Booking Terms

How a booking works

A reservation moves through four stages:

• You send a reservation request, and we check the details and verify your identity.
• You pay a reservation prepayment, which secures your request while we work on it.
• Your concierge confirms availability and the final price with each supplier and sends you a written confirmation with the terms that apply.
• You pay the balance by the date in the confirmation.

A contract for the travel is made only when we send that written confirmation. Until then nothing is booked, and every price is indicative.

Our role and our suppliers

Altamar arranges services that independent suppliers provide: hotels, villa owners, yacht owners and charter managers, aircraft operators, chauffeur and rail companies, cruise lines, restaurants and others. We do not own, operate, crew or maintain any aircraft, vessel or vehicle, we do not run any hotel or house, and we do not control how suppliers run their services.

When you reserve a single service, we arrange it as your agent, and the supplier provides it. Each supplier's own terms apply to its service, including its cancellation, conduct and safety rules, and your written confirmation will tell you about the ones that matter. Please read them: by accepting the confirmation you agree to them. For aircraft, we arrange the flight as your agent with its operator, which has operational control of the flight and is the carrier responsible for it. Your confirmation names the operator before you pay the balance.

When we put two or more kinds of travel service together for the same trip as one journey, the law may treat it as a package: the law of the European Union and of the United Kingdom for travellers there, and the law of Georgia from 1 June 2027. Where it does, we are responsible to you for the proper performance of every service in the journey, as that law provides, whatever these terms call our role, and your confirmation will set out the protection for your payments.

The price we quote is one price for the service we arrange, and it includes our own charges. We do not itemise those charges.

If the law of your country treats your booking as a linked travel arrangement, you have the rights that law gives you. Unless your confirmation says otherwise, payments are not covered by a bonding or insurance scheme.

Safety

Each aircraft, vessel and vehicle is the responsibility of its operator: its airworthiness or seaworthiness, its maintenance, its crew and the conduct of the journey. Before we arrange a service, we ask the supplier to confirm in writing that it holds the licences, certificates and insurance the service requires (for a private flight, a certificate to carry paying passengers on that flight), and we do not knowingly arrange a service with a supplier that does not.

Checking documents is not an inspection. We do not audit operators' maintenance, training or operations, and a certificate, an audit or a rating from an independent body is not a promise that a journey will be free of incident.

The pilot in command, the captain or the driver decides whether, when and how it is safe to travel, and may delay, divert, cancel or end a journey, or refuse to carry anyone, for safety. A change made for safety is not a failure on our part, and we will help you with what follows.

Please follow safety briefings and the crew's instructions, wear seat belts and life jackets when asked, and keep children in your care supervised. Water sports, tenders, diving, skiing, riding, landings in remote places and similar activities carry real risks of injury, which care can reduce but not remove. You choose them knowingly, and their providers may ask you to accept their own conditions and declare your fitness to take part.

Prices

Prices are indicative until your concierge confirms them in writing. An option lists what is included and what is not. Common extras include the advance provisioning allowance and VAT on yacht charters, positioning and landing costs on private flights, and resort fees and taxes on hotels.

If you combine parts priced in different currencies, we convert them to one currency at a published reference rate with a small allowance for movement, and show you the result before you reserve.

Once confirmed, the price changes only if your confirmation says it can, for example because a supplier passes on a change in tax or fuel cost. If such a change would be significant, we will tell you and you may cancel without charge.

Some options publish no price. We show them as price on request, with an estimate worked out from similar options where we can. An estimate is not a price: such an option cannot be reserved until your concierge has the supplier's quote, and then it is priced like any other.

If you are a member, the prices you see are your member rates, and the rate in force when you reserve is the one that applies to that booking, as the Membership Terms describe.

Verification

Operators and regulations require us to know who is travelling and who is paying. Before you can pay, we ask for a photograph of the passport of the person making the booking, and we check the names of everyone involved. For some bookings we also ask who will pay and where the funds come from. You must give true and complete information, and tell us if it changes.

We may hold a reservation while checks are completed, and we may decline any reservation or stop arranging one without giving a reason. Our approach is explained in Global Sanctions Compliance, and how we protect your documents is in our Privacy Policy.

The reservation prepayment

The prepayment is shown as an amount on your reservation page. It secures your request while your concierge confirms it, and it is deducted from the final price.

We refund it in full if we cannot confirm your booking, or if the confirmed price is higher than the indicative price and you choose not to go ahead. If you tell us you have changed your mind before we send your confirmation, we refund it, less any non-refundable amount you agreed in writing that we could pay to a supplier on your behalf.

Paying

You can pay by card on the secure payment page of the Bank of Georgia, or by bank transfer. Larger amounts are paid by transfer, and your reservation page will show you which methods are open to you.

Bank details appear only on your reservation page, and for members on their account page. We will never ask you to pay into a different account by email, phone or message. If anyone does, do not pay, and contact your concierge using a number or address you already trust.

Payment must come from the person named in your reservation, or from a payer you have declared and we have accepted. We do not accept cash or crypto-assets. Your bank's own charges are for you to pay.

The balance

The balance is due by the date in your written confirmation. If it is not paid on time, we may treat the booking as cancelled by you, and the charges below will apply.

If you change or cancel

Please tell your concierge in writing as soon as plans change. We will do what we can, but changes depend on the suppliers.

After confirmation, each supplier's cancellation terms apply, and they can be strict: for yachts, private aircraft, villas and sought-after restaurants, the whole price may be payable. Your confirmation sets out these charges. We deduct them, and any costs we have reasonably incurred, from what you have paid and refund the rest.

Legal rights to cancel a contract made at a distance generally do not apply to accommodation, transport, catering or leisure services booked for a particular date. We strongly recommend insurance that covers cancellation.

If a supplier changes or cancels

Suppliers sometimes change or cancel, and a yacht's itinerary or a flight's routing may change because of weather, safety or port restrictions. The captain or pilot in command has the last word on safety.

If a confirmed service cannot be provided, we will tell you as soon as we can and help you find a suitable alternative. If you do not accept the alternative, we will refund what you have paid us for that service, once the supplier has released it, and in any case we will pursue that refund for you. You may have further rights against the supplier under its terms or the law.

Refunds

Refunds go back to the card or account that paid, and never anywhere else. We aim to send them within 14 days of the date a refund is due. Your bank may take longer to show it.

We may be unable to return money where the law prevents it, including where funds must be frozen or reported under sanctions or anti-money-laundering rules.

If you have a concern about a charge, please speak to us before disputing it with your card issuer.

Travel documents, health and insurance

You are responsible for valid passports, visas, health requirements and any permits for everyone travelling, and for checking the entry rules of every place on the journey. Names in your reservation must match passports exactly, and operators may need guest details before travel.

Please tell us about any medical condition, mobility need, allergy or dietary requirement that may affect the journey. We will pass it on and do what we can, but we cannot promise that a supplier can meet it.

Travel insurance is your own responsibility. We strongly recommend a policy, taken out when you reserve, that covers everyone travelling for medical treatment, emergency evacuation and repatriation (including by air ambulance from yachts and remote places), cancellation and cutting the journey short, personal accident, belongings and valuables, and personal liability, including for damage to the yachts, houses and vehicles you use.

Some suppliers, and some journeys (expedition voyages, heli-skiing, diving and travel to remote places among them), require proof of medical and evacuation cover, and some countries make health insurance a condition of entry. Where they do, we will tell you, and you must show it before the journey begins.

Insurance is a contract between you and your insurer. We do not sell it, and we are not responsible for what a policy covers or for an insurer's decisions. Our own insurance covers our business, not your journey: it is not travel insurance.

Particular kinds of booking

• Yachts: charters run under a charter agreement with the owner or manager, usually with an advance provisioning allowance that is spent at cost and reconciled, and a security deposit where the agreement requires one.
• Private aircraft and helicopters: flights are operated by licensed operators. Schedules can change for weather, air traffic, crew limits or technical reasons, and positioning, de-icing and overnight crew costs may apply.
• Cars and trains: chauffeured cars are provided by licensed operators, and each train operator's own terms apply. Waiting time, overtime, tolls, parking and out-of-hours charges may apply. Meeting you at the aircraft depends on the airport and is confirmed only when it agrees.
• Villas and chalets: the owner's house rules apply, and a security deposit is usual.
• Cruises: the cruise line's ticket contract applies.
• Events: only the organiser or its official partners can confirm tickets or hospitality, and we do not buy from unofficial resellers. Requests are not guaranteed until they have confirmed, in writing. Entry by invitation alone cannot be bought and is never promised. Organisers set the dates and the programme and can change them, their own ticket conditions apply, and cancellation terms are usually strict.
• Dining: only the restaurant can confirm a table. Requests are not guaranteed until it does, deposits and no-show charges are common, and menus, chefs and guide ratings can change without notice. A Michelin star or other rating describes the restaurant at the time and is not part of what we promise.

Looking after you

Once your prepayment is received, your reservation page shows a direct line to your concierge, available at any hour until your journey ends. We use it to help you and to reach your suppliers on your behalf, and suppliers remain responsible for the services they provide. It is not an emergency service: in an emergency, contact the local emergency services first.

Your conduct

Everyone travelling must follow our Client Code of Conduct and the rules of each supplier. A supplier may refuse or end a service because of a guest's behaviour, and in that case no refund is due.

Events beyond control

Neither we nor our suppliers are responsible for failing to perform because of events beyond reasonable control, such as war, terrorism, civil unrest, natural disaster, severe weather, epidemic, government action, sanctions, port or airspace closure, or strikes.

Injury, illness, death and damage

Travel by air, sea and road, and the activities a journey can include, carry a risk of accident, injury, illness, death, and loss of or damage to property.

For a single service we arrange as your agent, the supplier is responsible for providing it, including for any injury, illness, death, loss or damage that it, its staff or its subcontractors cause, and a claim for these is made against the supplier and its insurers. We will give you the supplier's details and the details of its insurance that it has given us, and help you make the claim.

For a journey that the law treats as a package, we are responsible as that law provides. We are not liable for a failure caused by you or your party, by someone unconnected with the services that could not reasonably have been foreseen or avoided, or by unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances. Where the law allows, our liability for a package is limited to three times its price, but never for personal injury caused intentionally or negligently.

Carriers' liability for death, injury, delay and baggage is set by international conventions, such as the Montreal Convention for flights between many countries and the Athens Convention for travel by sea, and by the law where the service is provided. Those rules decide who is liable and for how much, including on any claim made through us.

Your belongings, and damage you cause

We do not look after luggage or belongings, and we are not responsible for their loss, theft or damage unless our own failure to take reasonable care caused it. Carriers, hotels and houses have their own rules and limits for belongings in their care, which can be low: keep valuables with you or in a safe, and insure them.

You are responsible for damage that you or anyone in your party causes to an aircraft, yacht, house, vehicle or any other property, and for any fine, cost or claim that results from your party's conduct or from breaking a supplier's rules. A supplier may take it from a security deposit or claim it from you directly. If a claim is made against us because of it, you will compensate us.

Our responsibility to you

We will arrange your booking with reasonable care and skill: choosing suppliers with care, passing on what you tell us, and helping you if something goes wrong. We are responsible for our own failures to take that care, not for the acts or failures of a supplier, its staff or its subcontractors, except where the law applying to your booking says otherwise.

Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow us to limit, and nothing takes away your mandatory rights as a consumer.

Within those limits, we are not liable for loss that was not reasonably foreseeable, or for business losses, and for a single service our total liability is limited to the amount you paid us for it.

Complaints

If something is wrong during your journey, tell the supplier and your concierge straight away, so that it can be put right while you are there. If it is not resolved, please write to us at concierge@example.com within 28 days of your return. We will reply within 14 days.

If you are injured or your property is lost or damaged, tell the operator and your concierge in writing as soon as you can. Conventions, laws and suppliers' terms set time limits for notices and claims, some of them short (for damaged or delayed baggage, a matter of days), and a late notice can lose a claim.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of Georgia, and the courts of Tbilisi have jurisdiction over any dispute. If you are a consumer living elsewhere, you keep the protection of the mandatory laws of your country and may also bring a claim in its courts.

Our Terms of Use also apply. Altamar is the trading name of its operating company, whose registered details are published here before bookings open.