Booking terms
What's real here, and what isn't
The booking mechanics on this site are real: asking the assistant to hold a place creates an actual reservation, with a real deposit worked out from the real price, held for a real amount of time. What isn't real is the company behind it — Trek Nepal is a demonstration project by BrandAid, not an operating travel business. No permits are filed, no flights are booked, and nothing here is a binding contract. Treat it as what a real Nepal trekking operator's terms would look like, running on infrastructure that genuinely works.
Enquiring and holding a place
Enquiring, chatting with the assistant, and getting a price all cost nothing and commit you to nothing.
When you ask the assistant to hold a place, it creates a reservation against the real seat count for that departure and calculates a deposit — currently 20% of the total, with the balance due later. No payment is taken at this step or any other point on this site — the assistant cannot take a card or send a payment link. The hold lasts 48 hours, after which it lapses if nobody has followed up in person.
Departure dates only show once they're at least 21 days out, so there's always enough lead time to arrange permits and flights in a real operation.
A confirmed booking would normally be put in writing by a person, listing the itinerary, inclusions, exclusions and total price in a stated currency — that confirmation, not the automated hold, is what a real trip would be booked against.
Cancellation and changes
Cancellation terms usually operate on a sliding scale based on notice given, because permits, flights and lodge deposits are committed well in advance and are largely non-refundable once bought. Cancelling a hold made through the assistant is free — it isn't a booking, and nothing has been charged.
Itineraries in the Himalaya change. Weather, flight cancellations, trail conditions, illness within the group or altitude symptoms may all require a route or schedule to be altered in the field. Decisions of that kind rest with the trip leader, whose priority is the safety of the group.
Insurance requirement
Comprehensive travel insurance covering trekking to your maximum planned altitude, helicopter evacuation, medical treatment and repatriation would be a condition of joining any trip. Policy details would be required before departure.
Many standard policies exclude altitudes above 3,000 or 4,000 m, which is below most Nepal trekking routes. See our guide to permits and costs for what to check.
Fitness and health
Trekkers would be asked to disclose relevant medical conditions and current medication in confidence before departure, so the trip leader can plan properly. Withholding relevant information puts you and the group at risk.
Liability
Trekking at altitude carries inherent risk that no operator can remove. A real operator's terms would set out clearly what they are and are not responsible for, alongside their insurance and licensing position, in line with Nepali law and any applicable consumer protection in the customer's own country.
Questions
For anything about how a hold, deposit or reservation actually works on this site, contact hello@brandaidhq.com.