Risks & Requirements

Hatch River Expeditions requires an initial non-refundable, non-transferable deposit of $500 per person to book. Reservations are not confirmed until we receive both a deposit and a guest name for each space. Payment can be made via personal check, money order, Visa, Discover, and MasterCard. Guests paying by check or money order will have 14 days to get payment to the Hatch River Expeditions office. If 14 days from the initial reservation date have elapsed and full payment and guest list have not been received, any spaces not assigned and paid for will be removed from the reservation. Final payments are due 120 days before trip departure. If final payment is not received when due, Hatch River Expeditions reserves the right to cancel the reservation without refunding the original deposit.

You must complete a Registration Form for every guest on your reservation within 14 days of making your initial reservation. If that form is submitted by the deadline and it is determined that a guest will not be able to participate due to the information it contains, a full refund will be provided for that guest. Hatch River Expeditions reserves the right to cancel any guest’s reservation at any time without refund if this form has not been completed accurately and returned by the deadline.

If you must cancel your reservation more than 120 before your trip, you must notify us in writing. You will forfeit your initial non-refundable, non-transferable deposit. Any amount you have paid beyond the initial deposit will be refunded minus a 5% processing fee. Refunds made more than 90 days after payment will be issued as U.S. checks only. If you must cancel less than 120 days prior to your trip, no refunds will be made and you will forfeit any funds paid to Hatch River Expeditions. This policy applies to every cancellation and there will be no exceptions made for any reason. We will not issue refunds for cancellations due to illness or late arrivals due to travel delays. Our company has a limited number of spaces available and a short season. Once we accept your deposit, we can no longer sell that space to other possible guests and have likely already invested time, money, and energy into preparing for your trip and cannot afford the financial loss. If you are concerned about the possibility of canceling your trip, we urge you to purchase travel insurance.

If a guest is not able to participate in a particular trip, there are two scenarios in which we will allow a change to the reservation to be made: Option 1) If, prior to when final payment comes due, a guest is not able to participate in a trip they have booked and they would like to send another guest in their place, a substitution may be made if the guest pays a separate $200 change fee. Option 2) If, prior to when final payment comes due, a guest would like to change their reservation from the original date on which they booked to another date within the same calendar year that has availability, the booking may be moved to a new date if the guest pays a separate $200 change fee. Date transfers to other years will not be permitted. After final payments come due (120 days prior to a trip’s start date), changes to guests or bookings will not be permitted. A guest may choose to cancel and rebook, forfeiting their non-refundable deposit and any additional payments made in accordance with our cancellation policy.

Hatch River Expeditions reserves the right to cancel, delay, alter, or reschedule any trip due to forces outside of our control including but not limited to inclement weather, water levels and conditions, and lack of sufficient reservations.* Hatch River Expeditions will not be held responsible for any cancellation or for expenses incurred as a result of such cancellation. When booking with Hatch River Expeditions you agree to this policy.

*This includes potentially adding an “exchange” (upper/lower) component to a full canyon trip after it has begun booking.

For full canyon motorized trips, the minimum age we typically accommodate is 8 years old. For all other trips, including oar powered trips, exchanges (upper/lower trips), and hiking focused trips, the minimum age we typically accommodate is 12 years old. Younger guests are only permitted if specifically approved by Hatch River Expeditions in advance.

Grand Canyon National Park strictly enforces a “one trip per year” rule. Hatch River Expeditions is not permitted to accept a reservation from anyone who has participated or will participate in any other commercial or private, partial or full Grand Canyon river trip within the same calendar year.