These Terms & Conditions, together with our privacy policy and any other written information we bring to your attention before we confirm your booking, form the basis of your contract with The Spark Experience Inc. (“we”, “us”, “our”). Please read them carefully as they set out our respective rights and obligations. In these Terms & Conditions references to “you” and “your” include the first-named person on the booking and all persons on whose behalf a booking is made or any other person to whom a booking is added or transferred.

By making a booking, the first-named person on the booking agrees on behalf of all persons detailed on the booking that:

a. He/she has read these terms and conditions and has the authority to and does agree to be bound by them;

b. He/she consents to our use of information in accordance with our Privacy Policy;

c. He/she is over 18 years of age and where placing an order for services with age restrictions declares that he/she and all members of the party are of the appropriate age to purchase those services;

d. He/she accepts financial responsibility for payment of the booking on behalf of all persons detailed on the booking.

1. Booking and Paying for Your Arrangements

A booking is made with us when you have sent written acceptance of the final offer for the itinerary created for you, subject to payment of the agreed deposit.

Following payment of the deposit, if you believe that any details concerning your booking are wrong you must advise us immediately; it may harm your rights if we are not notified of any inaccuracies in any document within ten days of our sending it out (five days for tickets).

The balance of the cost of your arrangements (including any applicable surcharge) is due on the date specified on your confirmation (or upon acceptance of the itinerary if within 60 days of departure). If we do not receive this balance in full and on time, we reserve the right to treat your booking as canceled by you in which case the cancellation policy set out in clause 6 below will become payable.

Any additional arrangements and expenses booked or incurred during your holiday will be invoiced at the end of the trip. All such invoices must be paid within 7 days of issue.

2. Insurance

Adequate travel insurance is a condition of your contract with us. You must make sure that your insurance fully covers all your personal requirements including cancellation charges, medical expenses, and repatriation in the event of accident or illness. If you choose to travel without adequate insurance cover, we will not be liable for any losses howsoever arising, in respect of which insurance cover would otherwise have been available. You will also need to sign a waiver prior to start of the trip.

3. Jurisdiction and Applicable Law

These Terms & Conditions and any agreement to which they apply are governed in all respects by Canadian law. Both sides agree that any dispute, claim or other matter which arises between us out of or in connection with your contract or booking will be dealt with by the Supreme Court of Canada only.

4. Changes by You

If you wish to change any part of your booking arrangements after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you must inform us as soon as possible. All changes will be subject to payment of an administration fee as well as any applicable rate changes or extra costs incurred as well as any costs incurred by ourselves and any costs or charges incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers. You should be aware that these costs could increase the closer to the departure date that changes are made and you should contact us as soon as possible.

Note: Certain arrangements may not be amended or transferred after they have been confirmed and any alteration could incur a cancellation charge of up to 100% of that part of the arrangements.

5. Cutting Your Holiday Short

If you are forced to return home early, we cannot refund the cost of any services you have not used. If you cut short your holiday and return home early in circumstances where you have no reasonable cause for complaint about the standard of accommodation and services provided, we will not offer any refund for that part of your holiday not completed, or be liable for any associated costs you may incur. Depending on the circumstances, your travel insurance may offer cover for curtailment and we suggest that any claim is made directly with them.

6. If You Cancel

If you or any other member of your party decides to cancel your confirmed booking you must notify us in writing. Your notice of cancellation will only take effect when it is received in writing by us and will be effective from the date on which we receive it. We recommend that you use recorded delivery.

We invest a great deal of time and resource in the creation of each holiday. Each service provider has its own cancellation and amendment charges. In the event of cancellation or a change that service providers treat as a cancellation (such as a change of holiday dates), we will do our best to negotiate the lowest possible cancellation charges and recoup pre-payments from suppliers as far as possible.

However, as our holidays are so individual, substantial costs and losses are usually incurred where a holiday is canceled or treated as canceled which you will be responsible for meeting. Our service fees and trip planning fees (which cover the arrangement of your holiday, the provision of personnel to oversee its performance and all related and ancillary services by us) which have already been incurred when cancellation is notified or which are incurred in connection with the cancellation will not be refundable and/or will remain payable in full. Your deposit will be lost if you cancel your trip for any reason 6 months or less before the event. You full payment will be lost if you cancel your trip for any reason 20 days or less before the event – however, additional charges may incur.

7. Force Majeure

Except where otherwise expressly stated in these booking conditions we will not be liable or pay you compensation if our contractual obligations to you are affected by any event which we or the supplier(s) of the service(s) in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. These events can include but are not limited to war, the threat of war, civil strife, terrorist activity, and its consequences or the threat of such activity, riot, the act of any government or other national or local authority including port or river authorities, industrial dispute, lock closure, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, chemical or biological disaster and adverse weather, sea, ice and river conditions and all similar events outside our or the supplier(s) concerned’s control. Advice from the Foreign Office to avoid or leave a particular country may constitute Force Majeure.

If one of our events is cancelled because of a country temporary lockdown (for example, Coronavirus reasons), the trip will be postponed for the following year, so your funds will move towards that.

8. Disabilities and Medical Problems

We are not a specialist disabled holiday company, but we will do our utmost to cater for any special requirements you may have. If you or any member of your party has any medical problem or disability which may affect your stay, please provide us with full details before we confirm your booking so that we can try to advise you as to the suitability of your chosen arrangements.  We may require you to produce a doctor’s certificate certifying that you are fit to participate in the itinerary. Acting reasonably, if we are unable to properly accommodate the needs of the person(s) concerned, we will not confirm your booking or if you did not give us full details at the time of booking, we will cancel it and impose applicable cancellation charges when we become aware of these details.

9. Complaints

We make every effort to ensure that your holiday arrangements run smoothly but if you do have a problem during your holiday, please inform our representative immediately who will endeavor to put things right. If the problem cannot be resolved and you wish to complain further, you must send formal written notice of your complaint to us at our Edmonton office within 28 days of the end of your stay, giving your booking reference and all other relevant information. Please keep your letter concise and to the point. This will assist us to quickly identify your concerns and speed up our response to you. Failure to follow the procedure set out in this clause may affect ours and the applicable supplier’s ability to investigate your complaint, and will affect your rights under this contract.

10. Experiences

Whilst every care is taken to ensure the safety of the arrangements you book with us, due to the nature of some of the arrangements and the environment they take place in, an element of risk over and above that of a ‘normal’ holiday excursion will still exist. By making a booking with us you are deemed to understand and accept this risk. Parents/Guardians are responsible for supervising their children and are deemed to consent to any activities they allow their children to participate in.

All arrangements are provided in compliance with local standards. However, safety standards in other countries may differ from those applicable in your own country. We strongly advise that all customers seek to minimize their exposure to injury by familiarizing themselves with relevant safety information.

Excursions or other tours that you may choose to book or pay for whilst you are on holiday are not part of your contracted arrangements with us. For any excursion or other tour that you book, your contract will be with the operator of the excursion or tour and not with us. We are not responsible for the provision of the excursion or tour or for anything that happens during the course of its provision by the operator.

11. Passport, Visa, Immigration and Health Formalities

It is your responsibility to check and fulfill the passport, visa, health, and immigration requirements applicable to your itinerary. We can only provide general information about this. You must check requirements for your own specific circumstances with the relevant Embassies and/or Consulates and your own doctor as applicable. Requirements do change and you must check the up to date position in good time before departure.

Most countries now require passports to be valid for at least 6 months after your return date. If your passport is in its final year, you should check with the Embassy of the country you are visiting.

We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel, or incur any other loss because you have not complied with any passport, visa, immigration requirements, or health formalities. You agree to reimburse us in relation to any fines or other losses that we incur as a result of your failure to comply with any passport, visa, immigration requirements, or health formalities.

12. Conditions of Suppliers

Many of the services which make up your holiday are provided by independent suppliers. Those suppliers provide these services in accordance with their own terms and conditions which will form part of your contract with us. Some of these terms and conditions may limit or exclude the supplier’s liability to you, usually in accordance with applicable International Conventions.  Copies of the relevant parts of these terms and conditions are available on request from ourselves or the supplier concerned.

13. Advance Passenger information

A number of governments are introducing new requirements for air carriers to provide personal information about all travelers on their aircraft to the Authorities before the aircraft leaves the country of origin. The data will be collected either at the airport when you check-in or in some circumstances when, or after you make your booking. Accordingly, you are advised to allow extra time to check-in for your flight. Where we collect this data, we will treat it in accordance with our privacy policy.

14. Foreign Office Advice

We will keep up to date with Foreign Office advice and State Department warnings in regard to the safety of the countries and areas in which you will be traveling, and, where necessary, advise you of any potential risks or changes in that advice. You can then make your decisions regarding travel accordingly. Advice from the Foreign Office to avoid or leave a particular country may constitute Force Majeure. (See clause 7).

15. Ownership of Intellectual Property

All intellectual property rights in or arising out of or in connection with your trip shall be owned by us, including but not limited to all photos, images, film, and recordings taken of you and your party during your trip (“Images”).