In the unlikely possibility of something going wrong when you travel with Haivenu, we guarantee compensation up to the full cost of your tour.

1. Protection for worldwide clients
(for UK clients, please refer to Part 2 below)

For worldwide clients, when you book a tour with Haivenu, the contract will be between yourself and Haivenu Co., Ltd (Vietnam).

Haivenu Vietnam is a fully licensed international tour company affiliated to the Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA), the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA - Vietnam Chapter), and the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA).

We are fully licensed by the Vietnam National Authority for Tourism (VNAT) as an International Tour Operator. Our International Tour Operator Licence number is 0086/2002/TCDL-GP LHQT. The terms of our licence require us to place a substantial cash bond in a secure account. The account has two signatories - Haivenu and VNAT.

The money in the account is solely for compensating clients - VNAT will not allow us to withdraw money for any other purpose. If compensation has to be paid to a client, we are obliged to top up the bond to its original level immediately.

To ensure fair treatment for yourself and us, we have drawn up a 'Complaints' procedure that includes the resolution of disputes by a neutral arbitrator.

Since we established Haivenu in 2000, we haven't needed to use the Complaints procedure or withdraw money from our bond account!

2. Protection for UK clients:

For UK clients, when you book a tour with us whether directly with Haivenu Vietnam or Haivenu UK, the contract will be between yourself and Haivenu UK with Haivenu UK acting as the principal and tour operator and Haivenu Vietnam acting as our ground handler.

Haivenu UK provides ATOL and TOPP protection against business collapse. These protection policies are applied to all our clients worldwide.

TOPP (Total Payment Protection Policy)

Should Haivenu UK cease trading, all customers are protected by Total Payment Protection Policy under policy number HUKL/topp/07/01. In the unlikely event of financial failure, subject to the terms and conditions of the Policy, customers' prepayments for non-flight inclusive packages/flight inclusive packages will be reimbursed. Where return travel to the UK is included in the package purchased, customers will be repatriated to the UK . Total Payment Protection Policy is underwritten by Travel & General Insurance Company plc, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

lease note that the contract will be between you and Haivenu UK Ltd will be governed by UK Law and any disputes will be dealt with in the courts of the UK .

ATOL

All Haivenu UK clients departing from UK airports are protected by ATOL (Air Travel Organisers' Licensing). ATOL is a protection scheme for flights and air holidays, managed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Most firms who sell air travel in the UK are required by law to hold an ATOL licence.

If you've booked and contracted with Haivenu UK for a complete air holiday package or just a flight, ATOL protects you from losing money or being stranded abroad if the tour operator goes out of business. All licensed airline firms have to lodge bonds with the CAA so that if they go out of business, the CAA can give refunds to people who can't travel and arrange for people abroad to finish their holidays and fly home. There's also a Government-backed fund called the Air Travel Trust that steps in if any ATOL bond isn't enough to look after everyone affected by the failure.

Furthermore, air holiday package organisers are responsible for all the items in the package they sell to you. This means if there's a problem with any of the suppliers involved with your holiday, Haivenu will sort it out. You also have recourse to Haivenu UK if there are problems with your holiday arrangements, such as transport and accommodation and health and safety issues.

You can check whether Haivenu UK (or any other operator) holds an ATOL license at CAA website. Haivenu UK will check that all the holiday arrangements you are booking, such as flights and accommodation, are covered by Haivenu's ATOL. Your holiday invoice (online or hard copy) will confirm both this and the total price.

Please note :

ATOL protection is only for flights or flight-related issues as above. To obtain full protection, all the elements in the holiday must be included in the package. If you have chosen to make separate arrangements for, say, transport or hotels, those elements would not be protected should things go wrong.

The rapid expansion of low cost carriers is encouraging travellers to create their own holidays by booking flights and accommodation online. This may seem a cheaper option, but you will lose the protection provided by an ATOL tour operator.

If your chosen airline company were to collapse (not an uncommon occurrence!), you might need to pay considerably more to get another flight home and even have to cut short your holiday. If the collapse occurred before departure, it's likely that your holiday plan will suffer. For example, you could have difficulties getting to the hotels you'd booked. Last minute alternative flights and connections can be very expensive and fly at different times to the original bookings.