Terms and Conditions

1. This agreement

This website is operated by Southwest Adventure Tours LLC ("Southwest Adventure Tours", "we", "us", "our"), a Utah limited liability company at 382 E 650 S Circle, Cedar City, UT 84720. In these terms, "you" means anyone who uses this website, books a tour, or takes part in one.

By using this website you accept sections 2 to 5. By booking a tour, for yourself or for anyone else, you accept all of these terms, and you confirm you have authority to accept them on behalf of every person in your party.

2. Using this website

You may use this site to research and arrange travel. You may not use it to scrape or bulk-copy our content, to interfere with its operation or security, to submit false inquiries, or for anything unlawful.

The text, photographs, itineraries, guides and design on this site are owned by us or used with permission, and are protected by copyright. You may read, print and share pages for your own travel planning. You may not republish our copy or photographs, in whole or in substantial part, without written permission.

3. Accuracy of the information here

We write these pages carefully and check them against how the tours actually run. Even so, this site describes an outdoor product in a landscape that changes: prices, departure times, durations, seasons, routes and inclusions can all change, and park authorities close roads and sites without notice.

The only prices and terms that bind either of us are the ones shown to you in the reservation system at the moment you book, and repeated in your confirmation. Where this website and your confirmation disagree, your confirmation governs.

Descriptions of drive times, wildlife, weather, seasons and what you will see are honest expectations, not promises. Wild animals are not scheduled and the weather is not ours to arrange.

4. No warranty on the site itself

This website is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent permitted by law we disclaim all implied warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the site will be uninterrupted or error-free.

5. Links to other sites

We link to park authorities, venues, weather services and our reservation system. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content, their availability or their privacy practices. A link is not an endorsement.

6. Booking and payment

Bookings are taken through our reservation system, which is operated by a third party. When you book you also enter into that provider's terms for the transaction itself. Payment is taken by that system; we never take card details on this website or over social media.

• A booking is confirmed when you receive written confirmation, not when you submit the form.
• All prices are in US dollars. Taxes and fees are included in the prices shown on this site unless a page says otherwise.
• Most tours require a minimum of two guests to run, and carry a maximum of 14. A single guest may book: if no second booking is taken for that departure we will offer you an alternative date or refund you in full.
• Some tours are inquiry-only and are arranged by email or phone. The same terms apply.
• Age-based fares require the ages given at booking to be accurate. We may ask for proof.

If we discover an obvious pricing error before you travel, we will tell you promptly and offer you the correct price or a full refund. We will not hold you to a price you could not reasonably have believed was right.

7. Changes, cancellations and refunds

Cancellation by you. The cancellation and refund terms that apply to your booking are the ones presented to you in the reservation system before you pay and repeated in your confirmation email. Those terms form part of this agreement. If you cannot find them, ask us before you travel and we will send them to you in writing.

The Trip Protection Plan. On the tours that offer it, you will see an unchecked box at checkout adding the SWAT Trip Protection Plan for 10% of your cart total. It is not insurance. It is our own cancellation waiver, and it lets you cancel for any reason up to 11:59 PM local time in your tour’s start city on the day before your first activity and receive back everything we collected for the tour and for any add-ons we sold you. The 10% fee itself is not refunded.

Three things about it are worth knowing before you decide. It can only be added at initial checkout — once you leave that page you can neither add nor remove it. It does not cover anything we did not sell you: third-party products, air or rail tickets booked elsewhere, and government fees such as park passes are all outside it. And it lets you reschedule once within twelve months of your original departure at no further fee, though if the new tour costs more you pay the difference in fee, and if it costs less the difference is not refunded.

To cancel under the plan, call or email the contact on your confirmation notice. We log the time of your request and ask you to confirm it briefly in writing. Accounting starts the refund within five to seven business days of receiving that written confirmation; how long it then takes to appear depends on your bank. If you cancel on or after your tour start date, or do not show up, the ordinary cancellation terms below apply instead and no tour amounts are refunded.

Cancellation by us. We may cancel or reschedule a departure for reasons of safety, weather, road or park closure, mechanical failure, or because the minimum number of guests was not reached. If we cancel, you may choose a full refund of what you paid us, or a place on another date. That is the limit of what we owe you for a cancellation.

Changes on the day. Your guide may alter the route, the order of stops or the timing where conditions, closures or the safety of the group require it. We will keep the character of the tour you booked. A change of this kind does not entitle you to a refund.

Missed departures. If you are not at the agreed pickup point at the agreed time, and we cannot reach you, the guide will depart in order to keep the day workable for everyone else. That counts as a cancellation by you.

We are not responsible for your other travel costs (flights, hotels, connecting arrangements) if a tour is canceled or changed. This is what travel insurance is for, and we recommend it (§13).

8. Assumption of risk

Please read this section carefully. It concerns your physical safety.

Our tours take place outdoors, in remote country, at altitude, in a desert climate and around wild animals. Some risk is inherent in these activities and cannot be designed out of them without ending the activity itself. By taking part, you acknowledge and voluntarily accept those inherent risks, which include but are not limited to:

• Travel by road over long distances, including in weather and light conditions that change quickly.
• Walking and standing on uneven, slippery, rocky, sandy or salt-crusted ground, and the possibility of slips, trips and falls.
• Altitude. Some tours reach elevations above 11,000 feet, where altitude sickness, shortness of breath and aggravation of existing heart and lung conditions are possible.
• Extremes of heat, cold, sun, wind, dust, lightning and sudden storms; limited shade and limited water in desert terrain.
• Wild animals, including bison, elk, moose and deer, which are large, unpredictable and dangerous at close range, and biting or stinging insects.
• Remoteness. On several tours, emergency medical care and cell phone coverage may be an hour or more away.
• Night operation on stargazing departures, including uneven ground in darkness and cold after sunset.
• Horse-drawn wagon or sleigh rides, and proximity to livestock, on tours where those are included.
• The acts and omissions of other guests, other visitors, and other road users.

Utah livestock notice. Under Utah law, an equine or livestock activity sponsor is not liable for an injury to, or the death of, a participant that results from the inherent risks of equine or livestock activities. Horses and other livestock can behave unpredictably regardless of the care taken.

You are responsible for following your guide's safety instructions, for staying with the group, for keeping a safe distance from wildlife, and for making sensible decisions about your own limits. Most incidents on tours of this kind are avoidable and follow from ignoring one of those four things.

9. Your health and fitness

You confirm that you, and everyone in your party, are in sufficient health to take part in the tour booked. You must tell us at the time of booking about any medical condition, mobility limitation, allergy, pregnancy or medication that might affect participation or that a guide would need to know about in an emergency.

Tell us so that we can plan for it, not so that we can exclude you. We will always look first at how to make a tour work for you (see our accessibility statement). But a guide who does not know cannot help, and if you conceal something material we may decline participation without a refund.

If you have a heart or lung condition, are pregnant, or have not been at altitude before, take medical advice before booking a tour that reaches high elevation.

Guides are not medical professionals. In an emergency we will summon assistance and assist as we reasonably can; you are responsible for the cost of any medical treatment, evacuation or repatriation.

10. Children and minors

Guests under 18 are welcome on all our scheduled tours and must be accompanied throughout by a parent, guardian or other responsible adult over 18.

The accompanying adult is responsible for supervising the child at all times, including at stops, near water, near wildlife, near roads and near drop-offs, and for ensuring the child follows the guide's safety instructions. Booking on behalf of a child confirms you accept that responsibility.

11. Conduct on tour

These are small-group tours, and one guest can make or ruin a day for thirteen others. We ask you to be on time, to follow your guide's instructions, to respect the land, the wildlife and the sites we visit, and to treat other guests and our staff with courtesy.

A guide may refuse to carry, or may remove from a tour, anyone who is intoxicated, under the influence of drugs, behaving unsafely, harassing others, or repeatedly ignoring safety instructions. No refund is due in that case, and you would be responsible for your own onward transport.

You are responsible for any damage you cause to our vehicles or equipment.

Smoking, including vaping, is not permitted in our vehicles. Alcohol and controlled substances may not be consumed on tour.

12. Your belongings

Your personal property remains your responsibility throughout. We are not liable for loss, theft or damage to belongings left in a vehicle, at a stop or on the ground, except where the loss is caused by our negligence.

13. Insurance

We strongly recommend that you take out travel insurance covering trip cancellation and interruption, medical treatment and evacuation, and personal belongings, before you travel. Cover matters most on the tours that travel furthest from a hospital.

Southwest Adventure Tours carries the commercial liability and vehicle insurance required to operate as a licensed tour operator in Utah. That insurance covers our liability; it is not personal accident or travel cover for you.

14. Limitation of liability

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded. Some states do not allow certain exclusions, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

Subject to that, and to the fullest extent permitted by law:

1. a.We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of enjoyment, missed connections, missed flights, or costs of alternative arrangements.
2. b.Our total liability to you arising out of or relating to a booking is limited to the amount you paid us for that booking.
3. c.We are not liable for the acts or omissions of third parties we do not control (park authorities, tram and lift operators, museums, venues, restaurants, other road users, or the reservation system), nor for their closures, delays or refusals of entry.
4. d.We are not liable for failure to perform caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including severe weather, wildfire, flood, road or park closure, air quality emergency, earthquake, civil disturbance, epidemic, strike, or government action.

15. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify us against any claim, loss or cost arising from your breach of these terms, from your deliberate or negligent acts on tour, or from the acts of a minor you are responsible for under §10, except to the extent the claim arises from our own negligence.

16. Photography

Our guides sometimes photograph tours, and we may use those images in marketing. If you would prefer not to appear, tell your guide at the start of the day. That is all it takes, and no one will ask you why. You can also ask us later to stop using an image of you, and we will withdraw it from anything we control.

If you photograph other guests, please ask them first. Please respect the rules of the sites we visit, since several restrict tripods, drones and commercial photography.

17. If something goes wrong

Tell your guide on the day. Almost everything that spoils a tour can be fixed while it is happening, and almost nothing can be fixed a month later.

If that does not resolve it, write to us at info@southwestadventuretours.com or call 800-970-5864 within 30 days of your tour, setting out what happened and what you would like us to do. We will acknowledge within 5 business days and give you a considered reply within 30 days.

Both of us agree to try to resolve any dispute this way, in good faith, before starting formal proceedings.

18. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms, and any dispute arising out of them or out of a tour, are governed by the laws of the State of Utah, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. The state and federal courts sitting in the State of Utah have exclusive jurisdiction, and both of us submit to them.

If you are a consumer resident in a country whose law gives you rights that cannot be excluded by agreement, nothing here removes those rights.

19. General

• Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, it is modified to the least extent necessary and the rest stands.
• No waiver. If we do not enforce a term on one occasion, we have not given up the right to enforce it later.
• Entire agreement. These terms, your booking confirmation, and our privacy policy are the whole agreement between us, and replace anything said beforehand.
• Assignment. You may not transfer your booking to someone else without our agreement, which we will not withhold unreasonably.
• Changes. We may update these terms. The version that applies to your tour is the one in force on the date you booked, and the effective date at the top of this page tells you when this version took effect.

20. Contact

Southwest Adventure Tours LLC 382 E 650 S Circle, Cedar City, UT 84720 Phone 800-970-5864 · Email info@southwestadventuretours.com