The risk section of your RFP, answered before you send it

1 · The crisis contact

Who is on call, and what can he decide alone?

• Julio Cesar Saad, Founding Partner, +971 50 632 8451, for every program, every date, 24 hours a day
• No escalation path to wait on: he is a partner in the company, so the person who answers is the person who approves
• Spending: if the failure is ours, we fix it at our cost and tell you after. If the fix would be billed to you, we call you first. If a guest's safety is at stake, we act first and tell you at once; the cost is ours if the cause was ours, and otherwise billed at cost, with receipts
• A written incident summary by email within 24 hours of the incident closing

2 · Force majeure

What the clause says, and who bears which cost

Our clause names the events: airspace closure, government restriction, epidemic, pandemic or quarantine, extreme weather, or an act of authority, without limitation. When it applies:

• The party affected notifies the other within 5 business days
• What you have paid becomes a credit valid for 12 months against an equivalent program, less only what a third-party supplier has irrecoverably retained, evidenced on request
• Anything we recover from suppliers afterwards is passed back to you
• If the event lasts more than 30 days, either party may terminate, and we account for every line

What it does not cover, said plainly: a change in your government's travel advisory, or a decision by your company to stop traveling, is not by itself a force majeure event under our terms. If you cancel for that reason, the cancellation schedule applies. That is why we suggest your travelers' insurance include cancel-for-any-reason cover, and why the cancellation bands are published, so you can plan around them.

Before you contract, read the current US Department of State travel advisory for the United Arab Emirates, and enroll your travelers in STEP.

3 · Insurance

What our insurance covers, and what your travelers need

Our operation carries public liability insurance with Sukoon Takaful, for our inbound operation in the UAE. It responds to claims arising from our own conduct. Policy details go to your vendor file on request.

It is not travel insurance. It does not cover a traveler's medical treatment or evacuation, trip cancellation or lost baggage. On a corporate or incentive program those should be mandatory for every traveler, bought by your company or by the traveler, and not left optional.

4 · Money paid in advance

What you receive for it, and how it comes back

• The quote names every prepaid line before you pay, and the invoice shows what each payment buys
• For every prepaid line, you receive the confirmation issued by the final supplier within 2 UAE business days of your payment clearing
• The deposit schedule follows when we have to commit money: prepaid lines in full on confirmation, 30% of the rest, balance 30 days before arrival
• Refunds are accounted line by line and paid within 10 business days of the event that generates them, to the account the payment came from

We do not hold client money in escrow or in a bonded trust account. The full terms →

5 · Cancellation

The ladder, in days and percentages

• More than 30 days before arrival: deposit forfeited (30%)
• 30 to 15 days: 50%
• 14 to 7 days: 75%
• Less than 7 days, or no-show: 100%

On the total program value, in addition to the prepaid non-refundable lines, counted in calendar days before arrival, from written notice by email received by 17:00 Dubai time.

6 · What goes wrong here

The contingencies specific to the UAE

• Heat. From roughly June to September, outdoor activity in the middle of the day is a physiological risk, not a discomfort. In those months we program outdoor activity early, late or indoors, and the quote says which
• Airspace and routing. If flight times shift, arrival transfers are re-timed against the live flight
• A traveler who cannot enter. UAE entry rules differ by passport. Nationality is a required field on every quote, and a refused entry does not suspend the cancellation schedule
• The calendar. Ramadan changes opening hours, service and what is appropriate to program, and its dates move every year. If your dates fall in it, the quote says so
• Peak weeks. Year-end and the large trade shows push hotel rates up and blocks out of reach. The quote names the event window when your dates touch one

7 · Who you are dealing with

A licensed company, contracting in its own name

World Zaya Tourism L.L.C, licensed by the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism under license 1580956, contracting as principal across all seven emirates. The license is verifiable with the DET. Credentials →