Booking terms

1.Who you are contracting with

Your contract is with Sahaba Investments Pvt Ltd, a company registered in the Republic of Maldives, trading as Sahaba Hajj & Umra. Where these terms say “we”, “us” or “our”, they mean that company.

Hajj and Umrah operators in the Maldives must hold approval from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. Our current licensing position is published in full, and kept up to date, on our licensing page. We will not accept a deposit from you at any time when we do not hold a valid approval.

2.How a booking is made

Submitting a booking through this website, by telephone or at our office is an offer to travel with us. It is not a contract yet.

A contract comes into effect only when we have confirmed your place in writing and received the first payment set out for that programme. Until both have happened, no place is held for you and no obligation arises on either side.

You are responsible for the accuracy of the details you give us. Names must match the passport exactly. A name that does not match is the most common cause of a refused visa or a denied boarding, and correcting it after tickets are issued usually carries an airline charge that we must pass on.

3.What the price includes

Each programme page lists what is included and what is not. Those lists form part of this contract, and they differ between programmes — hotels, airlines and routing are contracted separately for each departure.

Prices are quoted per pilgrim in Maldivian Rufiyaa and are based on shared room occupancy as stated on the programme page. A different room arrangement may carry a different price.

• Unless a programme page says otherwise, the price does not include personal expenses, excess baggage, telephone or internet charges, laundry, or meals not specifically listed.
• It does not include Qurbani or dam, or any penalty arising from an act of the pilgrim during Ihram.
• It does not include the cost of obtaining or renewing your passport.

4.PaymentTo be confirmed

The deposit and the instalment dates are set separately for each programme and are shown on that programme’s page and in your booking before you pay anything.

Payment is by transfer to our bank account or in cash at our office. A transfer is recorded as received once our office has checked it against our bank statement; until then your booking shows the payment as awaiting verification. We issue a receipt for every verified payment.

If an instalment is not paid by its due date we will contact you before taking any action. We may treat a booking as cancelled by you if payment remains outstanding after we have given you written notice and a reasonable opportunity to pay.

5.Your passport and your visa

You must hold a passport valid for at least six months beyond the date you return. This is a requirement of the Saudi authorities, not ours, and we cannot apply for a visa without it. Our booking system will tell you the exact date your passport must remain valid until.

You must give us your passport details and photograph by the dates we tell you. Visa and Nusuk processing is the step most likely to delay a group, which is why we ask for documents at booking rather than shortly before departure.

We apply for your Umrah visa on your behalf. We cannot guarantee that a visa will be granted — that decision belongs to the Saudi authorities alone.

6.If a visa is refusedTo be confirmed

If your visa is refused for a reason outside your control, we will refund what we can recover from our suppliers. Airline tickets, hotel deposits and visa processing fees are often non-refundable once committed, and we will show you what was recoverable.

If a visa is refused because information you gave us was inaccurate or incomplete, or because documents were not provided by the dates we set, the cancellation charges in our refund policy apply.

7.Changes we may make

Group travel depends on airlines, hotels and Saudi regulation, and details can change. We may need to change hotels, flight times, routing or the order of the itinerary.

Where a change is minor we will tell you as soon as we can. Where a change is significant — a materially different standard of hotel, a change of departure date, or a materially longer journey — we will tell you promptly and you may accept the change, accept an alternative programme if one is available, or cancel and receive a refund of what you have paid us.

We will not increase the price of your programme after your booking is confirmed.

8.If we cancel the programmeTo be confirmed

A group programme needs a minimum number of pilgrims to operate. If that number is not reached, we may cancel the programme. We set a decision date for each programme and will tell you by that date at the latest.

If we cancel for any reason other than something you have done, you will receive a full refund of everything you have paid us. We are not able to compensate for costs you arranged separately, such as domestic travel to Malé, so please take that into account before booking those separately.

9.If you cancel

You may cancel at any time by telling us in writing. What you receive back depends on how close to departure you cancel, because our own commitments to airlines and hotels are made in stages.

Our cancellation charges, and the circumstances in which you may transfer your place to another person, are set out in full in our cancellation and refund policy, which forms part of these terms.

10.Travel insurance

We strongly recommend that every pilgrim holds travel insurance covering medical treatment, repatriation and cancellation. Unless a programme page states that insurance is included, it is not.

Please tell us about any medical condition or mobility need at the time of booking. We ask so that we can seat, room and assist you properly — it does not affect your ability to travel with us, and it is treated confidentially.

11.Conduct during the programme

You travel as part of a group, in two sacred cities, under Saudi law. You are expected to follow the reasonable instructions of our group leaders, to keep to the timings given, and to behave with consideration for other pilgrims.

In the rare case where a pilgrim’s conduct puts others at risk or makes the programme unworkable, we may end that pilgrim’s participation. No refund is due in that situation and any resulting costs are the pilgrim’s own.

12.Our responsibility to you

We are responsible for arranging the programme described on the programme page with reasonable skill and care.

We are not responsible for matters outside our reasonable control — including the decisions of the Saudi authorities, airline delays and cancellations, weather, crowd-control measures at the Haramain, illness, or any act of God.

Nothing in these terms limits any liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence.

13.Your personal information

We collect identity documents, passport details and, where you give them, medical and mobility details. We use them to apply for your visa, to register you on Nusuk, and to arrange flights, hotels and transport.

How we store that information, who we share it with and how long we keep it is set out in our privacy notice.

14.Complaints

If something goes wrong during the programme, please tell your group leader straight away so that we have the chance to put it right while you are still travelling.

If a matter remains unresolved, write to us and we will respond within fourteen days. Where a complaint concerns our conduct as a licensed operator, you may also raise it with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs.

15.Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Maldives, and the courts of the Maldives have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them.