HBCU GETAWAY
TERMS & CONDITIONS for ALL GUESTS
When you book with NextLevel Vacations and/or participate in the MDG, you agree to the Terms and Conditions outlined below. Please make sure you read them carefully. If you do not understand the Terms and Conditions, please speak with a NextLevel Vacations advisor.
INITIAL DEPOSIT, PAYMENT SCHEDULE
& PRE-BOOKING REGISTRATION FORM:
Throughout this document, HBCU Getaway hereafter will be referred to as “MDG”.
All bookings require a non-refundable $100, $150 or $250 deposit per person depending on the date of your registration. Each person MUST make the required initial deposit within 30 days of the date on the registration form for the price per person and for the reservation to be submitted and confirmed. If you have to cancel for any reason, only your “initial deposit” will be credited forward to the next MDG year.
MDG will begin a formal booking and secure a guest’s reservation only after all named registered guests have made their initial deposit, all dates of travel are clear, as well as contact numbers and e-mail addresses are available for all guests.
MDG guests can get even more payment flexibility by using the PayPal 6 months to pay plan by choosing the “Bill Me Later” plan on the MDG website.
Your final balance due and flight itineraries are required no later than May 1 to guarantee your room type and free transportation form the Puerto Plata airport.
We thank you for your considerate cooperation. All terms and conditions in this agreement with each MDG guests shall be interpreted, construed and enforced according to the laws of the State of Ohio, USA.
PAYMENT SCHEDULE WHEN GUESTS BOOK LESS THAN 30 DAYS BEFORE CHECK-IN DATE:
When initiating a booking within 60 days of check-in date the total cost must be paid in full at the time of the registration. There are no exceptions to this deadline. Discounts and payment schedules are not available on bookings within 60 days of the MDG event.
LATE PAYMENT CHARGES:
Guests will be charged a $10 late fee for EACH due payment that goes over 30 days. After April 15 the late fee increases to $25. For any payments due after May 15 there will be a $50 late fee. Regardless of the date of initial booking, all guests who miss an initial deposit, payment due or final payment deadline will be charged according to these late fee guidelines per person. We must respectfully advise you, these deadlines will be enforced.
If a registration/reservation becomes 3 months past due, it will be categorized as a cancellation and will be subject to reassignment if there is a sell out on rooms.
MDG sets payment deadlines for a good & compelling reason. As a wholesaler, our contracts with service providers require that we pay on your behalf well in advance of your check-in. We need to honor the service providers’ payment deadlines to secure the lowest net rates possible, & accordingly the best package savings, for our guests. We truly want to avoid ever having to assess a penalty fee, because we value our respectful friendships with guests. However, we are bound by well-defined contract deadlines & therefore there are no exceptions to the rule of timely payments for both initial deposit & final balance. Your kind cooperation is encouraged & also greatly appreciated.
The ONLY ACCEPTED PAYMENT METHOD:
PayPal.
The only payment method accepted by MDG is PayPal. Mastercard, American Express & Visa credit cards are accepted. Thank you again for your gracious understanding.
All credit card payments must be initiated by the guest through the MDG website. The website address is: www.dominicangetaway.com
MDG BOOKINGS ARE BINDING CONTRACTS WITH GUESTS:
Once a guest has submitted a registration form & paid the required initial deposit, that signifies his or her full acceptance of all Terms & Conditions of a good-faith contract with MDG. Paid deposits also mean the guest intends to attend, fully & freely gives approval to all provisions of the Liability Release & Waiver, the Travel Insurance Advisory, the PayPal authorization, & all other MDG policies prior to departure.
Therefore, when you register yourself and/or others with MDG & pay the deposit or full balance due, you are signing a legally binding contract, not merely a declaration of intent to possibly buy a vacation package. It is not the MDG’s desire to be punitive with deadlines & late-payment fees. Rather, the MDG works hard to cut all needless business losses so our trips remain safe, affordable, and high quality, for all guests each year. Thank you for helping us keep our prices as low, & our service quality as high as possible. We want to keep the MDG as the best value for an event of this type in the Caribbean.
PARTICIPATION IN MDG EVENTS:
The MDG offers guest an all-inclusive experience. Guest must book through the MDG website to get access to all MDG events without additional cost. There are Tour Operators who offer lower accommodation cost. However, these operators incur none on the cost of producing the numerous signature events that make the MDG what it is. Therefore, anyone who does not book directly through the MDG website will need to purchase an all access Party Pass to participate in any exclusive MDG event.
Some MDG events are conducted off the resort to create a more robust experience for guest as it relates to the Dominican culture. For all off resort events the food and beverage is not included. The event talent, performing artists and transportation, however, are funded by the MDG.
PERSONAL LIABILITY FACTORS:
All guests and participants alike agree to assume full & absolute responsibility for any & all risks they may encounter during MDG events as well as all tours and excursions you may participate in. All guests agree to assume full responsibility for all medical, legal or financial losses that may arise from any activities they undertake on any MDG trip, whether or not a guest acts alone, or within a group of tourists.
Furthermore, all guests must agree & affirm that the contract partnership of MDG, Lifestyle Holidays Vacation Club and Ocean World Marine Park and Casino, plus all MDG contract-associate agencies & all their associates, agents, employees & family members, shall not be legally or financially liable, nor in any way responsible for mishaps at anytime, anywhere on the MDG trip.
All guests further agree & affirm that these three above-named partner agencies will not be held legally or financially liable for any guest’s losses of money or property, nor for any illnesses, injuries or disabilities, nor for damages to personal property, nor for any delays, expenses or losses that might arise from war, civil insurrection, strikes, crimes against property or persons, or bad weather conditions; nor for default of a resort or tour operator; nor for any & all acts of God such as harsh weather, storm damage to hotels & similar unforeseen severe events such as acts of terrorism.
APPROPRIATE FEES for PROFESSIONAL SERVICES:
When any guest, or client group, submits a deposit to MDG, that deposit is non-refundable. Therefore a guest deposit is understood to be a formal & binding commitment to pay for the vacation package in full. It is also a statement of intent to take the trip that the guest requested & that the MDG fulfilled in good faith. When any guest orders a trip & the MDG agents commit to organizing & fine-tuning that trip, the fact of any client’s arbitrary cancellation for personal reasons does not erase the fact of MDG’s time already committed.
The MDG is not a retail travel agency. We are highly experienced adventure travel consultant and international wholesalers of travel trips. And just as it is standard practice with other professionals, consulting time is a saleable resource for which fair & appropriate fees are charged. Furthermore, submission of a deposit by any guest indicates that guest’s full acceptance of MDG’s cancellation policy, & also acceptance of all MDG Terms & Conditions, as detailed in this document you are reading right here.
In many cases, MDG managers will waive most service/change fees when guests are decisive, well organized & stick to their decisions after ordering a specific trip to be planned. Service/change fees are assessed when guest indecision, disorganization, plan reversals or arbitrary last-minute changes cost MDG measurable losses and time to fix.
CANCELLATIONS and EXPLANATION of FEES: Guest cancellations are extremely costly & time consuming for NextLevel Vacations and our associate travel professionals to administer correctly. When business losses rise, so do prices for all our valued guests. Therefore, to maintain our standard of low discount prices & attentive personal service, NextLevel Vacations discourages casual, willful & needless cancellations.
Any client’s cancellation of air, lodging, land transportation reservations, or cancellation of any general vacation reservations, is further subject to whatever penalty fees that the airlines, hotels & inns, vessel owners, tour operators & travel wholesalers affiliated with MDG will routinely, by their own internal policy, assess in such situations. These penalty fees are beyond NextLevel ‘s ability to control.
In all cases when a guest, of his or her own choice, leaves the vacation trip before its completion, or fails to show up for a MDG-booked vacation trip — for any reason such action will be deemed a trip cancellation without good cause & that client must forfeit the entire deposit & fee balance already paid to NextLevel Vacations.
Our policy is “all payments are non-refundable”. Our policy is stated in the terms and conditions located on our registration form. This policy is also communicated twice on invoice statements to each group. If a person has to cancel for any reason, we will credit the “initial deposit” showing their intent to attend, forward to the next year’s event. Any payments made after the initial deposit are not refundable. If a guest is able to find a new replacement who does not currently have an initial deposit in place, we will transfer all of their payments to that new person.
We think this is fair and balanced. It is consistent with our police of “all payments are non-refundable”. We could not take the risk of doing this type of international event with its scope and complexity with any confidence without a policy like this.
MDG’S RIGHT TO REFUSE ANY BOOKING: NextLevel Vacations reserves the absolute right to refuse to book any person as a MDG guest– for any good & just cause — such as MDG deeming that the applicant’s health, conditioning, attitude, temperament, preparedness (or any other factors) make him or her unfit for an overseas adventure experience — especially if that unfit applicant might be a hazard to the safety, comfort, enjoyment or peace of mind of any other trip participants. MDG expresses full respect for persons of all races, religions, minority groups & nationalities. Therefore any MDG decision to reject a trip applicant never will be based upon considerations of race, religion, nationality or minority status, but will be based solely upon weighing possible detriments of the unfit applicant to the general well-being & safety of himself or other clients.
TERMS & CONDITIONS APPLY EQUALLY
to GUESTS BOOKED THROUGH NEXTLEVEL VACATIONS AND NON-NLV BOOKED GUESTS:
Just as all MDG guests do, all other travelers who participate in a MDG trip/event must agree in full with, & give their formal approval to, this prime MDG policy: that MDG guests are subject to & contractually bound by all Terms & Conditions of this agreement, & subject to all provisions of the Liability Release & Waiver, & subject to all provisions of the Travel Insurance Advisory, & also subject to all provisions of the other MDG booking policies listed in the Terms and Conditions.
WHETHER a VISA is NEEDED for YOUR DESTINATION!
National government requirements for tourist entry vary from one country to another. All MDG guests are solely responsible for securing their own valid passport & proper entry visa, if visas are required in the country of your chosen destination. Feel free to call MDG any time for advice on passports & visas. Please check with your airline well in advance of departure to determine whether securing a visa is required before you leave the U.S., or whether your vacation host country will automatically issue a visa upon arrival. Understand that MDG will grant no refunds whatsoever to clients who arrive overseas & are denied entry to any country because they failed to secure a proper passport or visa beforehand. Please double-check the validity of your passport before you board the plane! It is a very wise idea to ensure that at least six months buffer time is left on your passport. Be prudent.
ROOM & LODGING SUBSTITUTIONS:
NextLevel Vacations reserves the continuing right, at any time for good & just cause — such as an act of God, an emergency, an on-site facility problem, a sold out situation on the resort or failure to make payments for 3 consecutive months against the payment plan — to substitute different lodging for our advertised hotels & resorts. Any substitute hotel or accommodation will be of equal or better quality and value. We take pride in always serving you with top-quality & economical accommodations at all of our vacation destinations.
Thank you for your time, your goodwill & your participation in the MDG!
© Copyright NextLevel Vacations 2015.