Journey Rewards Inc., doing business as Journey Experiences and Epicurate ("Journey," "we"), operates the consumer booking services covered by these terms, including epicurate.vip. These terms supplement the Journey Terms & Conditions at journey.com/terms and Journey Booking Terms at journey.com/booking-terms. They apply to experiences, private chefs, dining, activities, tours, events, wellness services and designated transportation booked through our identified services. Provider and business-partner contracts are separate.
The final checkout must identify these terms, the provider, the merchant of record, the price and applicable offer conditions. Accepting that checkout forms the applicable agreement; a later revision does not rewrite an earlier confirmed booking. The general Terms contain an individual arbitration agreement for eligible United States disputes, exceptions and a 30-day opt-out.
1. Required free Journey membership
Booking a Journey Experience, including through Epicurate, requires an eligible Journey member account. If you do not already have one, the checkout clearly states that proceeding creates a free Journey membership and asks you to accept the Journey Terms & Conditions and Membership & Loyalty Terms and acknowledge the Privacy Policy. By accepting that disclosure and completing the flow, you agree to the required free membership. There is no membership charge, automatic Legend subscription or paid renewal from an experience booking alone.
Existing members sign in or securely link their verified account instead of receiving a duplicate membership. Creating or linking membership is an identified action, not a silent transfer of an old Epicurate account. The account holder must be at least 18 and of legal majority and satisfy Journey's eligibility rules. Other participants are not automatically enrolled merely because they attend. Optional marketing is separate. A distinct Alliance Partner loyalty enrollment, if required for the particular offer, must be identified and accepted before commitment.
You direct the sharing of contact, booking, participant and relevant service-preference information necessary for the identified provider or intermediary to deliver the experience. Optional broader profile sharing, sensitive information and targeted marketing follow the Privacy Policy and your choices. Joining Journey does not publish a private itinerary or give every provider access to your profile.
2. Provider responsibility and Journey's role
The identified independent provider is responsible for designing and delivering its experience, staff and subcontractors, food and equipment, premises and vehicles, required permits and insurance, safety, legal compliance and its own representations and contractual promises. Journey supplies the discovery, booking, communications, loyalty and/or payment functions disclosed for the transaction. Curating, listing, checking certain credentials, collecting payment or assisting a complaint does not make Journey the chef, guide, carrier or other performance provider, or guarantee their conduct, quality or solvency.
Unless a transaction expressly says otherwise, your contract for actual performance is with the identified provider. For an intermediary-sourced booking, its terms identify the relevant operator and contractual structure. Journey's contractual duties are those it expressly undertakes and those imposed by law. A "verified" label describes the particular verification stated, not a comprehensive safety inspection, background guarantee or prediction of future conduct.
For a payment collected by Journey Rewards Inc. as merchant of record under the Journey Experiences or Epicurate brand, Journey administers that payment and applicable refund/dispute obligations. Where the provider is merchant of record through Stripe Connect, Journey facilitates the transaction and the provider has the identified payment role. Viator, Blacklane or another disclosed intermediary may have a different role. Checkout and receipts must state the correct arrangement and recognizable statement descriptor. A brand or processor name does not override the actual legal role.
To the extent permitted by law, you will look to the responsible provider for its performance failures, defective service, injury or property damage caused by it, and its custom benefits or awards; Journey does not assume liability solely because you booked or paid through it. This does not release Journey from its own fraud, gross negligence, willful misconduct, negligence causing death or personal injury, express commitments, merchant obligations or any liability that law does not permit it to exclude.
3. Offers, acceptance and changes
Check the exact service, date, start time and time zone, duration, location, participant count, inclusions, exclusions, price, mandatory charges, payment schedule and cancellation rules. Photographs and example menus may be illustrative where identified; a material promise in the accepted description is not made optional merely by using an illustration disclaimer. Requests are pending until the designated provider/booking confirmation is issued. An itinerary may contain multiple separately confirmed services with different policies.
A provider may make reasonable immaterial operational substitutions, such as a seasonal ingredient or equivalent equipment, only consistently with the accepted description, safety and dietary requirements. A different provider, location, materially reduced service, significant schedule change or price increase requires disclosure and any necessary approval or cancellation/refund choice. Allergy, accessibility, religious or other essential requirements are not immaterial details. We do not guarantee a modification request can be accepted.
4. Payments, deposits and agreed additions
The accepted checkout states whether payment is in full, a deposit or installments and the exact balance dates. The direct-provider default, only when expressly displayed for that booking, is a 30% deposit for bookings made at least 14 days before the service, with the balance due 14 days before the service; bookings made closer than 14 days require full payment. If a booking is made exactly 14 days before service under this schedule, the full amount is due that day. Viator, Blacklane and other supplier policies may differ and must be shown instead of this default.
You authorize the amounts and dates you expressly accept. A chef or other provider may require an advance deposit for ingredients, staffing or preparation, with its cancellation treatment disclosed. We may approve limited advance provider payments under our separate provider agreement, including evidence of a proven performance record. A deposit, prior track record or advance payout is not a guarantee of performance, escrow or insurance. Provider payout timing does not reduce consumer refund rights or make them contingent on recovering the payout.
Increases in guest count, hours, menu or other scope require an agreed change and price. After-service reconciliation may correct an authorized charge or issue a refund; it does not authorize unspecified additions merely because five days have passed. Overtime, waiting, damage or extra-cleaning claims require the accepted pricing basis, evidence and a lawful charging authorization. We provide an itemization and a reasonable opportunity to contest an alleged damage charge. No unsupported unilateral allegation is a blank authorization to debit your card.
5. Cancellation, rescheduling and provider cancellation
The specific policy accepted at checkout controls voluntary cancellation. For direct-provider experiences expressly sold with the standard policy: cancellation at least 30 days before the scheduled start is fully refundable; less than 30 days but at least 14 days before the start forfeits the disclosed 30% deposit, with any further paid balance refundable; less than 14 days before the start is non-refundable up to the booked amount, subject to law. Each deadline uses the disclosed service-location time zone. If a different deposit percentage or policy applies, checkout must state its actual cancellation amounts; the standard example does not silently apply.
"Fully refundable" means all amounts paid for the affected booking are returned, including collected Journey service fees and taxes, without a hidden processing-fee deduction. A cancellation request reducing guests or services may be treated as a partial cancellation under the accepted policy. No-show and late-arrival consequences, including whether time can be extended, follow the disclosed conditions. Personal travel changes, inability to attend or dislike of a properly delivered service do not automatically create a discretionary refund outside those conditions.
A provider cancellation, material failure, misdescription or legal refund entitlement is not treated as the member's voluntary cancellation. We administer the remedy due for our role, which may include a full or proportionate refund, correction or an alternative accepted by you. Weather or another event beyond reasonable control does not by itself eliminate required remedies. We do not promise to reimburse unrelated airfare, accommodation, lost time or replacement-service costs except where expressly agreed or required by law. Journey's refund and mandatory-rights provisions continue to apply even if a provider has already received a deposit.
6. Participation, safety, food and host responsibilities
Participants must satisfy disclosed age, fitness, skill, health, identification and conduct requirements, use required safety equipment and follow lawful provider instructions. Review suitability before booking and communicate essential allergies, dietary or accessibility requirements through an appropriate channel. Only the provider can confirm its ability to accommodate a requirement; an AI suggestion is not that confirmation. Providers remain responsible for their own food safety and truthful disclosures. No absolute allergen-free guarantee exists unless expressly and lawfully given.
For a service at your home or venue, provide the agreed lawful access, safe working conditions, utilities, permitted facilities and accurate guest count; disclose material site hazards and obtain required owner/venue permissions. You are responsible for damage or additional costs you cause or lawfully authorize, not unsupported estimates. Alcohol and other age-restricted items require lawful eligibility and provider compliance. Minors require authorized supervision and any individually required consent; a purchaser cannot waive a minor's nonwaivable rights.
Experiences can involve ordinary inherent risks, including food, physical activity, water, transport or unfamiliar environments. You accept ordinary inherent risks that were disclosed and are reasonably apparent, to the extent law allows, and should assess suitability and insurance. This is not a blanket release of undisclosed hazards, provider breaches or nonwaivable negligence claims. A provider may require a separate activity-specific waiver presented before commitment where practicable; these terms do not sign it for you.
7. Service-quality concerns, evidence and card disputes
Tell the provider and Journey promptly when a problem arises so a reasonable correction can be attempted, especially while the service is occurring. We request a written summary within 72 hours after completion where practicable, with the booking reference, promised service, actual shortfall and relevant evidence. That request assists investigation and does not shorten statutory, payment-network or contractual claim periods or make failure to report within 72 hours an automatic waiver.
We assess a quality concern against the confirmed description and material promises, not a guarantee of each participant's subjective taste or enjoyment. Where the contracted service was materially delivered, subjective dissatisfaction alone does not create a refund promise beyond the accepted policy or applicable law. A material shortfall, unsafe service or misdescription is not dismissed merely as a matter of taste. The provider is primarily responsible for its delivery issue; Journey will handle the complaint and payment obligations applicable to its actual role.
Journey may retain and provide relevant booking acceptance, itemized charges, communications, attendance/delivery records, agreed changes, photographs lawfully supplied and refund records to payment providers, banks and card networks for dispute handling, consistent with privacy law. We may contest unsupported or knowingly false claims and seek recovery of an actual legally established debt or fraud loss through lawful procedures. No term authorizes a retaliatory fee, automatic account forfeiture or a new debit simply because you raised a good-faith dispute.
Your statutory and card-network rights remain available, including for non-delivery, misdescription or quality where the applicable rules provide them. These terms do not bind your issuer or guarantee Journey will win a dispute. Contacting us is encouraged, not a prerequisite that delays a protected claim. You must not knowingly misdescribe an authorized purchase as unauthorized or retain a duplicate recovery. Where a direct refund and chargeback overlap, we coordinate an appropriate correction without withholding a legally due refund indefinitely or making an unauthorized charge.
8. Viator, Blacklane and other third-party inventory
For a Viator-sourced experience, the applicable Viator customer terms and the identified operator's product, ticket, check-in, cancellation and safety rules may apply as disclosed at checkout. A redirect to Viator checkout and an integrated Journey merchant booking are different arrangements. Journey does not assume Viator's merchant or operator role merely because its inventory is displayed. The linked customer terms are currently available at https://www.viator.com/support/termsAndConditions; the version presented for your transaction controls, subject to law.
For a Blacklane-sourced ride, the relevant Blacklane regional guest/booking terms and the actual transportation provider's conditions may apply. Review pickup time and zone, flight details, waiting allowance, vehicle category/capacity, baggage, child-seat requirements, stops, cancellation and no-show rules. Journey is not the vehicle operator or insurer merely because it coordinates the ride. General terms are at https://www.blacklane.com/en/terms/ and United States guest terms at https://www.blacklane.com/en/US-guest-terms/; checkout must identify which applies rather than indiscriminately imposing both.
Necessary traveler and booking information is passed to the identified intermediary and operator to perform the approved service, under the Privacy Policy and their notices. Extra partner terms do not authorize unrelated marketing or general account access. Provider-specific conditions control the service details they expressly address, but cannot silently waive Journey's own promises or mandatory consumer rights. We retain the accepted version or relevant transaction terms rather than treating all future supplier website changes as retroactive.
9. Reviews, loyalty, disputes and contact
Honest reviews are permitted, including negative reviews. Do not post unlawful threats, false statements or other people's private information. Journey's general content rules apply; no refund is conditioned on surrendering a legally protected review right. Points and awards arise only from a disclosed qualifying offer; purchasing an experience or being a Journey member does not guarantee a universal multiplier or the paid Legend bonus.
The Journey general Terms and Booking Terms supply the applicable limitations of liability, lawful indemnity, refund process and dispute provisions. They protect Journey Rewards Inc. and its Journey Experiences and Epicurate trade names consistently, without duplicate caps or inconsistent arbitration clauses. Mandatory consumer, payment, safety and privacy rights prevail. Consumer acceptance does not replace the separate provider obligations, indemnities, insurance, reserves or recovery rights owed to Journey under provider agreements.
Contact [email protected] for booking help; [email protected] for legal notices; [email protected] for privacy matters; or +1 (888) 990-4712. Journey Rewards Inc., 447 Broadway, Suite 2661, New York, NY 10013, United States.