Refund & Cancellation Policy

Last updated 18 October 2026

This page explains how to cancel a booking with Lemon Vacations, what a cancellation costs, and how and when any refund reaches you.

1. What this covers

This policy applies to trips, tour packages and travel services booked with Lemon Vacations. Where the confirmation, quotation or invoice for your booking states its own cancellation terms — as group departures, cruises, charters and peak-season bookings usually do — those terms prevail over this page for that booking. This page applies where they are silent.

2. How to cancel

Cancellations must be made in writing to us through the contact page on this website. A cancellation takes effect on the date we receive it, or on the next working day if it reaches us on a Sunday or a public holiday. Please quote your booking reference. A verbal cancellation is not effective until we have confirmed it in writing.

3. Cancellation charges

Unless your booking documents say otherwise, cancellation charges are calculated on the total trip cost as follows, by reference to the number of days before departure that we receive your written cancellation:

• More than 45 days: the booking deposit is retained; the balance is refunded.
• 45 to 31 days: 25% of the trip cost.
• 30 to 16 days: 50% of the trip cost.
• 15 to 8 days: 75% of the trip cost.
• 7 days or fewer, or no-show: 100% of the trip cost. No refund is due.

These are the charges we incur, not a penalty. Suppliers bill us on their own scale, and on some bookings that scale is harsher than this one from the day of confirmation.

4. Amounts that cannot be refunded

Some costs are spent the moment they are committed and cannot be recovered whenever you cancel:

• Air tickets, rail tickets and cruise fares, which follow the carrier's own refund rules and are frequently non-refundable in full.
• Visa fees, biometric and service charges, and travel authorisation fees, whether or not the visa was granted.
• Permits, park and monument entry fees, and any licence issued in a traveller's name.
• Travel insurance premiums, once the policy is issued.
• Non-refundable hotel and activity prepayments, and any advance a supplier has already retained.
• Bank, payment gateway and foreign exchange charges already incurred on your payment.

5. How refunds are paid

Refunds are made to the person who made the payment and to the same bank account, card or payment instrument it came from. We do not refund to a third party or in cash. Once a refund is approved we process it within 7 to 10 working days; your bank or card issuer then takes its own time — typically a further 5 to 7 working days — to show it on your statement.

Where a refund depends on money coming back to us from an airline, hotel or consulate, we pass it on as soon as we receive it, and we will tell you where it has reached. Airline refunds in particular can take several weeks.

6. Taxes on a refund

Goods and Services Tax charged on a cancelled booking is adjusted through a credit note in accordance with the GST law. Where tax was collected at source on a payment for an overseas tour package, that amount is not refunded by us; it stands to your credit against your income tax and can be claimed in your return.

7. Changes to a booking

A change of dates, destination or traveller name is treated as a cancellation and a fresh booking unless we tell you otherwise in writing. Where a supplier permits a change, their amendment fee plus any difference in price is payable.

8. If we cancel or change your trip

We may have to cancel a departure — most often when a group trip does not reach its minimum numbers, or when a supplier, a government or an event outside our control makes it impossible to operate. Where we cancel, you may choose between a full refund of what you have paid us, less any amount a third party has irrecoverably retained, and a credit towards another departure. Where an event outside our control forces a cancellation, our liability is limited to recovering what can be recovered from suppliers on your behalf.

If we make a significant change to a confirmed trip before departure, we will tell you as soon as we can and you may accept the change, take an alternative we offer, or cancel and be refunded on the same basis.

9. Unused services

No refund is due for any part of a trip you do not use once it has begun — a missed flight or transfer, an unused meal or hotel night, an early departure, or a service you decline. Where you leave a trip early, any claim is a matter for your travel insurer.

10. Complaints

If something goes wrong, tell your guide or our representative at the time so we have a chance to put it right. If it cannot be resolved on the spot, write to us through the contact page on this website within 30 days of the end of your trip with your booking reference and what happened. We will acknowledge your complaint and respond substantively as quickly as we can.

11. Contact

Cancellations, refund queries and complaints: us through the contact page on this website.