Clause 1: Definitions and Interpretation
1.1 "Platform" shall mean the digital infrastructure provided by Trip Express, encompassing the website (trip.express), mobile applications, and any subsequent technological iterations facilitating the booking of travel-related services.
1.2 "Agent" shall refer to Trip Express in its strict legal capacity as an Online Travel Agent (OTA) and intermediary platform responsible for marketing, sales distribution, and collecting online payments. The Agent does not assume the role of an organizer, principal, or operator of any physical travel service unless expressly stated otherwise in written form.
1.3 "Operator" or "Supplier" shall mean the independent, licensed third-party entity (e.g., Daily Travel for transport/tours, along with other verified airline, hotel, local tour operator, transfer company, or experience providers) ultimately responsible for the actual provision and physical execution of the travel service contracted through the Platform.
1.4 "Booking" or "Reservation" shall mean a formal request submitted by the User through the Platform to acquire a specific service provided by an Operator, subject to acceptance and confirmation by the execution of a Voucher.
1.5 "Voucher" or "E-Ticket" shall signify the electronic document issued by Trip Express on behalf of the Operator, serving as definitive proof of a confirmed transaction and entitling the User to receive the specified service from the Operator.
1.6 Interpretation: Words importing the singular shall include the plural and vice versa. The headings in these Terms are for convenience only and shall not affect their legal interpretation. The term "including" shall be construed to mean "including without limitation".
Clause 2: Scope of Service and Agency Status
2.1 Intermediary Capacity: Trip Express operates exclusively as an online travel agency (OTA) and technological intermediary. Our primary function is to aggregate, display, and facilitate the booking of diverse travel experiences, accommodations, and transportation services provided by independent Operators.
2.2 Limitation of Scope: By providing the Platform, Trip Express merely extends a technological conduit connecting the User with the Operator. We do not own, operate, manage, control, or employ the personnel corresponding to the underlying physical services.
2.3 Contractual Dichotomy: Upon the successful confirmation of a Booking, the User enters into a direct, legally binding contract with the specific Operator providing the service. Trip Express is not a party to this underlying service contract, and our role is strictly limited to the facilitation of the transaction, the transmission of data, and the collection of payment as an authorized collection agent for the Operator. Trip Express expressly disclaims any liability for the non-performance, sub-standard execution, or breach of contract by the Operator.
Clause 3: Eligibility and User Registration
3.1 Age Requirement: To utilize the Platform and execute a Booking, the User must be an individual of at least eighteen (18) years of age, or the legal age of majority in their respective jurisdiction of residence, possessing the absolute legal capacity to formulate binding contracts under applicable law.
3.2 Account Creation: The User may be required or may opt to register a personalized account ("Account") to access advanced features, including but not limited to the "The The Reserve" loyalty program. The User formally warrants that all information submitted during the registration process—including the full legal name, contact details, and identification metrics—is current, complete, and strictly accurate.
3.3 Security Obligations: The User shall bear the sole and exclusive responsibility for maintaining the strict confidentiality of their Account credentials, including the password and associated authentication tokens. The User shall be held completely liable for any and all activities executed under their Account, whether authorized by the User or not. The User is legally mandated to notify Trip Express immediately at [email protected] of any suspected unauthorized access or structural breach of security affecting their Account.
3.4 Right of Refusal: Trip Express reserves the sovereign and unconditional right to refuse service, terminate Accounts, remove or edit content, or unilaterally cancel Bookings at our sole discretion, particularly in instances where fraudulent activity, violation of these Terms, or malicious intent targeting the Platform’s infrastructure is suspected.
Clause 4: The 4-Step Technical Contract Formation Process
In strict compliance with the legal framework governing e-commerce transactions within the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (specifically Decree 52/2013/ND-CP and its subsequent amendments), the process of contract formation via the Platform shall rigorously adhere to the following sequence:
4.1 Step 1: Offer and Selection: The Operator, via the Platform, publishes an 'invitation to treat' detailing the service, availability, and provisional pricing. The User browses the Platform, selects the desired service, specifies parameters (e.g., date, quantity, add-ons), and inputs their requisite data into the digital reservation interface.
4.2 Step 2: Review and Legal Acceptance: Prior to executing payment, the User is presented with a comprehensive summary (the Checkout Page). This interface details total cost (including base price, service fees, mandatory taxes), Operator-specific cancellation policies, and an explicit mechanism requiring the User to affirmatively acknowledge their binding acceptance of these Terms of Service.
4.3 Step 3: Financial Execution: The User proceeds to the secure payment portal to submit the required funds using authorized financial instruments. The submission of payment details constitutes a formal, legally binding 'Offer' by the User to purchase the service under the aforementioned terms.
4.4 Step 4: Confirmation and Contractual Binding: The transaction remains categorized as 'Pending' until the payment is successfully cleared and verified by our financial gateways. Only upon the explicit issuance and dispatch of an electronic Voucher (or Confirmation Email) by Trip Express to the User’s registered email address does the 'Acceptance' of the Offer occur. The issuance of this Voucher legally solidifies the direct contract between the User and the Operator. An automated receipt of the initial request does not, under any circumstances, constitute a confirmed acceptance.
Clause 5: Pricing Mechanics, Taxes, and Currency Policy
5.1 Dynamic Pricing Framework: Prices displayed on the Platform are heavily subject to a dynamic pricing model. Due to fluctuating market demand, localized taxation alterations, Operator-side yield management, and real-time currency variation, prices are highly volatile and provisional. Trip Express guarantees a specific price exclusively at the precise moment of a verified, successful payment execution (Step 3).
5.2 Inclusions and Exclusions: The Checkout Page will explicitly demarcate elements included in the base price. Unless unequivocally specified otherwise on the Voucher, prices do not include localized city taxes, regional resort fees, personal gratuities, visa processing fees, passport services, travel insurance, or extraneous personal expenditures incurred during the execution of the service.
5.3 Currency Display and Conversion: The Platform may offer an interface to view prices in various international fiat currencies for the User’s convenience. However, the final transactional settlement shall invariably occur in the designated base currency of the specific Operator or in Vietnamese Dong (VND) for domestic transactions. When settling in a currency foreign to the User’s native banking institution, the User unconditionally accepts that their respective bank or credit card issuer determines the final exchange rate and may impose discrete, non-refundable foreign transaction fees. Trip Express accepts zero liability for any financial discrepancies resulting from these third-party banking mechanics.
Clause 6: Formal Payment Terms and Obligations
6.1 Authorized Gateways: Trip Express exclusively processes complex financial transactions via internationally recognized, PCI-DSS compliant third-party payment gateways (e.g., Stripe, selected localized switching networks). The User authorizes Trip Express, through its gateways, to execute a full charge against the provided financial instrument (Credit/Debit Card, localized E-Wallet, or Direct Bank Transfer) corresponding to the total booking amount.
6.2 Fraud Prevention Protocols: To aggressively mitigate systematic fraud, Trip Express actively utilizes sophisticated algorithmic screening metrics. We unequivocally reserve the right to temporarily suspend, unilaterally cancel, or permanently void any transaction and associated Booking if our risk management systems tag the transaction as exceptionally suspicious. In such cases, the User may be requested to provide supplementary, notarized identification to validate the transaction.
6.3 Chargebacks and Financial Disputes: In the event the User initiates an unauthorized chargeback or dispute with their credit card issuer regarding a valid, non-refundable Booking, Trip Express retains the unassailable right to immediately nullify the associated vouchers, terminate the User's Account, and commence the appropriate legal mechanisms, including the utilization of third-party debt collection agencies, to recover the disputed funds and any associated administrative, legal, or arbitral expenses.
Clause 7: Cancellation, Modification, and Refund Architecture
7.1 Operator Sovereignty: All provisions regarding the cancellation, amendment, or refundability of a Booking are strictly governed by the specific, individual policy enforced by the respective Operator, as explicitly detailed and disclosed to the User during the review phase (Step 2 of Contract Formation) and imprinted onto the final Voucher.
7.2 Cancellation Policy Tiers: While policies vary globally, the User must acknowledge that premium travel services generally entail rigid, tiered penalty constructions. Unless an Operator-specific policy explicitly overrides this framework on the Voucher, the following tiered structure applies based on the selected service category: Standard: 100% refund for cancellations executed at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled service. Moderate: 100% refund for cancellations executed at least 4 days prior to the scheduled service. Strict: 100% refund if cancelled >7 days prior to the service. 50% refund if cancelled between 3 to 6 days prior to the service. 0% refund (100% forfeiture) if cancelled <3 days prior to the service. Non-refundable: Strictly no refunds or credits allowed from the precise moment of payment confirmation.
7.3 Administrative Mechanics of Modification: Any request by the User to substantially modify a Booking (e.g., altering passenger registries, adjusting dates or itineraries) is fundamentally subject to the Operator’s operational availability and their unilateral consent. In addition to any fare difference or Operator-mandated penalty fee, Trip Express reserves the right to levy a separate, nominal administrative facilitation fee for processing complex, post-confirmation amendments.
7.4 Execution of Lawful Refunds: Approved refunds, calculated exclusively after the deduction of any applicable administrative, processing, and Operator-defined penalty fees, shall be methodically credited backward to the original financial instrument universally utilized during the booking process. The User unequivocally accepts that global banking network clearing cycles may require anywhere from 14 to 30 continuous business days to finalize the appearance of the funds on the User's financial statement.
Clause 8: "No-Show" Policy and User Default
8.1 Strict Enforcement: A "No-Show" is rigidly defined as the failure of the User to physically present themselves at the designated meeting point, port of embarkation, or reception desk precisely at the date and time explicitly stated on the Voucher, without providing the requisite prior notice defined in the Operator's cancellation policy.
8.2 Total Forfeiture: In the event of a verified No-Show, the User categorically waives any and all rights to a refund, partial credit, or alternative compensation. The entire value of the transactional sum is permanently forfeited to compensate the Operator for the unrecoverable loss of inventory.
8.3 Punctuality Obligation: The User bears the sole, inescapable responsibility for accounting for localized traffic, transit delays, or complex navigational logistics to guarantee punctual arrival. Trip Express and the Operator bear zero liability for a missed connection or event resulting from the User’s late arrival.
Clause 9: Operator Cancellation, Alteration, and Overbooking
9.1 Operator Discretion: Occasionally, an Operator may be structurally forced to radically alter, abbreviate, or unilaterally cancel a confirmed service due to severe operational constraints, mechanical failure, or inventory mismanagement (overbooking).
9.2 Remedial Framework: In the event an Operator unilaterally cancels a Booking, excluding Force Majeure triggers, Trip Express acts as an intermediary to aggressively facilitate the Operator's standard compensatory structure, which generally features: (a) The provision of an alternative service of substantially equal or superior value and luxury standard. (b) An immediate reschedule to alternate dates acceptable to the User. (c) The facilitation of a 100% comprehensive refund of the transactional amount. The ultimate selection among these remedies is strictly governed by the Operator’s prevailing legal framework and availability.
9.3 Liability Gap Protection: Notwithstanding the above, under absolutely no legal paradigm shall Trip Express be held liable for any consequential, secondary, or indirect economic damages incurred by the User specifically stemming from an Operator’s unilateral cancellation. This exclusion encompasses non-refundable interconnecting flight costs, independently arranged ground transport, or non-refundable hotel stays situated outside the immediate scope of the singular canceled Booking.
Clause 10: Force Majeure (Act of God) Clause
10.1 Definition: Neither Trip Express nor the Operator shall incur any liability, be deemed in breach, or be forced to execute compensatory damages for any failure, delay, or structural inability to perform any obligation herein, provided that such failure is generated directly or indirectly by events, circumstances, or causes utterly beyond our reasonable capability to control or foresee. Act of God scenarios include, without limitation: global pandemics (e.g., COVID-19 variations), sudden governmental travel embargoes, regional lockdowns, declaration of martial law, acts of regional terrorism, severe civil war, catastrophic natural disasters (e.g., severe localized earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic ash clouds crippling airspace), cyberwarfare attacks catastrophically dismantling financial infrastructure, or massive transportation strikes heavily impeding logistical mobility.
10.2 Suspension of Obligations: In the presence of a verified Force Majeure event profoundly disrupting the execution of the Booking, the contractual obligations of both the Operator and Trip Express shall be immediately, legally suspended for the precise duration encompassing the obstructive event.
10.3 Remedy in Force Majeure: Should an intervention by Force Majeure render the provisioning of the service impossible, the resolution paradigm completely deviates from standard Operator cancellation norms. Remedial actions, heavily dependent upon the unrecoverable sunk costs already disbursed by the Operator to secure the luxury inventory, may be exclusively limited to the issuance of a non-transferable 'Future Travel Credit (FTC)' valid for a strictly defined temporal window, as opposed to a liquid monetary refund.
Clause 11: Visa, Passport, and Health Documentation Protocols
11.1 User Responsibility: The absolute, unshared responsibility to research, acquire, and physically possess valid and appropriate documentation required for international transit or localized entry heavily rests entirely upon the User. This includes ensuring the possession of a machine-readable Passport containing a minimum of six (6) months validity beyond the date of intended departure, highly specific pre-approved Entry Visas, transit visas, or localized travel permits.
11.2 Health and Inoculation Directives: The User must independently verify and strictly comply with all complex medical requirements, mandatory vaccination edicts, or localized health protocols demanded by the destination's sovereign government prior to departure.
11.3 Denial of Entry: Should the User suffer a denial of entry, deportation, or boarding refusal originating from a failure to present flawless, legally mandated documentation, the resulting situation shall be fundamentally treated exactly as a User-driven 'No-Show' (Section 8), triggering immediate 100% total forfeiture of all funds securely allocated to the Booking. Trip Express assumes absolutely zero liability for border control decisions.
Clause 12: Imperative Mandate for Travel Insurance
12.1 Strong Recommendation: Given the premium, high-value nature of the luxury travel experiences facilitated through the Platform, Trip Express issues a profound, insistent recommendation that all Users secure comprehensive, premium-tier Travel Insurance policies immediately concurrent with executing a Booking.
12.2 Required Coverage Parameters: The User is vehemently advised to procure an insurance instrument providing robust maximum-limit coverage encompassing: sudden, severe medical emergencies while abroad; emergency geopolitical or medical repatriation and evacuation dynamics; comprehensive trip cancellation/interruption protection; and 'Cancel For Any Reason' (CFAR) clauses to mitigate heavy financial exposure stemming from stringent Operator forfeiture policies.
Clause 13: Strict Limitation of Liability and Assumption of Risk
13.1 Acknowledgment of Intermediary Status: The User explicitly recognizes that Trip Express solely functions as a digital technological facilitator. As an intermediary, Trip Express utterly lacks the physical capacity or legal authority to control, direct, supervise, inspect, or manage the daily terrestrial, maritime, or aerial operations of the independent Operators.
13.2 Exclusion of Damages: To the maximum extreme mathematically permitted by applicable international and domestic law, Trip Express, inclusive of its corporate directors, regional officers, global employees, affiliated subsidiaries, and technical partners, expressly disclaims and utterly rejects any and all liability for any direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, special, or consequential damages. This explicit rejection fundamentally encompasses damages relating to agonizing emotional distress, crippling loss of income or revenue, profound loss of data, substantial physical injury, localized property damage, or wrongful death resulting directly or indirectly from the User’s interaction with the Platform or physical participation in any Booked service execution.
13.3 Liability Cap: Notwithstanding any contradictory legal doctrine that may impose liability upon Trip Express, the User unequivocally agrees that the absolute maximum aggregate maximum liability of Trip Express for any consolidated claims, regardless of whether the legal action sounds in strict contract, severe tort (including negligence), or strict liability statutes, shall be irrevocably and inflexibly capped at the lower of either: (A) the exact, provable transactional fee commission definitively retained by Trip Express from the specific User's disputed Booking, or (B) the sum of precisely One Hundred United States Dollars ($100.00 USD) or its finalized domestic currency equivalent.
13.4 Inherent Risk Acknowledgment: The User unequivocally acknowledges that international and domestic travel, specifically encompassing premium, remote, high-altitude, or intense luxury adventure experiences, inherently entails profound, underlying risks, comprising severe injury or fatality. By executing a Booking via the Platform, the User consciously, voluntarily, and legally assumes all profound consequences relating to these known and unknown physical and geopolitical risks.
Clause 14: Comprehensive Indemnification Protocol
14.1 Defense and Hold Harmless: The User formally covenants to fiercely defend, comprehensively indemnify, and completely hold harmless Trip Express, its massive corporate network, regional affiliates, and respective officers, from and against any and all colossal third-party claims, serious legal demands, localized civil actions, massive financial losses, deep liabilities, statutory fines, or legal expenses (explicitly including complex, substantial accounting and legal attorney fees on an indemnity basis) brought by any entity, arising decisively out of or materially connected to: (a) The User’s deliberate, structural, or negligent massive breach of any article defined within these Terms of Service. (b) The User’s catastrophic violation of any encompassing national, federal, regional, or municipal law, rigid regulation, or civil code. (c) The User’s infringement, gross misappropriation, or illegal dilution of any third-party intellectual property or constitutional privacy right. (d) The User's specific, personal physical behavior, extreme negligence, or intentional tortious misconduct executed during the physical realization of any booked luxury travel service.
Clause 15: Intellectual Property Architecture and Trademark Protections
15.1 Proprietary Dominance: The comprehensive structural design, intricate technological backend, complex algorithms, source code structures, high-fidelity luxury imagery, stylized written content, audio-visual compositions, and robust database arrangements defining the Platform are the strict, exclusive, and unshared intellectual property of Trip Express or its legally licensed architectural partners. These assets are intensely protected by the copyright, trademark, and profound intellectual property laws of Vietnam and corresponding international copyright conventions and rigid treaties.
15.2 Limited Permissible Use: The User is graciously granted a tightly scoped, fiercely limited, personal, non-commercial, revocable, and non-exclusive sub-license simply to access the Platform strictly for the localized purpose of researching, analyzing, and potentially executing legitimate domestic or international travel transactions.
15.3 Strictly Prohibited Exploitation: The User is categorically, legally forbidden from executing massive systematic data extraction. Absolutely prohibited activities include: deploying sophisticated algorithmic spiders, complex scrapers, or automated bots to deep dive and extract our dynamic pricing intelligence; engaging in massive reverse engineering of our codebase; executing deep-linking, hyper-framing, or unauthorized mirroring of our Platform architecture; or willfully stripping, modifying, or circumventing our intense digital rights management (DRM) protections or copyright notices.
Clause 16: Severability and Enforceability
16.1 Legal Severance: Should any discrete article, complex clause, or localized sub-section within these profound Terms be legally classified as fundamentally invalid, completely void, or strictly unenforceable by a competent, sovereign judicial or arbitral body, that specific invalidity shall absolutely not structurally infect or systematically render invalid the remaining massive corpus of these Terms.
16.2 Constructive Interpretation: The legally invalidated clause shall be surgically severed, and the remainder of the Terms shall be fiercely validated, strictly interpreted, and profoundly enforced to the absolute maximum legal extreme mathematically and legally possible, mirroring the undeniable original commercial intent of the architectural drafters.
Clause 17: Governing Law and Escalated Dispute Resolution Protocol
17.1 Governing Jurisdiction: The deep structural validity, complex construction, and massive legal performance of these Terms, alongside any resulting non-contractual localized disputes, shall be governed absolutely, exclusively, and unapologetically by the sovereign legal statutes of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, fiercely independent of its complex, conflicting principles of international private law.
17.2 Mandatory Amicable Negotiation (Tier 1): In the highly regrettable realization of a complex dispute, massive controversy, or structural claim generated directly or indirectly from these Terms, the User and Trip Express formally covenant to initially engage in intense, good-faith, binding amicable negotiation for a strict minimum period of forty-five (45) massive calendar days. Formal structural notice of the complex dispute must be officially transmitted to our centralized legal unit via [email protected].
17.3 Mediation (Tier 2): Should the Tier 1 continuous negotiation process definitively collapse, the involved parties legally covenant to submit the complex dispute to structured, professional commercial mediation physically located within Da Nang City, Vietnam, administered by a mutually sanctioned, profound premium mediation body prior to accelerating the legal escalation.
17.4 International Arbitration Protocol (Tier 3 - Non-Domestic Users): For all Users executing transactions from, or legally residing within, jurisdictions structurally situated completely outside the sovereign territory of Vietnam, any unresolved, incredibly complex dispute fundamentally surviving Tier 1 and Tier 2 shall be referred exclusively to, and definitively resolved by, fierce, binding international arbitration. The arbitration shall be aggressively administered by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) utterly in accordance with the SIAC Arbitration Rules then prevailing. The specific structural seat of the arbitration shall be Singapore. The complex language of the massive proceedings shall be exclusively English. The tribunal shall forcefully consist of exactly one (1) intensely qualified, independent arbitrator.
17.5 Sovereign Court Jurisdiction (Domestic Vietnamese Consumers Only): Notwithstanding the profound Tier 3 International Arbitration clause established above, if the User is a legally defined consumer physically executing the transaction within the sovereign territory of Vietnam, the User possesses the ultimate, inalienable, and sovereign constitutional legal right to decisively bypass international arbitration and bring the massive dispute directly to a competent judicial Court operating completely within the sovereign legal framework of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, vigorously in accordance with the structural protections entrenched deep within the Vietnamese Law on Protection of Consumers' Rights.
Clause 18: Linguistic Priority and Contractual Supremacy
18.1 English Language Dominance: These magnificent Terms have been painstakingly drafted, structured, and legally engineered exclusively in the English language to serve our expansive global, premium luxury clientele.
18.2 Conflict Resolution in Translation: Should Trip Express provide a structurally translated version of these Terms into alternative languages (e.g., Vietnamese, French, Mandarin) purely as an administrative courtesy, the User profoundly acknowledges that the deep, authentic, legally binding interpretation shall undeniably and exclusively derive from the English structural version. In the acute realization of any linguistic ambiguity, structural discrepancy, or complex legal conflict between the English master text and any localized translation, the English text shall unapologetically and immediately prevail, entirely govern, and completely dictate the structural resolution, structurally except where specific, mandatory localized Vietnamese constitutional law absolutely and inflexibly dictates otherwise for legal consumers utilizing domestic Vietnamese court frameworks.