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| Do I need a visa in Sri Lanka, the Maldives or India? |
Holders of passports from the vast majority of countries, including UK, Ireland, United States, Germany, France, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and India, can holiday in Sri Lanka and the Maldives as bona fide tourists for up to 30 days. The Sri Lanka Tourism Board website lists countries exempt from visas at http://www.srilankatourism.org/lang/en/traveller/entryformalities.php Travellers requiring long-stay or business visas must pay an additional fee and are strongly advised to make arrangements with their own High Commission before they travel, and not to try to extends their visa in Sri Lanka. UK travellers can obtain forms from the Sri Lankan High Commission, London, at http://www.slhclondon.org/hc/html/consular_html/visas_details.html or tel +44 020 7262 1841. Other nationalities should contact their nearest Sri Lankan High Commission.
You WILL need a visa for India. All foreign nationals, including children, require a visa to enter India. Please do not finalise your travel arrangements to India before ascertaining your visa requirements. Contact the Indian High Commission or visit the website of the Indian High Commission in London at http://www.hcilondon.net/ for more details.
In all cases, it is advisable to have six months left on your passport at time of travel. |
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| Are you ATOL registered for my extra protection (UK only)? |
| Yes. Our ATOL no is 5517. The Air Travel Organisers’ Licence is the UK government-backed scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority and gives security for all air packages sold by UK tour operators. If a company stops trading, you’ll get a refund. If you’re abroad at the time, you’ll be able to finish your holiday and fly home. Discover why you should protect yourself at http://www.caa.co.uk/cpg/atol/default.asp Like a large majority of independent, small travel company, we are not members of ABTA. |
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| My holiday will start outside the UK. Does ATOL protection still cover me? |
Yes, under the following circumstances:
Civil Aviation Authority regulations state: ``Where the customer is outside the UK when the booking is made, the policy of the CAA is that the customer should be protected by the ATOL bond if both of two tests are met: the first leg of the licensable journey must depart from the UK and the flight or holiday must be advertised primarily in the UK.'' If you travel via the UK, you will be covered from your UK return to UK departure. Please note that accommodation-only deals are not covered by ATOL-bonding. |
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| Is the information that I provide to you safe? |
| Information provided in our payment centre is protected by HSBC secure servers. We never spam or pass on your information to any third party. We shred documents holding personal information. We shall only send you occasional information, such as a free quarterly emailed newsletter, if you specifically request it. |
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| Many companies talk of imagining their ``perfect client.’’ What is yours? |
| Somebody who shares our affection for Sri Lanka and Kerala, or who is enthusiastic about discovering its many attractions. Somebody who believes in working with us to devise a suitable and satisfying holiday and to solve together any difficulties that may arise from time to time. |
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| I don’t want a full tailor-made holiday. Are you flexible enough to help? |
| Luxurious Sri Lanka values independently-minded customers. We believe that by buying flights, accommodation and transfers from us you receive many advantages. But we are happy to provide as little as one night’s accommodation. Just tell us what you need. (Note: An accommodation-only deal can give you less protection than a full package holiday. Please familiarise yourself with ATOL protection and our booking conditions). |
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| When is my holiday actually confirmed? |
| Travel industry regulations demand that you receive a Confirmation Invoice once your holiday has been agreed and booked. This confirms your holiday. You must then arrange payment as laid down in our booking conditions (see next question). Until then, there is no contract between you and Luxurious Sri Lanka. You will also receive other useful information. |
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| How can I pay for my holiday? |
Payment must normally be made within seven days of the issue of the Confirmation Invoice. This payment may be required immediately in the case of last-minute bookings, or in special cases, in which case you will be informed of this.
Luxurious Sri Lanka offers payment by the following methods:
(i) On-line credit card or debit card payments: Credit or debit card payments should be made in GBP£ on the website on a secure HSBC site. Access it via the top of the home page. We accept these credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express. Additional charges: Up to £250: £0. £250-£800: £5. £800-£2,000: £10. Above £2,000: £20. We accept these debit cards: Maestro, Visa debit (UK), Solo, Electron. These carry no additional charge.
(ii) UK cheques: Cheques should be made out to Red Dot Tours Ltd and incur no extra charge.
(iii) Bank transfer to our UK GBP£ account. By request only. Bank name: HSBC Bank, 11 North St, Wetherby, West Yorks, UK, LS22 6NT. Name of account: Red Dot Tours Ltd. Acct no: 61311786. Sort-code: 40-46-21. Swift code: MIDLGB22. BIC Code: MIDLGB2162V. IBAN: GB26MIDL40462161311786. Note: Please provide your name and Confirmation Invoice number.
(iv) Bank transfer to our UK US$ account. By request only. Bank name: HSBC International Branch. PO Box 181, 27-32 Poultry, London EC2P 2BX. Acct no: 59784866. Name of account: Red Dot Tours Ltd. Acct no: 59784866. Sort code: FCA. Swift code: MIDLGB22. BIC: MIDLGB22. IBAN: GB70MIDL40051559.
Note (1): Customer should pay all bank charges for bank transfers.
Note (2) Name and confirmation invoice number must be included on bank transfer details
Note:(3) In all these cases, we levy no hidden charges such as postage or booking fees. |
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| What if I have to cancel my holiday? |
| Above all, let us know. We expect our customers to take their holiday bookings as seriously as we do, but we recognise that holidays are occasionally cancelled for valid reasons. We reserve the right to apply cancellation charges shown in our booking conditions at our discretion, but often we voluntarily return recoverable costs. If you fail to tell us that you no longer wish to travel, unrecoverable costs increase. So please do not avoid the issue – get in touch. |
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| Do you promote only certain hotels? |
| We have our favourites – everybody does. We also expect certain standards of hygiene, comfort and service. But we are not limited to a small range of hotels. We fiercely protect our independence and deal with all hotel companies and independent owners if we believe that they have something good to offer. We will seek to ascertain what hotel best suits your preferences and your budget, and we will also happily respond to your specific requests. At all times, we will seek to negotiate the best rate possible. |
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| Do you pre-book flights and accommodation, in the way that many package-holiday companies do? |
| Rarely. We may do at peak times such as Christmas or the summer holidays, when availability is scarce. Pre-booking would tempt us to promote a hotel to our clients that may not be suitable, just to fill the space. When an itinerary is finalised, we then confirm availability of flights and accommodation. That is why we advise early bookings (see next question). Delays risk rising prices and unavailability. We can – and do – offer excellent late deals, but booking about four-six months in advance, especially for Christmas and Easter, offers the best chance of satisfaction. |
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| Can I pre-book seat numbers or request extra leg room on the flight? |
| SriLankan Airlines only pre-books requested seat numbers for passengers travelling first or business class or for members of their Skywards Frequent Flyer programme. If you are a member of Skywards, you should inform us when you book your flights. SriLankan will not book specific seat numbers in economy class. These must be allocated at check-in. Red Dot therefore only makes such representations on behalf in extreme cases, and advises that you make representations to the airline directly – either by letter or by arriving at the check-in desk early, where your needs can best be considered. |
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| I have a medical condition that may need special assistance on the flight or during my stay. What should I do? |
| We recommend that you contact your doctor, at least a month before departure, and request that full details of your condition are provided in writing. We will then forward this information to the airline, ground agents, or hotels as appropriate. |
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| I am interested in one of your specialist tours, but I want to make one or two changes. Is this possible? |
| Luxurious Sri Lanka offers total flexibility and can respond to all requests to adjust itineraries. We will advise if we believe changes these to be realistic. On occasions, these adjustments may invite a surcharge or a price reduction. |
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| When will my flight tickets arrive? |
| Flight tickets will generally be provided at least two weeks before travel, to the address on your confirmation invoice. If you require different arrangements, please give us as much notice as possible. If your address or email details change, please tell us! |
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| Why have we not received any hotel vouchers? Is our booking confirmed?; |
| Luxurious Sri Lanka does not supply vouchers to customers before travel. This simply increases admin costs, and brings you no tangible benefit. Our operations team has booked the hotels as shown on your Confirmation Invoice. All necessary hotel vouchers will be sent directly to the hotels concerned. |
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| Can I drive my own car in Sri Lanka? |
| In common with other travel companies, we advise our clients not to undertake self-drive car hire unless they are highly experienced in driving conditions in this part of the world. However, we offer competitive self-drive car hire with a reputable company in specific circumstances. |
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| Will we be met at the airport? |
| If you have booked airport transfers, you will be met by our ground agents at Bandaranaike International Airport. They can be found, normally with Luxurious Sri Lanka board, just outside the arrivals hall. We do not arrange airport meet-and-greets in your own country, except in overriding circumstances. We provide a mobile phone number for your driver before your holiday departure. |
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| If I book a car and driver, will I be hassled to make excursions or shopping trips? |
| Uniquely, our drivers are in possession of a strict Drivers’ Code, in which your safety and satisfaction are the priority. We recommend that you contact our Colombo office if you have problems in this regard. (See our transport section for full details). The driver knows your itinerary and is expected to follow it. How much he also acts as a guide depends upon your individual wishes. He may offer additional excursions or shopping visits, but must immediately respect your decision to say `no.’ Additional excursions may require an extra charge. Read the customer feedback for comments about our drivers. |
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| Can you recommend any shopping outlets? |
| Please note that Luxurious Sri Lanka does not officially recommend, or accept commission from, any Sri Lanka outlet and therefore cannot take any responsibility for the quality of goods sold. Any opinions expressed by our drivers are solely their own views and do not constitute company recommendations. If you make a purchase, you should be aware that you may face unexpected extra costs for tax, handling charges, customs, and delivery fees. In Australia, for example, fumigation certificates may also prove a problem. |
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| Can I change my itinerary when I am in Sri Lanka? |
| Our Colombo office is willing to respond to requests for changes of hotel or a sudden change of itinerary. We recognise that new discoveries can bring the temptation for a change of plan. In some cases, however, it must be understood that such changes may prove impossible. Others will necessarily accrue a surcharge. Read your departure letter for contact numbers. |
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| I have heard that return flights have to be reconfirmed when we are in Sri Lanka? Is this true? |
| If you have booked a holiday, including flights, with Red Dot, our ground agents will take care of any flight reconfirmations that may be necessary. If you have arranged your own flights, please check directly with the airline or your flight agent. It is your responsibility to ensure that the necessary steps are taken. |
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| What if people need to contact me in an emergency when I’m in Sri Lanka? |
| We provide an information sheet, upon your departure, with contact numbers for our team in Sri Lanka and Kerala. We can also provide a list of hotel phone numbers on request. Mobile phones operate in all major areas and you can buy pay-as-you-go Sri Lankan SIM cards on arrival. The Colombo office can also pass on messages in an emergency. Leave contact numbers, plus a copy of your itinerary, with appropriate friends or relatives. |
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| I’m looking for a low-season holiday to obtain the best prices. At what time of year can I find the best deals? |
| Consider late June and early July, perhaps using the East coast rather than the deep South. October and November can offer good value for the West and South – and monsoon rains occur largely from late afternoon. Avoid Christmas, Easter and school summer holidays. |
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| What do you advise about money? |
| Credit cards are widely accepted in bars and restaurants. In Colombo, and other major centres such as Galle and Kandy, there are an increasing number of ATM machines, so cash can be easily withdrawn. You should not rely on this option in more far-flung destinations. Note that Scotland and Northern Ireland notes are NOT accepted. Travellers cheques are still widely used, but are not accepted as direct transactions in bars and restaurants. If you are cashing a travellers cheque, bank rates are better than hotel rates but the process can take longer. The banks in the airport arrivals hall offer excellent value and our ground agents will wait until you have made the transaction. As anywhere in the world, guard your money, credit cards and travellers cheques safely and use safety-deposit boxes if possible. You cannot buy Sri Lankan rupees in advance. |
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| Red Dot Tours Ltd, also trading as Luxurious Sri Lanka, is registered as a Ltd. Company at Companies House. Company No: 4007363. Directors: C Austin, D Hopps. |
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