Booking terms and conditions

1. Who we are and what these terms cover

1.1 AuthenticBrazilTravel is a travel agency established in Brazil and registered with Cadastur, the register of tourism service providers held by the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism under Law 11.771/2008, under registration number 56.930.161/0001-39. Our certificate is public and available on our website.

1.2 These Terms and Conditions apply to every trip, itinerary, tour and individual travel service we arrange for you. They form part of your contract with us, together with your written quotation and your invoice. Where your quotation or invoice states something different from these terms, the quotation or invoice takes precedence for that booking.

1.3 In these terms, you means the person who makes the booking and every traveller named on it. The person who makes the booking confirms that they are authorised to accept these terms on behalf of everyone named, and is responsible for passing our information on to them.

Operator: 56.930.161 Robin Jonas Himmrich (Empresário Individual), CNPJ 56.930.161/0001-39, Cadastur 56.930.161/0001-39 valid until 17 August 2028, Servidão Amantino Cameu 92, Rio Tavares, 88048-413 Florianópolis, SC, Brazil. Email info@authenticbraziltravel.com, WhatsApp +49 15567 473426.

2. Our role

2.1 We design your itinerary, select and book the suppliers who perform it, coordinate their services, and support you before, during and after your trip. That is the service you book from us.

2.2 The travel services that make up your trip are performed by independent third party suppliers. These include hotels, pousadas and lodges, licensed guides, drivers and transport operators, boat and aircraft operators, national park concessionaires and activity providers.

2.3 These suppliers are independent businesses. They are not employees, branches or subsidiaries of AuthenticBrazilTravel. We do not own or operate the accommodation, vehicles, vessels, aircraft or facilities used on your trip.

2.4 Each supplier performs its services subject to its own terms and to the law of the place where the service is performed. We will make a supplier's terms available to you on request where they are relevant to your booking.

2.5 Suppliers are not authorised to make agreements, give assurances or make commitments on our behalf that change what your booking confirmation says, that go beyond it, or that contradict it. If someone on the ground promises you something that is not in your booking confirmation, please talk to us before you rely on it.

2.6 Brochures, rate cards, listing sites and websites that we did not publish ourselves are not binding on us, even where they describe a hotel or an activity that is part of your trip. What binds us is your itinerary and your booking confirmation.

2.7 Nothing in this clause limits our responsibility for the services we provide ourselves, namely the planning, selection, booking and coordination of your trip, or any liability that cannot be excluded under the applicable law.

3. Booking and when your contract starts

3.1 Everything we send you before you book, including proposals, sample itineraries and indicative pricing, is an invitation to book and not a binding offer.

3.2 You book by confirming your acceptance in writing, by email or through a written message channel we have agreed with you. We then issue a booking confirmation together with an invoice.

3.3 Your contract with us starts when we issue the booking confirmation. From that moment the payment terms in clause 5 and the cancellation terms in clause 8 apply, including where your deposit has not yet reached us.

3.4 If our booking confirmation differs from what you asked for, it counts as a new offer. We stay bound by it for 10 days, and your contract starts when you accept it, either by telling us so or by paying the deposit. Where a supplier holds a reservation for less time than that, we tell you the shorter deadline explicitly.

3.5 We reserve the right to decline a booking before issuing the confirmation, for any reason, including where a supplier is no longer available.

4. Prices, currency and what is included

4.1 Your invoice states the total price of your trip and the currency of your contract. That currency is binding for the entire booking, for payments as well as for any refund.

4.2 Your invoice and itinerary set out exactly which services are included. Unless your invoice says otherwise, the price does not include the following.

4.3 You pay any bank charges, transfer fees or intermediary bank fees raised on your side. We pay the fees raised on ours. If a payment reaches us short of the invoiced amount because of such fees, the difference remains due.

4.4 Where you pay by card, the amount charged is the invoiced amount in the currency of your contract. Your card issuer may apply its own conversion or foreign transaction fee, which is a matter between you and your issuer.

• International flights to and from Brazil, see clause 11.
• Visas and vaccinations including entry permits, e-visas and any related fees.
• Local taxes and fees airport departure taxes, tourist taxes and municipal environmental fees payable locally.
• Meals and drinks and any service not listed in your itinerary.
• Optional excursions and activities booked locally.
• Personal expenses tips, laundry, telephone and excess baggage.

5. Payment

5.1 Deposit: 30 percent of the total price, due within 7 days of the date of your invoice. Your booking is confirmed and your services are secured once the deposit reaches us.

5.2 Balance: the remaining 70 percent, due 45 days before the day your trip starts.

5.3 If you book fewer than 45 days before departure, the full price is due immediately.

5.4 We send your final travel documents and vouchers once we have received the full price.

5.5 If a payment is not made by the due date, we will remind you in writing and give you 7 days. After that we may treat the booking as cancelled by you, and the cancellation charges in clause 8 apply as at the date we do so.

5.6 Some services must be paid for in full and in advance at the time of booking, and are non refundable from that moment. This applies in particular to flights and park fees for Fernando de Noronha, charter and scenic flights, lodge stays in the Amazon and the Pantanal, tickets for Carnival and other dated events, and rail and cruise tickets. Where this affects your trip we tell you in your quotation before you book.

5.7 If your travel documents and vouchers have not reached you by the date we gave you, tell us straight away. Please do not travel assuming they will turn up.

6. Price adjustments before departure

6.1 The price on your invoice is fixed, subject only to this clause.

6.2 We may adjust the price after booking only where our own costs change for one of the reasons below.

6.3 Any increase is capped at 8 percent of the total price and we will not notify one later than 20 days before departure. We will show you the calculation.

6.4 If our costs fall for the same reasons, we pass the reduction on to you in the same way, less any costs we have already committed and cannot recover.

6.5 If an increase would exceed 8 percent, we will tell you and you may either accept it or cancel the booking within 7 days and receive a full refund of everything you have paid, with no cancellation charge.

• Fuel a change in the cost of fuel or other power sources affecting transport.
• Taxes and fees a change in taxes, tourist fees, park fees or landing and embarkation charges.
• Exchange rates a change in the exchange rate between the currency of your contract and the Brazilian real.

7. Changes to your itinerary

7.1 Our trips run in remote regions, in national parks and on rivers and coastlines, and they depend on weather, water levels, wildlife and local conditions. Minor changes to accommodation, sequence, timing or route are sometimes necessary. Where a change is minor and the character and value of your trip are preserved, we will make it and inform you, and it does not entitle you to a reduction.

7.2 A change is significant where it materially alters your trip, for example where a destination is dropped, where accommodation is replaced with something of a lower category for more than one night, or where the start or end date moves.

7.3 If we have to make a significant change before departure, we will offer you the choice between the changed trip, an alternative of comparable or higher standard at no extra cost, or cancelling with a full refund of everything you have paid.

7.4 If you ask us to change a confirmed booking, we will try to accommodate it. You pay any supplier charges arising, plus a rebooking fee of the equivalent of USD 150 per booking. A change of travel dates, a change of the lead traveller or a reduction in the number of travellers may be treated as a cancellation and a new booking, in which case clause 8 applies.

7.5 You may pass your booking to someone else. Up to 7 days before departure you may name a substitute traveller who takes over your rights and obligations under this contract. You and the substitute are jointly liable for the price and for any additional cost the transfer causes, which we will document for you. We may object where the substitute does not meet the requirements of the trip, or where a legal or official rule prevents their participation.

8. If you cancel

8.1 You may cancel at any time. Cancellation takes effect on the day your written cancellation reaches us.

8.2 Some itineraries contain services whose suppliers impose stricter terms than the schedule below, for example lodges, charter flights and dated events. Where that is the case, your quotation states the cancellation schedule that applies to your trip, and that schedule replaces the one below. Otherwise the following charges apply, calculated on the total price of your trip.

8.3 In addition, any non refundable supplier costs described in clause 5.6 that we have already committed are payable in full, where they exceed the charge in the schedule. We will show you the supplier documentation for these costs.

8.4 You are entitled to prove that we incurred no loss, or a lower loss than the charge in the schedule. Where you do, the charge is reduced accordingly.

8.5 If you cancel one traveller from a booking, the remaining travellers may have to pay a revised price, because accommodation and private guiding are priced per party and not per person.

8.6 If you leave the trip early, interrupt it or do not use a service for a reason that is not our responsibility, there is no refund for the unused services. We will still ask the suppliers concerned whether they will release anything they saved, and we pass on in full whatever we recover. We cannot promise a result, and we will not pursue trivial amounts or amounts a supplier has ruled out in its own terms.

• More than 120 days before 10 percent, minimum the equivalent of USD 250.
• 120 to 91 days before 20 percent.
• 90 to 61 days before 30 percent.
• 60 to 31 days before 50 percent.
• 30 to 15 days before 75 percent.
• 14 to 8 days before 90 percent.
• 7 days or fewer, or no show 100 percent.

9. If we cancel

9.1 We may cancel your trip where you have not paid on time under clause 5.5, or where performance is prevented by unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances under clause 18.

9.2 If we cancel for unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, we will refund everything you have paid, less any amount a supplier has irrecoverably retained, for which we will show you documentation. We are not liable for any further compensation in that case.

9.3 If we cancel for any other reason attributable to us, we will refund everything you have paid in full.

10. Travel documents, entry requirements and health

10.1 You are responsible for holding a valid passport, any required visa or entry authorisation, and any required health documentation, and for meeting the entry and exit rules of Brazil and of every country you transit.

10.2 We are happy to tell you what we know about current requirements, but this information is not legal advice and requirements change. Only the authorities of the countries concerned can give you binding information. Where we do tell you something, we assume ordinary circumstances. If anything unusual applies to you, for example dual nationality, statelessness, a passport issued by a country other than the one you live in, or a previous refusal of entry, tell us, because the rules may be different for you.

10.3 If you cannot start or continue your trip because a document is missing, expired or not accepted, clause 8.6 applies and there is no refund.

10.4 Please tell us at the time of booking about any condition, allergy, dietary requirement, reduced mobility or medical need that could affect your trip, so that we can check whether the itinerary is suitable and adapt it if needed.

11. Flights

11.1 We do not sell international flights. Your international flights are your own contract with the airline or the agent you book them through, and are not part of your booking with us.

11.2 Please do not book non refundable or non changeable flights until we have confirmed your itinerary in writing.

11.3 Where your itinerary includes flights inside Brazil, we book them on your behalf and the conditions of the airline apply, including its own rules on changes, cancellation and refunds. Those conditions override the cancellation schedule in clause 8 for those tickets.

11.4 We are not responsible for delays, schedule changes or cancellations by any airline. If a change affects your itinerary, we will do everything we reasonably can to adapt it. Any additional cost of doing so is yours.

11.5 We recommend arriving in Brazil at least one day before your trip starts, and not booking a departing flight on the same day your trip ends.

11.6 We are not liable for baggage that an airline damages, delays or loses. Report it to the airline at the airport before you leave the baggage hall and keep the report, because a later claim is usually refused without it.

12. Fitness, activities and your own conduct

12.1 Some activities in our itineraries involve walking on uneven ground, heat, humidity, altitude, boats, small aircraft and wildlife. You take part in them at your own responsibility and you are responsible for judging your own fitness.

12.2 You must follow the safety instructions of guides, drivers, boat operators and park staff. If you do not, and this creates a risk to yourself or to others, the supplier or we may exclude you from the activity or from the remainder of the trip, with no refund and with any resulting cost payable by you.

12.3 You are responsible for your own valuables. We recommend not carrying jewellery, large amounts of cash or unnecessary valuables, and using the safe where accommodation provides one.

12.4 If you seriously disrupt the trip despite a warning from us, or behave in a way that makes continuing unreasonable for other travellers, guides or suppliers, we may end the contract without notice. In that case we keep the price, less what we actually save and less anything a supplier credits back to us. We will account to you for both.

13. If something goes wrong during your trip

13.1 Tell us immediately. Your travel documents include a WhatsApp number and an email address that are monitored throughout your trip.

13.2 This matters to you as much as to us. Most problems, a room that is not right, a guide who did not arrive, a transfer that is late, can be fixed within the hour while you are still there, and cannot be fixed at all afterwards.

13.3 If you do not give us the opportunity to remedy a problem during your trip, and remedying it would have been possible, this may reduce or exclude any later claim, to the extent permitted by the applicable law.

13.4 If a problem was not resolved during your trip, please write to us within 30 days of the end of your trip, describing what happened and enclosing any supporting documentation. We will respond within 30 days.

14. Our liability

14.1 We are liable for the services we provide ourselves, namely the careful planning of your itinerary, the careful selection of suppliers, correct booking, and coordination and support before and during your trip.

14.2 The suppliers named in clause 2 are responsible for the performance of their own services. Our liability for their acts and omissions is limited to our careful selection and instruction of them.

14.3 Except for death or personal injury caused by our own fault, and except for any liability that cannot be limited under the applicable law, our total liability arising out of your booking is limited to the total price you paid for your trip.

14.4 We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, including loss of earnings, loss of enjoyment of services not booked through us, or the cost of missed onward travel that was not part of your booking.

14.5 We are not liable for services you book directly with a supplier before, during or after your trip, whether or not we suggested them.

15. Refunds

15.1 We make refunds in the currency of your contract, to the same account, card or payment method the original payment came from, and to the person who made that payment. We do not refund to a third party or to a different account.

15.2 Where the original payment came from outside Brazil, we may ask you for proof of that payment from your bank or card issuer before we can process the refund, as required under Brazilian foreign exchange rules. Refunds depend on that proof being provided.

15.3 Refunds are net of any payment processing fee that we have already incurred and that our provider does not return to us, and net of any transfer charge raised by the receiving bank.

15.4 We process refunds within 30 days of agreeing the amount with you. Where a refund depends on a supplier or an airline returning money to us first, we pay it out within 14 days of receiving it, and we will keep you informed.

16. Payment disputes

16.1 If you believe you are owed money, please contact us first. We answer every claim in writing.

16.2 Starting a card chargeback or a payment reversal for an amount that is properly due under these terms, for example a cancellation charge under clause 8, is a breach of this contract. In that case we may recover the disputed amount, the fees our payment provider charges us for the dispute, and the cost of recovery.

17. Photography and media

17.1 Our guides sometimes take photographs during a trip. We would like to use some of them on our website and social channels.

17.2 We will only do so with your written consent, which we ask for separately, and which you may withdraw at any time by writing to us. Your consent is not a condition of booking, and refusing it changes nothing about your trip.

18. Unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances

18.1 Neither you nor we are liable for a failure to perform caused by unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances beyond reasonable control. These include war, civil unrest, terrorism, serious civil or political instability, epidemics and official travel restrictions, natural disasters, floods, fire, extreme weather, strikes and the closure of airspace, airports, parks or roads.

18.2 Where such circumstances significantly affect your trip, we will do everything we reasonably can to provide comparable alternative arrangements at no extra cost to you. Where that is not possible, clause 9.2 applies.

18.3 Where such circumstances arise during your trip and you incur unavoidable additional costs for accommodation, meals or transport, those costs are yours.

19. Personal data

19.1 We process your personal data to plan, book and deliver your trip, and to meet our legal and tax obligations in Brazil. We share only what a supplier needs in order to deliver its service, such as your name, your dates and any dietary or medical information you have given us for that purpose.

19.2 We process data under the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (LGPD, Law 13.709/2018). Our privacy policy sets out your rights and how to exercise them.

19.3 Write to info@authenticbraziltravel.com for access, correction, deletion or any other request about your data.

20. Governing law and jurisdiction

20.1 This contract is governed by the law of the Federative Republic of Brazil.

20.2 The place of jurisdiction is Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.

21. General

21.1 If any clause of these terms is or becomes invalid, the rest remains in force, and the invalid clause is replaced by the lawful provision closest to its purpose.

21.2 These terms are issued in English, German and Portuguese. The English version prevails in the event of a difference, except in proceedings before a Brazilian court, where the Portuguese version prevails.

21.3 We may amend these terms. The version in force at the date of your booking confirmation is the one that applies to your booking, and we will not change it afterwards without your agreement.

21.4 We do not participate in consumer arbitration proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.

Where this matters on a trip

• How booking with us works
• Entry rules and visas for Brazil
• Start planning your trip