General Booking Terms

These booking terms govern offers made by independent guides on TrekFriendly and Travellers’ rights. TrekFriendly acts as intermediary for standalone guiding services and as retailer when the Guide combines and organises a package trip. Trips organised directly by TrekFriendly are subject to the terms for trips organised by TrekFriendly.

Scope and the Traveller’s rights

The classification of an offer depends on the services actually combined and how they are sold. A trip combining accommodation with a guided hike essential to the trip may constitute a package under the Belgian Act of 21 November 2017. Splitting the price and using mandates does not deprive the Traveller of that Act’s protection.

For a package put together by the Guide, the Guide assumes the organiser’s obligations; TrekFriendly retains its own obligations as retailer, including information, booking and forwarding requests. The package provisions below take precedence over any clause or automatic estimate less favourable to the Traveller’s mandatory rights. Requests concerning those rights may be sent to info@trekfriendly.com.

Terms applicable to Travellers

2.1 Logistics management mandate

The Traveller entrusts the Guide with managing the logistics advertised in the offer. Where an act is expressly carried out in the Traveller’s name and on their behalf, its scope is specified in the booking documents. This mandate does not mean that all supplier contracts are necessarily concluded directly with the Traveller, nor does it exempt a package from the rules governing packages. The Guide who combines and organises the package remains responsible for its performance.

2.2 Legal capacity and minimum age

Trips offered on TrekFriendly are reserved for adults aged 18 or over. By confirming a booking, the Traveller confirms that they are an adult with full legal capacity to contract and declares that every participant included in the booking is an adult. This declaration is collected at booking and retained with its timestamp and the version of the accepted text. The Guide may refuse participation by any minor.

2.3 Total price structure

The price paid by the Traveller when booking comprises three distinct elements:

• The TrekFriendly service commission.
• Logistics fees: amounts intended for third parties (accommodation, restaurants, transport).
• Guiding fees: remuneration for the Guide’s expertise.

2.4 Collection and flow of funds

Payment is handled through the secure Stripe Connect system:

• Collection at booking: the amount due is collected when the order is confirmed. For bookings of €500 or more, a 30% deposit is collected at booking and the remaining 70% is automatically charged 45 days before departure, subject to a compatible payment method; otherwise a link allows the balance to be paid. If booking occurs after this deadline, the balance is due immediately. The schedule and amount payable are shown before payment.
• TrekFriendly commission: deducted at source when payment is collected.
• Logistics and guiding fees: the breakdown shown before payment identifies the logistics share and the Guide’s fees. Distribution between professionals does not affect the Traveller’s rights.
• Cancellations: any refund owed to the Traveller does not depend on subsequent settlement between TrekFriendly, the Guide and suppliers.

Debit notice and grace period: where the balance is charged automatically, an information-only email is sent 5 days before the charge. If difficulties are reported before that date, TrekFriendly may, exceptionally and at its sole discretion, grant a grace period postponing the date when the booking would be cancelled for non-payment. This period is neither an acquired right nor an established practice; it changes neither the amount owed nor the scale in Article 3.2.

2.5 Minimum participants and departure guarantee

Each departure offered by a Guide has a minimum participant number set by the Guide and displayed on the departure page before any payment. This minimum determines whether the departure takes place.

The departure’s outcome is decided at a guarantee date determined by the trip’s duration:

• Trips of 3 days or fewer: no later than 7 days before departure.
• Trips of more than 3 days: no later than 30 days before departure.

Before the first booking, the Guide may set an earlier registration closing date, particularly to respect an accommodation option. This deadline is displayed before purchase and cannot subsequently be moved earlier or later once the departure has a booking. Payments initiated before closing retain their 35-minute payment window; the decision follows verification, normally within an hour. A payment incident requires regularisation reported by TrekFriendly. The Guide allows at least 48 hours between this closing date and expiry of their option, and confirms or releases the accommodation themselves.

On that date, either the minimum is reached and departure is guaranteed—it can no longer be cancelled for insufficient participants, even if participants subsequently withdraw—or the minimum is not reached and departure is automatically cancelled. In the latter case, Travellers with active bookings receive a full refund, including the service commission, without taking any action, to their original payment method, with no deduction under Article 3.2. Travellers who cancelled before that decision are covered by Article 3.2 (“Cancelled departure”).

The applicable guarantee date is displayed before purchase and repeated in the booking confirmation email. This automatic cancellation is not an act of the Guide within Article 3.3: it creates no entitlement to additional compensation from the Guide or the platform. Trips organised by TrekFriendly itself have no minimum participant number and fall outside this article.

Waiting list and released places: when a place becomes available on a full departure, it is offered exclusively to the first person on that departure’s waiting list for 12 hours. During that period the place is not on general sale, and any other booking request for it is refused with that reason given. If not confirmed in time, it is offered to the next person; once the list is exhausted, it becomes available to everyone. Joining a waiting list is free, involves no collection of money and constitutes neither a booking nor a promise of a place.

Section 3 — Withdrawal and cancellations

3.1 No right of withdrawal

The 14-day withdrawal period does not apply to online booking of a package trip or to leisure services supplied on a specified date or period under Article VI.53, 12° of the Code of Economic Law. This does not remove the cancellation, transfer and refund rights described below.

3.2 Cancellation by the Traveller

For a personal cancellation outside a right to terminate without fees, the charges below are calculated on the total price, capped at amounts already paid. The remainder is refunded. The scale refers to the departure date; after a change chosen by the Traveller, the earlier of the original and new departure dates remains the reference. A postponement imposed by the organiser falls under the separate rights in Article 3.6.

• More than 60 days before departure: 10% of the total price retained.
• Between 60 and 46 days before departure: 25% of the total price retained.
• Between 45 and 15 days before departure: 70% of the total price retained.
• Less than 15 days before departure: 100% of the total price retained, subject to refund rights under the law and these terms.

For personal cancellations subject to this scale, the service commission is the minimum deduction, subject to applicable legal limits. For a package, charges must remain reasonable and justifiable, account for cost savings and expected income from resale, and not exceed the trip price. Their amount is justified on request and corrected where necessary. Where a full package refund is due, payments are returned including commission.

Resale clause: if the place released by cancellation makes it possible to accept a new booking that could not otherwise have been accepted, the cancelling Traveller’s deduction is credited back, less the TrekFriendly service commission retained by the platform. The credit is proportional to the number of places actually taken over. This clause applies to complete cancellation of a booking: a deduction following only the removal of participants from a booking that remains active is final and is not credited back.

Cancelled departure: if the departure is subsequently cancelled, the deduction charged to a Traveller who cancelled before that decision is refunded, less the service commission and any amount already credited under the resale clause.

Supplier costs may be incurred before departure; their recoverability depends on the bookings concerned. For a package, the resale and participant-removal arrangements above do not limit the right to reasonable and justifiable charges. Travellers may claim under cancellation insurance if they have taken it out; proof of cancellation may be requested for their claim.

3.3 Cancellation by the Guide or platform

If the Guide or TrekFriendly cancels the departure, Travellers with active bookings receive a full refund, including commission, whatever the cause. The refund does not depend on first recovering advances from suppliers or the Guide. For a package, it is made without undue delay and no later than 14 days after termination.

3.4 Force majeure

For a package trip, the Traveller may terminate without fees before departure when unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances at the destination or in its immediate vicinity significantly affect performance of the trip or passenger transport to the destination. All payments, including commission, are then refunded without undue delay and within 14 days of termination, with no additional compensation for those circumstances.

A personal impediment, such as illness, does not automatically create this right: cancellation terms and any personal insurance must be considered. To request examination of an exceptional situation without applying the ordinary scale, the Traveller may write to info@trekfriendly.com.

A voucher valid for 18 months may be offered as a voluntary solution. It requires the Traveller’s free and express agreement; refusal never removes a right to a refund. No voucher may be imposed instead of a refund due by law.

3.5 Transfer of a package travel contract

The Traveller may transfer their contract to a person satisfying its conditions, after reasonable notice on a durable medium. At least seven days’ notice is always deemed reasonable; later requests are assessed according to the circumstances. Transfer is requested by email to TrekFriendly, which forwards it to the organiser. Charges cannot exceed the actual, reasonable and proven transfer costs. The transferor and transferee are jointly and severally liable for the balance and additional costs lawfully due.

3.6 Specific package travel rights

Before booking: the organiser and retailer must provide the applicable standard information form, their identities and contact details, the trip’s characteristics, full price, payment schedule, cancellation conditions and insolvency guarantor’s details. The contract or confirmation must be supplied on a durable medium. Reading these terms does not replace those trip-specific documents.

Significant changes: if the organiser proposes a significant change, particularly to dates, the Traveller has a reasonable period to expressly accept or terminate without fees. The notice specifies the changes, their consequences and the response deadline. Without express acceptance within that period, the contract ends under Belgian law. If no replacement package is accepted, all payments are refunded within 14 days of termination. A minor change must be allowed by the contract and notified on a durable medium.

Assistance and performance: the organiser is responsible for included services, including those of suppliers, and provides appropriate assistance without undue delay to a Traveller in difficulty. Any lack of conformity must be reported promptly, directly or through TrekFriendly. Subject to statutory conditions, the Traveller may obtain a remedy, replacement services, a price reduction, termination or compensation. Sums payable for the same loss are not recovered twice.

Financial protection: the organiser and retailer must hold the insolvency protections applicable to them. The guarantor’s contact details and scope of protection must be provided before commitment. Mandates and payment processing by Stripe are neither travel insurance nor evidence of such protection.

Section 4 — Non-circumvention (fair dealing)

Travellers and Guides undertake not to divert a booking initiated on TrekFriendly to avoid the agreed commission. This does not restrict contact needed to deliver the trip or the exercise of statutory rights. In a proven case of circumvention, TrekFriendly may seek compensation for substantiated loss after allowing the user to present their observations. Neither compensation nor permanent exclusion follows automatically from mere suspicion.

Complaints and dispute resolution

For questions or complaints, write to info@trekfriendly.com, identifying the booking concerned. Requests concerning performance of a package are forwarded to its organiser without undue delay; receipt by TrekFriendly counts as receipt by the organiser for statutory time limits.

After an unsuccessful attempt to resolve matters with the professional, the consumer may contact the Consumer Mediation Service, which assesses its jurisdiction or directs the request to the competent body. This does not prevent court proceedings. Belgian law applies without excluding the mandatory protections or jurisdiction rules benefiting the consumer.