Terms of Service

1.1These Terms of Service form a binding agreement between you and Hoggaan Travels, a travel agency registered in Mogadishu, Somalia under Shatiga registration DTLJQRU, accredited by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah as an external agent under code 944565, and holding IATA code 96160470.

1.2You accept these terms when you submit a booking request, pay a deposit or the full price, sign a booking form at our office, or travel on a booking made in your name.

1.3Where you book on behalf of other travellers , family members, a group, or employees , you confirm that you are authorised to accept these terms for each of them, and that you will pass on to them every confirmation, itinerary and instruction we send you.

1.4If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining parts continue to apply.

2.1Hajj from Somalia is organised by the Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs of the Federal Republic of Somalia. The Ministry receives the pilgrim quota that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia allocates to Somalia, and it administers the Somali Hajj mission.

2.2The Ministry, not Hoggaan Travels, arranges the elements of your Hajj inside the Kingdom. Specifically:

• (a)Accommodation in Makkah and Madinah.
• (b)Transport inside the Kingdom, between the holy sites, and to and from the airport.
• (c)The tents and camp positions at Mina and Arafat.
• (d)Catering and the other services provided to Somali pilgrims during the Hajj season.

2.3Inside Saudi Arabia these arrangements are further governed by the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and administered through the Hajj Affairs Office operating under the Ministry.

2.4What Hoggaan Travels does for Hajj is this. In Somalia we guide you through registration, explain what is required, collect and check your documents, collect the sums payable for your Hajj, and prepare and submit your file to the Ministry. In the Kingdom we act as your murshid , the guide who accompanies your group, gives direction, and assists you throughout your stay and through the days of Hajj.

2.5Every sum you pay us for Hajj is passed to the Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs. We do not hold your Hajj money and we take no margin from it. What that means if you later cancel is set out in the Cancellation and refunds section.

3.1Umrah is a different arrangement. Hoggaan Travels organises it directly, and we answer for the choices we make.

3.2We select the hotels, arrange the transport and provide the services inside the Kingdom ourselves , the accommodation and its standard, airport transfers, movement between Makkah and Madinah, and the guidance given to your group.

3.3In arranging these we act as your agent with the providers who deliver them. We are not an airline, a hotel or a carrier. We do not operate the aircraft you fly on, own the accommodation you stay in, or decide whether a visa is granted.

3.4Every service we book for you is additionally subject to the terms of the provider delivering it , airline fare rules, hotel cancellation policies, and the rules of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia governing Umrah. Where a provider's rules and these terms differ on a matter within that provider's control, the provider's rules apply to that service.

3.5We select providers with care and remain your point of contact throughout the journey. Where a provider falls short, we will act on your behalf to put it right.

4.1Travellers must be 18 years or older to book independently. A traveller under 18 must be accompanied throughout the journey by a sponsor or legal guardian who travels with them, completes all documentation on their behalf, and accepts responsibility for them.

4.2Your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond your date of travel. We strongly recommend twelve months or more, because some consular authorities apply a longer requirement without notice.

4.3You are responsible for the accuracy of every detail you give us:

• (a)Names must be entered exactly as they appear in your passport. Airlines and visa systems match on the passport document, and a mismatch of even one letter can invalidate a ticket or a visa.
• (b)Passport number, nationality, date of birth and gender must match your travel document.
• (c)Your phone number and email must be ones you actually monitor, because urgent schedule changes are sent there.

4.4Where a booking has to be corrected, reissued or cancelled because the information you gave us was wrong, any charge the airline, hotel or visa centre applies for that correction is payable by you. We will always tell you the amount before we act.

4.5You are responsible for holding any additional documentation your journey requires, including vaccination certificates where the Saudi authorities mandate them, and for complying with the customs and currency rules of every country on your route.

5.1A booking request is not a confirmed booking. Availability, pricing and eligibility are held by the providers, and a request only becomes a booking when we issue you a written confirmation.

5.2For Hajj specifically, a confirmed place is additionally conditional on the Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs allocating you a place from the quota granted to Somalia by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. See section 8.

5.3Your confirmation, itinerary and the Hoggaan ID card issued to you set out exactly what your package includes. Anything not listed there is not included.

6.1Prices are quoted in United States Dollars and are inclusive of 5% tax unless a quotation states otherwise. Where a price is presented in another currency, the US Dollar figure is the operative one.

6.2A quoted price is held for the period stated in the quotation. Outside that period, prices move with airline fares, hotel rates, exchange rates and any charge imposed by a government or provider, and we will requote before taking payment.

6.3Payment may be made in cash at our Mogadishu office or by bank transfer to an account we confirm to you in writing. A booking is confirmed only once funds have cleared and been reconciled.

6.4Where a government, airline or Saudi authority introduces a new fee or increases an existing one after your booking is confirmed, that increase is passed on at cost. We will show you the source of the change and will not add a margin to it.

7.1Selected packages may be paid in installments through SomBank or other available banks. The financing agreement is between you and the bank. Hoggaan Travels is not the lender, sets none of the financing terms, and earns no interest.

7.2The bank decides eligibility, not us. To apply you will normally need to provide:

• (a)Proof of current employment.
• (b)Bank statements covering the previous six months.
• (c)A passport valid for more than six months.
• (d)A recent photograph.
• (e)A sponsor , if an individual, their passport, photograph, employment proof and six-month bank statements; if a company, its valid Shatiga registration.

7.3We forward your application documents to the bank for the sole purpose of assessing that application. If financing is declined, your booking remains subject to the ordinary payment terms in section 6.

7.4Your obligation to repay the bank is independent of your journey. Cancelling or shortening a trip does not cancel a financing agreement, and any refund due from us is paid according to section 9 regardless of your repayment schedule.

8.1Visas and Hajj permits are granted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and by the relevant consular authorities. We prepare and submit your application accurately and on time. We cannot guarantee the outcome, and no agency lawfully can.

8.2The Kingdom sets an annual Hajj quota for each country and allocates it through the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah. Somalia's share is then administered and distributed among pilgrims by the Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs. Quota volumes, allocation rules, package requirements and the Nusuk platform's procedures change from season to season, sometimes at short notice and sometimes after registration has opened.

8.3Where an application is refused because of information you supplied that proved inaccurate, or documentation you did not provide in time, the costs of the failed application are not recoverable.

9.1Airlines change schedules. Hotels overbook. Saudi authorities reassign accommodation zones, camp positions at Mina, and transport arrangements. These are ordinary features of Hajj and Umrah operations, not exceptions.

9.2For Hajj, changes of this kind are made by the Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs and by the Saudi authorities. We pass them to you as soon as we receive them, but we do not make them and cannot refuse them on your behalf. The remaining clauses of this section apply to Umrah and to the flights and services we arrange ourselves.

9.3Where a change is necessary, we will provide a replacement of a standard equal to or better than what you booked, and we will tell you as soon as we know.

9.4Where the only available replacement is of a materially lower standard, you may accept it with the difference in price refunded to you, or cancel the affected element and receive back every recoverable sum for it.

9.5Changes to flight times, hotel room allocation within the same category, the order of activities in your itinerary, and the identity of your group leader are not material changes.

9.6If you ask us to change a confirmed booking, we will try. Any charge the airline, hotel or visa centre applies for the change is payable by you, at cost.

10.1You may cancel at any time by telling us in writing , email, WhatsApp message, or a signed note delivered to our office. The cancellation takes effect on the day we receive it.

10.2For Hajj, every sum you pay us is passed to the Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs, and we hold none of it. If you cancel and do not perform Hajj, the refund is made by the Ministry, on its terms and on its timing, and a service fee may be deducted from it. We submit your cancellation to the Ministry, follow it up, and pass on to you in full whatever the Ministry releases, together with a statement of any amount deducted and who deducted it.

10.3For Umrah, and for the flights, hotels and services we arrange ourselves: if you cancel before your visa application has been submitted to the main office or otherwise entered processing, you receive a full refund of everything you have paid us.

10.4If your visa has already been submitted or issued, we deduct the visa cost only, and refund the entire remaining balance. We do not charge an administrative or cancellation fee on top of it.

10.5Refunds are paid by the method you paid us, to the person who paid, within 21 working days of the cancellation taking effect or of the provider releasing the funds, whichever is later.

10.6We may cancel your booking if payment is not received by the date stated in your confirmation, if you fail to provide required documentation in time, or if a competent authority prohibits your travel. Where we cancel for non-payment or missing documents, clauses 10.3 and 10.4 apply as though you had cancelled.

11.1Hajj and Umrah are physically demanding. Pilgrims walk long distances, stand for extended periods, and move in dense crowds in high heat. You should satisfy yourself, with your doctor, that you are fit to perform the rites before you book.

11.2You must tell us at the time of booking about any medical condition, mobility limitation, or care requirement that affects your travel, so that we can arrange for it where it is possible to do so and tell you honestly where it is not.

11.3You are responsible for carrying an adequate supply of your own prescribed medication, together with the prescription documentation required to bring it into Saudi Arabia.

11.4We will assist a pilgrim who becomes unwell to reach medical care, and will keep the nominated contact on their booking informed. We do not provide medical care ourselves and are not liable for the treatment decisions of medical providers.

12.1You must comply with the laws of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and of every country on your route, and with the instructions of your group leader on matters of safety, timing and movement.

12.2Where a pilgrim's behaviour presents a genuine danger to themselves or others, or repeatedly prevents a group from moving as scheduled, we may end that pilgrim's participation in the group programme. No refund is due in that event, and the cost of any separate arrangements falls to them.

12.3Airlines and hotels may refuse carriage or accommodation under their own rules. Where they do, their rules govern the consequences.

13.1We are not liable for failure to perform where the cause is outside our reasonable control. This includes war, civil unrest, terrorism, epidemic or pandemic and the public health measures taken in response, natural disaster, extreme weather, fire, airport or airspace closure, strike or industrial action, failure of public utilities or telecommunications, and any act, decision or restriction of a government or competent authority , including a change to Hajj quota, permit rules or entry requirements.

13.2Where such an event prevents your journey, we refund every sum we are able to recover from providers, and we pursue those refunds actively on your behalf. Sums that a provider lawfully retains under its own terms cannot be refunded by us, because we never held them.

13.3This section does not exclude any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

14.1We are liable for our own negligence and for our failure to perform the services we agreed to provide, and nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.

14.2Subject to clause 14.1, our total liability arising out of any booking is limited to the amount you actually paid to Hoggaan Travels for that booking.

14.3We are not liable for the acts or omissions of third-party providers, including airlines, hotels, transport operators and Saudi service companies, where we have selected and engaged them with reasonable care. Claims against those providers are governed by their own terms and by the international conventions that apply to them.

14.4For Hajj, accommodation, transport, catering and the camps at Mina and Arafat are arranged by the Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs and administered under the authority of the Government of Saudi Arabia. We neither select nor control those arrangements and are not liable for them. Our responsibility for Hajj is the accuracy and timeliness of the file we prepare for you, the handling of the sums you entrust to us, and the conduct of the guidance we provide in the Kingdom.

14.5We are not liable for loss of profit, loss of opportunity, or any indirect or consequential loss.

14.6We are not liable for the loss of or damage to your personal belongings, money or documents, which remain your responsibility throughout the journey.

15.1If something goes wrong during your journey, tell your group leader immediately. Most problems , a room, a meal, a transfer , can be fixed on the spot, and cannot be fixed at all once you are home.

15.2If the matter is not resolved, write to us at info@hoggaantravels.com or bring it to our Mogadishu office. We acknowledge every complaint in writing within seven working days and aim to resolve it within thirty.

15.3Raising a complaint with us does not limit any right you have to take the matter further.

16.1These terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Somalia, and the courts of Mogadishu have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them.

16.2Nothing in this section removes a protection available to you under any law that applies to you regardless of this choice.

17.1We may update these terms. The version that applies to your booking is the version in force on the day your booking was confirmed, and a later change does not alter a confirmed booking to your disadvantage.

17.2The effective date and version number at the top of this page tell you which version you are reading. On request we will provide the version that applied to your booking.