Payment & Cancellation Policy

1. Booking & paying

How a request becomes a confirmed booking

Every Ozes trip starts as a conversation, not a transaction. You send a request from a tour page or message us on WhatsApp; your trip designer checks real availability with our guides, hotels and cruise partners; you receive a written quote; and only when you say "yes" do we issue a deposit invoice. Your booking is confirmed the moment that deposit arrives — until then you owe nothing and nothing is held against your name.

Deposits

The deposit is what lets us guarantee guides, rooms and cabins on your dates. How much depends on what we have to commit to on your behalf:

Paying the balance

Your invoice shows the balance and its due date. You can settle it through the secure card link your designer sends, by bank transfer, or — when agreed in writing beforehand — in cash at the start of your trip. If a balance is still open after its due date, partners may release the space they were holding; we will always contact you before anything is released.

How we keep your payment safe

Card payments happen only through the encrypted payment link or the named bank account shown on your invoice — never anywhere else. We will not ask for your full card number in a WhatsApp chat, an email or a social-media message, and you shouldn't share it there even if asked. For unusual payments (a third party paying for your trip, a mismatched billing name) we may ask for a quick verification, and we reserve the right to decline a payment that fails those checks.

Currency, bank charges and card fees

Quotes are in US dollars unless we agree otherwise. If you pay in another currency, the conversion uses your bank's or the payment gateway's rate on the day. Transfer fees, intermediary-bank charges, conversion costs and card processing fees are paid by the sender, so the amount on the invoice is the amount that reaches us.

Your price is locked

Once your deposit is in, the agreed price doesn't move — currency swings and supplier increases are our problem, not yours. The lock doesn't cover things that change the trip itself: upgrades and extras you add later, changes you request, government taxes or entry fees introduced after confirmation, and airline fares that move before tickets are issued.

2. Changing your plans

Tweaks and amendments

Want an extra night, a different hotel category, one more traveler? Tell your designer in writing (the WhatsApp thread counts). We re-check availability and send you the new price before anything changes. Ozes doesn't add its own amendment fee — you only ever cover the genuine cost difference plus any fee a hotel, cruise line or airline charges us for the change.

Moving your dates

If you'd rather travel later than cancel, ask before your cancellation window closes. Everything you've paid converts into travel credit toward the new dates, minus only the costs our partners genuinely cannot return (an issued flight ticket, for example). New dates are subject to availability and seasonal price differences, which we'll show you before you commit.

Sending someone in your place

Name changes are possible wherever our partners allow them — most hotels and guided services do. Issued flight tickets usually cannot be transferred to another name; where that's the case we'll tell you what a fresh ticket costs before you decide.

3. Cancellations & refunds

How to cancel

Cancel in writing — a WhatsApp message or email to your designer is enough. The day we receive your written notice, measured against the day your trip starts, decides the fee tier. Some individual tours advertise their own free-cancellation window on the tour page; where a tour's own terms differ from the tables below, your written quote states which applies.

Standard dates

Christmas, New Year & Easter weeks

Festive departures sell out months ahead, and our partners take full, non-returnable payment from us early. The stricter table below simply mirrors those conditions:

No-shows and missed starts

Not arriving — or missing a transfer, tour, cruise embarkation or hotel night without written notice — counts as a same-day cancellation for that service, with no refund. If a delayed international flight threatens your start, message us the moment you know: we'll rework whatever can be reworked, though extra partner costs are yours to cover. This exact scenario is why we insist on travel insurance.

Always non-refundable

A few items can never come back regardless of notice, because the money leaves our hands instantly: domestic flight tickets once issued, cruise cabins during peak weeks, special-access permits and event tickets, anything your quote explicitly marks non-refundable, and last-minute bookings flagged as such at confirmation.

How refunds are processed

Every approved refund is confirmed in writing with a line-by-line breakdown, then sent to the payment method you originally used. We trigger refunds promptly; banks and card networks typically deliver them within 5–14 business days, and currency-conversion differences between the day you paid and the day you're refunded sit with the banks, not with us. Once a trip has started, unused services aren't refundable unless we've agreed it in writing.

If we change or cancel

It's rare, but if Ozes ever has to materially change or cancel confirmed services for reasons within our control, the choice is yours: a comparable or better alternative at no extra cost, or a full refund of the affected services.

Card disputes

If something feels wrong with a charge, message us first — we resolve almost everything within a day, far faster than any bank dispute. Filing a chargeback against services that were confirmed and delivered under this policy doesn't speed anything up: we'll supply the bank with the full paper trail, and unjustified dispute costs may be passed back.

4. The fine print

Travel insurance

Buy it. Seriously — a policy covering trip cancellation, medical care, delays, baggage and evacuation costs a fraction of what it protects, and the cancellation fees on this page are precisely the kind of loss it exists to absorb. Ozes is not responsible for costs an insurance policy would have covered.

Events nobody controls

Severe weather, natural disasters, strikes, civil unrest, epidemics, government decisions, airline groundings, closed roads or river sections: when these disrupt a trip, we rebook, reroute or credit everything our partners allow. Extra costs partners charge in these situations may be passed through, and Ozes is not liable for the events themselves.

Hotels, cruises and substitutions

Named properties are subject to availability at the moment of confirmation; if one is gone, we offer an alternative of equal or better category and location and tell you what changed. Worth knowing: Egyptian star ratings run more generous than European ones — your designer will always tell you honestly what a property is like. Sightseeing order can shift with domestic flight times, cruise schedules and site opening hours; we reorder days, we don't remove what's included.

Meals and extras

Meals are included only where your itinerary lists them; drinks are excluded unless stated. Optional activities and add-ons are billed separately and may need advance booking.

Group bookings

Parties of ten or more get their own written group terms — deposits, payment schedule and cancellation conditions can differ because partners hold blocks of rooms and cabins for you.

Passports and visas

You're responsible for a passport valid at least six months beyond your travel dates and any visas you need. Your designer will gladly point you to the right official sources, but documents remain your responsibility, and fees for services missed over documentation follow the tables above.

Acceptance

Paying a deposit means you've read and accepted this policy together with our Terms of Service. If anything here is unclear, ask your trip designer before you pay — that's what we're here for.

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