Cancellation policy
The window, the fee inside it, what happens when we are the ones who cancel, and how to tell us — on one page.
Last updated
This document is a draft and is not yet in force.
The wording below has not been reviewed or approved, and nothing in it binds either of us. Please do not rely on it. For anything that matters right now — a cancellation, a refund, what we hold about you — contact us and a person will answer.
Free cancellation up to 48 hours before
Cancel more than 48 hours before your tour's start time and you are refunded in full. No fee, and no reason needed.
The 48 hours run back from the start time printed on your confirmation, in Gulf Standard Time — not from the moment you booked.
Inside 48 hours
Inside that window a 50% fee applies and the remainder of what you paid is refunded. By then a guide, a vehicle and — on several routes — a timed venue entry have all been committed to your booking, and none of the three can be resold at that notice.
A traveller who does not arrive at the meeting point is not refunded. Nor is one who arrives after the group has left; see below.
Arriving late
A guide waits at the meeting point, but not past the point where the group loses its own tour — several routes hold a timed entry that cannot be moved. Once the group has left, the booking is treated as a no-show and is not refunded.
If you are running late, call or send a WhatsApp rather than hoping. A guide who knows where you are will usually wait; a guide who does not, cannot.
Moving a booking instead
A change of date is not a cancellation and costs nothing, as long as you ask more than 48 hours before the tour and the tour has a place on the day you want.
Inside 48 hours we will still try. Whether we can depends on the guide and on the venue rather than on goodwill, which is why it is not something we promise in advance.
When we are the ones who cancel
If we cancel a tour for any reason — a closure, weather that makes a route unsafe, a guide or a vehicle we cannot replace — you choose between the same tour on another date and a full refund. There is no fee either way, and the choice is yours rather than ours.
We do not cover costs you arranged separately around the tour. A flight or a hotel night booked because of a tour is what travel insurance exists for.
Weather, heat and closures
Rain on its own does not cancel a tour. Heat, fog, a sandstorm or a sea state that makes a route unsafe does, and that call belongs to the guide on the day.
Where a single venue on a route closes and the rest of the tour still runs, the tour runs. We tell you before departure, and where the closed venue was ticketed we refund the entry.
Custom and private tours
A custom itinerary is arranged around stops, permissions and sometimes a vehicle booked for you alone. Its cancellation terms are stated in the quote you accept, and where they differ from this page the quote is what applies.
How to cancel
Reply to your confirmation email, write to hello@tourestate.com, or send a WhatsApp to +971 50 555 0148. Quote your booking reference and the date of the tour.
A cancellation counts from the moment your message reaches us, not from the moment we answer it. Send it; do not wait to be answered first.
How a refund is paid
A refund goes back to the card that paid, in the currency it was paid in. We release it as soon as the cancellation is recorded; how long it then takes to appear on a statement is the card issuer's business and not ours.
We do not refund to a different card, or to a different person.
Still not sure?
Ask before you book rather than after. Write to hello@tourestate.com or call +971 2 555 0148, Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 18:00 Gulf Standard Time.
The other policies
These documents are written to be read together. If one of them does not answer your question, another one probably does — and if none of them does, write to us.