Booking terms
Booking terms, cancellation and travel insurance
What you pay and when, what happens if you or we cancel, and what travel insurance is for. The short version is here; your written terms come with the booking confirmation.
A hotel lobby in Vienna
Payments
Deposit, balance, no surcharges
- When you book
$250 deposit per person
Confirms your booking on any trip of two days or more, after the free 72-hour hold. Card or bank transfer.
- 60 days before
The balance
Due 60 days before departure. We send a reminder 30 days earlier. Pay in parts in between if you like, no fee.
- Within 60 days
Late bookings
Booking within 60 days of departure means paying in full when you book.
- Always
No surcharges
No fuel or ticket surcharges after you book. If a park or a studio raises its price, we pay the difference.
Cancellation
If you have to cancel
Cancellation charges per person, counted from the day we receive your notice in writing:
| Days before departure | Charge |
|---|---|
| More than 60 | The $250 deposit |
| 60 to 31 | 35% of the tour price |
| 30 to 15 | 60% of the tour price |
| 14 or fewer | 100% of the tour price |
These are the charges travel insurance is designed to cover. We always try to resell seats and refund what we recover. Day tours have their own simpler rule, below.
You get every dollar back, or move to another date with $100 per person off. That includes cancellation for safety, wildfire or storms, or too few travelers on a departure not marked Guaranteed.
Changes
Changing dates, names or rooms
Free date change
Move to another date of the same tour once, up to 30 days before departure, at no fee. A higher date price applies if the new date costs more.
Name changes
Free up to 14 days before departure, as long as the new traveler can bring the ID the studio tours ask for.
Extra nights
Add nights before or after the tour at any time, at the hotel's rate that day.
Seats on hold
We hold seats for 72 hours without payment while you decide. After that they go back on sale.
Insurance
Travel insurance: what it is for
Insurance is not in the tour price, and we strongly recommend it, mostly for medical cover abroad, for the cancellation charges and for the flights you book yourself.
What a good policy covers
- Trip cancellation and interruption, for the charges above and your flights
- Medical costs abroad, which US health plans and Medicare often do not cover, and evacuation from remote places like the Icelandic highlands or Wadi Rum
- A pre-existing condition waiver, if bought within 14 to 21 days of your deposit
- Delayed or lost luggage
What we do anyway
- The 24/7 line in Los Angeles: +1 (323) 641-2899
- Hector Salas helps you file claims with your insurer
- Your tour leader goes with you to a doctor or hospital, and translates where needed
Policies differ a lot. Hector Salas can tell you what to look for; we do not sell insurance ourselves.
Day tours
Day tours: paid once, simple to cancel
Payment
The full price when you book. No deposit and no balance.
Cancellation
Free up to 7 days before the date. Within 7 days, we refund the price minus the studio or park tickets we cannot get back.
Changes
Move to another date of the same day tour up to 48 hours before, at no fee, while seats last.
Bad weather
If a day cannot run safely, you choose between a full refund and another date.
Questions about a booking?
Nora Feld answers questions about payments and changes, Monday to Friday.