Personal emergencies

In the unfortunate event of a personal emergency, such as an illness or death in the family, guides can decide whether to make an exception to their standard cancellation policy. Guides may require travelers to provide documentation about this emergency, and they may choose to provide compensation as a credit for a future journey. These decisions are made by guides at their discretion.

Extenuating circumstances

Thermal's Extenuating Circumstances policy addresses unforeseen situations where travelers are unable to participate in an experience and the traveler can no longer cancel at their discretion. In these situations, Thermal will determine whether to supersede the guide's cancellation policy. Depending on the circumstance, travelers may receive a refund, travel credits, or other compensation to resolve the issue, which may impact guide compensation.

Thermal's Extenuating Circumstances policy applies in the following situations

• Changes to government travel requirements or travel restrictions. A government agency imposes a new travel requirement or restriction, and these prevent a traveler from his or her journey. For example, new visa or passport requirements would apply. Losing a passport or discovering that your visa has expired would not apply.
• Declared emergencies and epidemics. Government-declared emergencies or epidemics or public health emergencies—think COVID—are grounds for a claim. Endemic diseases—think malaria in Thailand or dengue fever in Hawaii—are not grounds for a claim.
• Military actions and other hostilities. Acts of war, hostilities, or terrorism.
• Natural disasters. Natural disasters, acts of God, large-scale outages of essential utilities, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and other severe and abnormal weather events. This does not include weather or natural conditions that are common enough to be foreseeable in that location—for example, hurricanes occurring during hurricane season in Florida.

Extenuating Circumstances do not include:

Everything else. We're very sorry if you have jury duty, an injury or illness, or you fail to catch your international flight. But these unfortunate events do not require Thermal guides to override their stated cancellation policy. In these situations, travelers are welcome to cancel, but any refunds are subject to the guide's cancellation policy.