These terms say how a trip or an outing with Motmot Treks is booked, paid for, changed and cancelled. They apply from the moment you accept a written confirmation from us. Who we are is set out in the Legal Notice; what happens to the information you send us is in the Privacy Policy.
Last updated: 3 October 2026.
Who you are booking with
Motmot Treks, an empresa mercantil individual registered in Guatemala, owned by Andrid Jazmín Ramírez Colocho, NIT 10251990-0. The full registration details are on the Legal Notice. You can reach us at contactmotmotgt.com, or on WhatsApp at +502 5693 3262.
What we sell
Three things, and they are not booked on the same terms. Where these conditions treat them differently, it is said in the section itself.
- Tailor-made trips : private, over several days, built for you from the regions we cover. Priced in US dollars.
- Birdwatching tours : private outings of half a day or a full day, leaving from Antigua or from Guatemala City. The prices shown on the site are for one to four people; for a larger group, send us a request and we will prepare a quote. Priced in US dollars.
- Group birding outings : fixed dates, shared with other birders, priced per person in quetzales.
Prices
Our prices include Guatemalan tax. A tailor-made trip covers private transport for your group alone, accommodation, private guiding, the activities of the route, and breakfast and lunch each day. It does not cover dinners, personal spending, or your travel insurance. International flights are not included either, and we do not book them: you arrange your own, and the trip begins when you land at La Aurora. For birdwatching tours and group outings, what the price covers is set out in the confirmation we send you.
What the estimator on this site shows you is an estimate. It commits neither of us. Once we have confirmed a price to you in writing, that price is fixed. If our own costs move afterwards, we absorb the difference rather than pass it on.
An opening discount of 10 % applies to the prices displayed on this site until 31 December 2026.
How a booking becomes firm
You send us a request, from the estimator, from a tour page, or simply by email. We come back to you, normally within 24 hours, with the dates, the group, what is included, and the final price. The booking becomes firm when you accept that confirmation in writing and, for a tailor-made trip, when the deposit reaches us. Until then nothing is owed, on either side.
Paying
A tailor-made trip. Nothing is paid when you book. Thirty days before departure, we send you the payment details for a deposit of 30 %, to pay within seven days: it is what lets us hold the accommodation, the transport and the guides. If you book less than thirty days ahead, we send them as soon as you have confirmed. The balance is paid on the first day of the trip, in cash or by card. The deposit can be paid by card, by international bank transfer, or through Wise or Revolut.
A birdwatching tour. Nothing is paid in advance. You settle on the day, in cash if that suits you, or by bank transfer or card beforehand if you would rather not carry it.
A group outing. The payment details come with your confirmation.
If the deposit does not reach us in time. We write to you before doing anything else. A payment that is simply on its way is not a problem: send us the transfer order and everything stays in place. If the seven days go by with neither the money nor an answer from you, we treat the trip as cancelled on your side: nothing having been paid, nothing is owed, on either side.
Changing your trip after it is confirmed
At Quetzal level, adapting the itinerary as you travel is part of what the level includes: reshaping a day, swapping a stop, changing the order of the route. Nothing is charged for the change itself. A change that moves you to a materially more expensive stay or activity is still charged at what it actually costs.
At Warbler and Tanager level, and for tours and outings, tell us and we will do what we can. There is no administrative fee, but where the change alters the real cost, whether that is a different hotel, a longer drive or another activity, the difference is passed on to you as it stands, downward as readily as upward.
If a change cannot be made to work, we will say so plainly rather than improvise around it.
If you cancel
A tailor-made trip. Until you have paid the deposit, you cancel at no charge: nothing has been paid and nothing is owed. Once paid, thirty days or less before departure, the deposit is not refundable: by then it has held the rooms, the transport and the guides planned for you. Nothing further is owed, since the balance is only paid on the first day.
A birdwatching tour. Cancel whenever you need to, at no charge and with no deadline. Nothing has been paid up front and we run these outings on trust: let us know as early as you can, and that is all we ask. If the weather or your plans turn on the morning itself, we would still far rather hear from you than not.
A group outing. Up to 7 days before the date, at no charge. After that your place is not refundable, but it can be carried over to another outing of ours once one is scheduled. Tell us and we will hold it for you.
Cancellations are made by email to contactmotmotgt.com, and take effect on the day we receive them.
If we cancel
It is rare, and it does happen: a guide falls ill, a road closes, a site shuts. If we cancel, everything you have paid is refunded in full, or carried over to dates that suit you, whichever you prefer. We owe you nothing beyond that, which is one of the reasons we ask you to hold travel insurance.
Insurance
Yours. Travel insurance is required to travel with us, and you arrange it yourself, in your own country, before you leave. It is what covers your medical costs, your cancellation and your repatriation.
Ours. We carry civil liability insurance for our own operations. It covers our responsibility. It is not a substitute for your policy, and it does not cover your costs.
Passports, visas and entry
Getting into Guatemala is yours to arrange, not ours. Check what your nationality requires and that your passport is valid long enough, before you book flights. If you are refused entry, the cancellation terms above apply as they would to any other cancellation.
What the trip asks of you
Trips are built around the people travelling, so tell us plainly what you can and cannot do: pace, mobility, altitude, and anything medical a guide should know about. We would far rather adapt a trip than turn anyone away, but we can only adapt to what we have been told, and we will say so honestly if a route cannot be made to work safely for someone. Children are welcome at any age, babies included.
We may end a trip early, without a refund, for anyone whose behaviour puts the group, the guide, or a protected site at risk.
What we cannot promise
We describe places, seasons and birds as precisely as we can. Conditions in the field change all the same: a road closes, a season shifts, a species does not turn up. No trip and no outing is a guarantee that a given bird will be seen on a given morning. If a site is closed or unreachable on the day, we replace it with the nearest equivalent we know, and tell you why.
If something goes wrong
Tell us while you are still in the country, if you can. Most things can be put right on the spot and almost nothing can be put right a month later. Write to contactmotmotgt.com. We answer every message ourselves, and there is no service desk between us.
Applicable law
These terms are subject to Guatemalan law. That takes nothing away from the protection your own country’s consumer law gives you, wherever you live.
Changes to these terms
These terms may change for future bookings. The version that applies to your trip is the one in force on the day we confirmed it, and we will send it to you with your confirmation if you ask.