Frequently Asked Questions

Here we direct you to our testimonials. All our testimonial providers are happy to recommend us personally.

We are the most accomplished stag weekend organiser in Poland and as such we are;

1. The only company to operate Stag Weekends in three different Polish locations. A fourth (Gdansk) is coming shortly.
2. The only Stag Weekend operator officially recognised by the Polish National Tourist Office in London.
3. One of only 2 UK owned companies with a Stag Weekend operation in Poland.
4. The only UK company solely focused on organising Stag Weekends in Poland.
5. Polventure is one of a tiny minority of tour operators to protect your money as required by UK and EU law. All money that is pre-paid to us is held in a trust account, the trustee of which is the well respected chartered accountancy firm, Elman Wall (www.elmanwall.co.uk).

Polventure is a UK Limited Company;

Registered in England No.5539605, VAT Reg. No. 893 9663 53

Polventure is officially endorsed by the Polish National Tourist Board in London (http://www.visitpoland.org/) and is a member of the Poland Travel and Business Group. (www.ptbgroup.co.uk)

Polventure was founded by Hubert Bienias a British-born Pole who spent his childhood years between the two countries. This gave Hubert a unique insight into both cultures; knowledge that has proved invaluable in creating a UK-Poland travel company. Hubert still inspects all activity sites and facilities to ensure that they are adequate for a UK audience, all staff are trained to ensure UK levels of customer service are in place and Hubert is always on hand to give personal advice on hot to best enjoy his country of origin.

Polventure brings together all the elements that are crucial for a successful stag weekend in Poland. The optimal hotels, activity providers and facilities, restaurants, bars and night-clubs have been selected, and they are all presented to our guests by our team of Reps).

You can book everything with Polventure bar flights, ensuring that we are a one-stop shop for all your group’s travel needs in Poland. We can really ease the burden for any Best Man by planning out the whole weekend hour by hour, and even sending the Stag a Memory Pack so he can remember his ‘last weekend of freedom.’

All money that is paid to us in advance for our package weekends is held in a Trust Account, so all the funds we accept from clients as deposits and payments are only made available to us following your safe return to the UK.

All elements of your weekend with Polventure are pre-paid for by us - your funds are kept safe to ensure we fulfil our obligation to you.

The trustee of the Polventure Trust Account is the well respected chartered accountancy firm, Elman Wall (www.elmanwall.co.uk). Elman Wall are approved industry partners to ABTA; the Association of British Travel Agents.

Please note very few Stag-focused tour operators in the UK, and even fewer in Poland, abide by UK and EU Travel Package regulations and protect client funds which they hold.

1. That no tour operator can sell a fictitious package and then simply dissapear with the arriving group finding out on on arrival in their foreign destination there are no arrangements for them.
2. If a tour operator were to bankrupt all the funds held on behalf of their clients in the form of deposits and pre-payments for packages are not lost.

Please ensure all tour operators you enquire with protect the payments they accept from their clients.

Even if you have arranged the accommodation part of the weekend yourself, you can still book day and night activities with Polventure, including food options and excursions, to ensure you make the most out of your time in Poland. Please go to our activities to find out more about our exciting activity options.

To make sure we concentrate solely on looking after you in Poland, we have teamed up with a premier UK based Stag Weekend Travel Agent who will receive your initial enquiry form. Our UK sales team have been to Poland many times and they have seen all our activities, hotels and know our product inside out. They will guide you through all our destination cities, activity and accommodation options and make sure you end up with a weekend package that matches your requirements. Finally, our partners will arrange for the deposit payment to be paid at the end of the booking process.

To speak to us direct for any advice on your Poland Stag Weekend call us on 0208 840 2249. You can e-mail us on office@polventure.co.uk

Considering that a group price with Polventure can actually beat a combined price of individual arrangements you can try to make, even where this is not the case a Polventure weekend will always have unique elements and run more smoothly than a weekend you try putting together yourself. Remember, you are in Poland for a very short time and there is no time to waste on organisation and logistics; leave that to us. Furthermore, our highly developed network of suppliers and our fantastic reps ensure a Polventure weekend is not just organised, but also a highly memorable experience which the majority of our guests repeat by coming back with more of their friends to a Polventure destination they have not yet experienced.

No. Please note Poland has the most developed network of airline connections to the UK of all Eastern European states. Budget flights are now available from every corner of both the UK and Ireland and as such you should have no problem in finding a good values flight with one of the following airlines:

• Sky Europe: www.skyeurope.com
• WizzAir: www.wizzair.com
• EasyJet: www.easyjet.co.uk
• Centralwings: www.centralwings.com
• Jet2: www.jet2.com
• Ryanair: www.ryanair.com
• LOT Polish Airlines: www.lot.com
• British Airways: www.ba.com

An ATOL License is only required for a travel company if they directly sell air tickets. Polventure does not sell what is known in the trade as licensable business, i.e.: air travel, therefore an ATOL license is not appropriate.

This of course depends on where in the UK you are flying from but the flight time will be between 2 to 3½ hours.

For a holiday break in Poland, a visa is not required if you are a British, Irish, EU, Swiss, US or Australian national.

All our prices are based on a minimum group size of 8. We do look after smaller groups, although prices for these groups are on request. The general rule is that whatever the group size, the per-person price is subject to the total payment equalling the sum as it would be for a group of 8.

If you cancel up to 2 months before you travel you have no cancellation fee and we will refund your deposit.

For cancellations within 2 months of your arrival, please see our cancellation rates on our Terms and Conditions.

Please note that a full cancellation within two weeks of travel is not refundable. Please bear in mind we would at that point have financially secured a number of elements of your itinerary, most importantly your accommodation.

Here we are as flexible as we can be. In the majority of cases removing one or two group members from the final party can be done with a full refund for the absentees, providing we are given a minimum of 7 days notice. It is the same case for changes to the itinerary, for example removing an activity that was requested in the original booking. Please note we will not be able to offer refunds to group members who cancel 24 hours before or on the day of arrival.

Adding people and activities after the initial booking is subject to availability, but in the vast majority of cases we are able to cater for these changes.

Polventure uses a network of city centre hotels in each Polventure destination. The room allocation process for any given weekend is concluded in the month preceding any given weekend when we know how many groups, and more importantly how many people, we are expecting in any one city. We then allocate our hotel rooms in all our categories accordingly, making sure that individual groups are in the same hotels, all have the room allocation requested, if possible are not in the same hotel as another stag group of ours etc. If for availability reasons we cannot place a group in the hotel category that they have booked, we upgrade that group to a higher hotel category.

If you do require the details of the hotel you are staying at, please contact us within 30 days of your arrival to find out which of our pool of hotels you have been allocated to.

Please note we look after over 200 Stag Weekend groups a year. We have developed close relationships with our hotels, so we have proven stag-friendly hotels in all categories in all cities and we guarantee our accommodation package prices throughout the year; even when individual hotel prices rise once the hotel booking systems show the hotels to be packed in high season.

We will request a rooming list based on a room structure that we will send you. We predominantly use twin rooms, but please note that in you may be placed in a quadruple room as part of a 2 star package and in a triple room as part of a 3 Star package. Please let is know if you have objection to this at the point of booking. Single rooms are also a possibility, although these require a single room supplement. Please enquire.

Upon booking you receive an itinerary confirming all the elements of your weekend.

A detailed itinerary, complete with pick-up times for activities, is given to you upon arrival in your Polventure pack, which also includes maps, emergency numbers and useful phrases. If you need any of these details before-hand or if you have any specific timing requests for activities, please contact our office on 0208 840 2249.

If you have booked a Polventure package, two transfers on any one day are included so your group can be split up and arrive on two different flights from other parts of the country – that is not a problem. Just make sure we have all your flight details and we will take care of the rest.

The Polish currency is the Polish zloty, with £1 buying you around 5 zloty (PLN) depending on the exchange rate. Please remember you do not need to exchange money before you arrive; simply take zloty out of cash points in Poland using your UK debit or credit card.

Poland is not expected to adopt the Euro until at least 2012. Only major hotels and major shopping chains except the European currency, but do not count on using it in the majority of places you are likely to visit during a Stag Weekend.

A 20% deposit is required to guarantee you booking in the initial stages of the booking process.

Final payment, and indeed final group size, is required one month beforehand. If there are changes to your group between the initial booking and 30 days before travel, the final balance you pay is adjusted accordingly.

Polventure accepts deposit and final balance payments via:

• Credit Card/Debit Card:

  Please call us on 0208 840 2249 to pay using your card via the phone. Please note there is a 3% transaction fee.

• Bank Transfer:

  Bank transfers can be made to our UK account:

  • Polventure Ltd
  • Lloyds TSB
  • A/C: 03696180
  • SC: 30-92-82
• Cheque:

  Please make all cheques payable to Polventure Ltd, and post them to our UK office:

  • Polventure Ltd
  • 28 Grange Park
  • London W5 3PS
• Pay Pal:

  We will send you a Pay pal payment request if you highlight this payment method.

• Beer: £1 a Polish pint equivalent
• Cigarettes: £1 a packet
• Meal in a good restaurant: £10-£15

Please read our Terms and Conditions very carefully. By paying your full balance you accept and agree to abide by them so please acquaint yourself with this document.

1. All our hotels are vetted for all the required documentation such as Fire and Safety Certificates and Insurance certificates.
2. All our transport and activity providers have all the necessary licenses and insurance policies that allow them to carry out their activities according to local laws and allows for the covering of costs associated with any negligence on their part.
3. Our suppliers are mostly proven partners who have looked after hundreds, and often thousands, of Polventure groups.

Please ensure you obtain a European Health Insurance Card. You can do this by filling out the E111 form at the Post Office or by visiting www.dh.gov.uk/travellers. This card allows you to use medical facilities in any EU country much like you use medical facilities in the UK.

Personal travel insurance is highly recommended, and indeed is explicitly mentioned in our Terms and Conditions as a requirement for your group. Please note that insurance payouts in Poland which are low by UK standards, and therefore a UK travel insurance policy to cover potential medical costs and / or loss of earnings is a must.

It is also recommended that insurance is sought against late cancellation of your holiday with Polventure due to illness / personal tragedy etc. This cancellation insurance is often provided by credit card companies and ensures that any funds we cannot refund you are covered for.

No, we also have experience of organising birthday weekends, party weekends, office party weekends…in fact any sort of weekend where there are a group of people who want to spend a few days in Poland and make the most of it, day and night.

Due to the number of groups we handle please note that your exact hotel will sometimes not be allocated until a week before you arrive. This late allocation allows us to see how many groups we have to accommodate for any given weekend (including the many late bookings we receive) and we can then spread our hotel allocations accordingly.

This ensures that we fulfil our promise to you of accommodating you in quality city centre accommodation and not, as customers have reported to us with respect to other companies, cancelling your booking because a bigger one has come our way. Rest assured you will stay in the hotel category that you have booked with us in a city centre location.

IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT THAT WE DO EXCEED OUR HOTEL ALLOCATION LIMIT FOR ANY GIVEN WEEKEND IN YOUR CHOSEN CATEGORY YOU WILL BE UPGRADED TO A HOTEL OF A HIGHER CATEGORY.

This is possible (speak to your rep once in Poland) but availability can be an issue so we strongly advise to pre-book all your activities.

In the event of flight complications, all your activities are re-arranged for the next day (including all night activities such as pub tours and night-club entrances). If this is not possible we then deal with refunds on a case by case basis – eg: if the activity bookings can be cancelled at short notice with no financial repercussions we agree on fully refunding the customer who is not able to participate in the activities through no fault of his own.

As part of your Polventure package you often have entrance to top night-clubs in your destination city. We therefore ask to dress appropriately; smart-casual is more than enough. If you have a specific fancy dress plan, please let us know so that we can plan your evening accordingly and inform our bars and clubs of this. This ensures the night runs smoothly.