This Refund Policy applies to all tour and service bookings made through our platform. Our will act to submit your refund application, follow up on the review progress, and feed back the refund result to you in a timely manner. All refund reviews and fund processing will be completed by the cooperative travel agency in accordance with official rules, and our platform will provide full-process English support and coordination for the entire refund process.
1. Refund Application Conditions & Process
- Application Timing: Refund applications must be submitted to your exclusive travel consultant via email/WeChat (the only official application channel). No oral application is accepted, and the application time shall be subject to the time when our platform receives the written application.
- Application Materials: A written refund application (including your booking ID, applicant information, travel dates, refund reason, and bank account/PayPal account for receiving the refund) and the original booking confirmation letter must be provided.
- Processing Process:
- After receiving your complete application materials, our platform will forward them to the cooperative travel agency for review within 1 working day;
- The cooperative travel agency will complete the refund review within 3-5 working days and feed back the review result (approval/rejection and refund ratio) to our platform;
- Our platform will immediately notify you of the review result and explain the detailed reasons for any rejection;
- For approved refunds, the cooperative travel agency will process the fund transfer within the specified time, and our platform will track the refund progress in real time and inform you of the expected arrival time of the refund.
2. Refund Ratio & Processing Time (Based on the Time of Refund Application Submission)
The refund ratio is determined according to the time interval between the date when our platform receives your written refund application and the departure date of the first product/service in your booking, and the specific standards are as follows (excluding special products/services):
- More than 30 days before departure: Full refund of the paid amount (excluding bank/PayPal handling fees that have been generated and cannot be recovered); the refund will be credited to your designated account within 7-10 working days after approval.
- 20-30 days before departure: Refund 80% of the paid amount; the refund will be credited to your designated account within 7-10 working days after approval.
- 10-19 days before departure: Refund 50% of the paid amount ; the refund will be credited to your designated account within 7-10 working days after approval.
- Less than 10 days before departure: Refund 20% of the paid amount ; the refund will be credited to your designated account within 7-10 working days after approval.
- After departure / No-show: No refund will be given for any paid amount, and the booking will be deemed automatically cancelled.
For orders paid in foreign currencies (including U.S. dollars, euros, British pounds, etc.), the refund amount shall be calculated in accordance with the following standards:
- Exchange Rate Reference: The calculation shall be based on the daily central parity rate published by the People’s Bank of China, or the real-time exchange rate provided by the cooperative bank designated by the partner travel agency on the day the refund is processed.
- Foreign Exchange Loss: Any difference arising from exchange rate fluctuations shall be borne by the applicant. The applicable exchange rate and calculation method will be clearly stated in the refund confirmation letter.
- Amount Received: The actual amount credited to your account may vary slightly due to processing fees and exchange rate differences imposed by payment channels such as banks or PayPal. The final amount received shall prevail.
3. Special Products/Services Refund Rules
For special products/services with fixed resource reservation and non-cancellable characteristics, full payment is required at the time of booking, and the refund rules are more stringent. Our platform will inform you of the exclusive refund rules before you book, and the rules will also be marked in the booking confirmation letter. The main types include:
- Ticket products: Air tickets, train tickets, scenic spot special tickets, performance tickets, etc. (refund is subject to the official refund rules of the ticket issuing party, and our platform will assist in submitting the application and deducting the official handling fee);
- Accommodation products: Special contracted hotels, holiday villas, homestays with non-refundable reservations, etc. (no refund if cancelled after confirmation, unless the hotel officially agrees to a refund);
- Customized exclusive services: Private car charters for the whole journey, exclusive tour guide services, customized theme activities, etc. (the refund ratio is determined according to the actual resource reservation situation of the travel agency);
- Other special products: Yangtze River cruise tickets, Tibet tour permits, cross-border travel procedures, etc. (refund is subject to the official rules of the relevant competent departments).
4. Refund for Trip Cancellation Due to Force Majeure
Force majeure refers to unforeseeable, unavoidable and insurmountable objective events, including but not limited to natural disasters (earthquake, flood, typhoon, etc.), public health emergencies, traffic interruptions, policy adjustments (visa policy change, travel restriction, etc.).
- In case of trip cancellation due to force majeure, the refund will be processed according to the actual recoverable amount of the cooperative travel agency: the travel agency will refund all the amounts that have not been paid to the third party and can be recovered, and will not bear the costs that have been actually generated and cannot be recovered (such as pre-paid resource fees, handling fees, etc.);
- Our platform will collect and provide the official proof of force majeure and the actual cost settlement sheet of the travel agency for your confirmation, and will assist you in negotiating with the travel agency for the maximum refund ratio;
- The processing time of such refunds will be extended appropriately (30-45 working days) due to the need for cost verification and third-party confirmation.
5. Partial Refund & Itinerary Change Rules
- Partial Refund: If you only need to cancel part of the products/services in the booking (such as reducing travel days, canceling a certain scenic spot tour, etc.), you need to submit a written partial refund application, and the refund amount will be calculated according to the actual unused and recoverable service fee of the travel agency; the review and payment time are implemented in accordance with the above refund process.
- Itinerary Change: If you apply for an itinerary change (such as adjusting travel dates, changing scenic spots/hotels) instead of a full refund, our platform will forward your change request to the travel agency for evaluation:
- If the change is acceptable, the travel agency will inform the additional cost (if any) or the refundable amount of the unused part, and the relevant fees shall be paid/ refunded according to the actual situation;
3.If the change is not acceptable due to resource constraints, the refund shall be processed in accordance with the above refund ratio rules.
6. Non-Refundable Situations
The following situations will not be accepted for refund applications, and the cooperative travel agency has the right to reject the refund:
4.No written refund application is provided, or the application materials are incomplete and not supplemented within the specified time;
- The refund application is submitted in the name of a non-booker (unless the official power of attorney is provided);
- The paid amount is used for the pre-reserved costs that have been actually generated and cannot be recovered by the travel agency, and there is no recoverable fund;
- Arrive late or miss the trip due to personal reasons (such as flight delay, personal negligence, etc.), and request a refund for the unused services;
- Refuse to accept the travel service for personal reasons during the trip and request a refund for the remaining unconsumed part.
7. Platform Responsibility & Reminder
- Full-Process Coordination & Support: Our platform is only responsible for forwarding the refund application, following up the review progress, feeding back the result and providing English communication support, and does not participate in the refund review and fund processing of the cooperative travel agency; the final refund ratio and processing time are subject to the official notification of the travel agency.
- Handling Fee Bearer: All bank/PayPal/Alipay/WeChat Pay handling fees generated during the payment and refund process shall be borne by the applicant, and the travel agency and our platform will not bear the relevant fees.
- Refund Currency: The refund currency is consistent with the actual payment currency (if paid in foreign currency, it will be converted according to the real-time official exchange rate on the refund day, and the exchange loss shall be borne by the applicant).
- Dispute Resolution: If you have objections to the refund review result, our platform will assist you in communicating and negotiating with the cooperative travel agency for a second review; if the negotiation fails, you can resolve it through legal channels in accordance with the relevant international laws and regulations and the service terms of the travel agency.
If you have any questions about the refund policy, please contact your exclusive travel consultant or our customer service team (info@uncoverchinatours.com)for detailed consultation.