Booking Conditions
Regarding these booking conditions, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ means Afan Valley Escapes.
Blackberry Management, StayStaycations & Afan Valley Escapes is a trading name, marketing brand or limited company within the Bridge Connected Ltd Group.
Blackberry Management Ltd is a company that operates as a commission based agent that markets and processes bookings for property owners
Afan Valley Escapes Ltd is a company that leases complete ‘ready-to-go’ properties from owners and then becomes the ‘Principle’
Staystaycations is a marketing / trading brand
Before booking through us, please read these booking conditions carefully and all the other information relevant to your booking, including:
∙ the property rental conditions (which means all information in any specific conditions or restrictions set out in the brochure or website description of your chosen properties); ∙ the Important Information section of any applicable brochures, the website or other publication we tell you about; and ∙ any other written information we brought to your attention prior to confirming your booking.
Properties rented through Blackberry Management Ltd
We arrange bookings of properties as agent of the owner of the property. When you book a property with us acting as agents for the owner, you are entering directly into a contract with the owner and we may charge a fee for arranging your booking (booking fee). We act as agents when taking your booking, we accept no legal responsibility for any contract you enter into for the property or for the acts or failure to act of any owner or other person connected with your booking. Your contract will be with the supplier of the arrangements. When making your booking we will arrange for you to enter into a contract with the applicable supplier. Your booking with us is subject to these booking conditions and the specific terms and conditions of the supplier you contract with.
All properties on our website and in our brochures are offered by the owners for the sole purpose of short term lettings for holidays, accommodation for contractors visiting an area or guests visiting family for personal reasons, unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing by the owner and us. Accordingly, you agree that your booking is for these sole purposes and accept that you are not offered any rights to the property other than the right to occupy the property for these purposes for the period of your booking.
No booking of any kind is an ‘Assured Shorthold Tenancy’ or protected under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, or any similar legislation that applies in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Properties rented through Afan Valley Escapes Ltd
Afan Valley Escapes become the ‘Principle’ as it has leased the ‘ready-to-go’ property from the owner. We arrange bookings of properties as the Principle of the contract. When you book a property with us acting as Principle, you are entering directly into a contract with us as Principle and will charge a booking fee. The Principle may from this point be considered as the Owner from this point and the terms may be interchangeable. We act as Principle when taking your booking. Your contract will be us as the supplier of the arrangements. Your booking with us is subject to these booking conditions and the specific terms and conditions of this agreement.
All properties on our website and in our brochures are offered for the sole purpose of short term lettings for holidays, accommodation for contractors visiting an area or guests visiting family for personal reasons, unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing by the owner and us. Accordingly, you agree that your booking is for these sole purposes and accept that you are not offered any rights to the property other than the right to occupy the property for these purposes for the period of your booking.
No booking of any kind is an ‘Assured Shorthold Tenancy’ or protected under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, or any similar legislation that applies in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Section A
1 Making your booking
All bookings depend on the property being available. You, as the person in charge of the party (“the party leader”), must be at least 18 years old at the time of booking. All other members of the party must authorise you to make the booking on the basis of these booking conditions. By making the booking, you confirm that you are authorised to make the booking and that all other members of the party agree that the booking will be governed by these booking conditions. You, as the party leader, are responsible for making all payments due to us. It is your responsibility as the party leader to ensure that the other party members are aware of and agree to comply with these booking conditions where applicable.
As long as the property is available and we have received all the relevant payments from you, we will give you written confirmation (see below) as soon as reasonably possible. This confirmation will show your booking details. Your binding contract with the owner will begin when we issue you with the written confirmation on behalf of the owner. For bookings made within 14 days of the departure date, you will have a binding contract with the owner when we give written confirmation of your booking to you and you have made the appropriate payments to us. If we pay the deposit into our bank account, it will not mean we have accepted a booking unless we have issued you with written confirmation. Please do not make any other travel arrangements (such as flights) until we have issued you with a written confirmation. We will give you your written confirmation either by post or by email or SMS. If you book with us online, we will acknowledge that we have received your booking and then send you confirmation by email or SMS. If you book by phone, we will send your confirmation to you by email or SMS. It is your responsibility to check your emails and SMSs regularly and to let us know about any change to your email address or phone numbers.
We have the right to refuse any booking before we send you your written confirmation. If we do this, we will tell you. In this case, neither we nor the owner will have any legal responsibility to you. As soon as you receive your confirmation, you must check the details carefully. If anything is not correct, you should tell us immediately. As we act only as booking agent, we have no responsibility for any errors in any documentation except where an error is made by us. If you book through a travel agent (including an online travel agent), we will send your confirmation and all other documents to your travel agent. Even if we have sent a written confirmation, we on behalf of the owner have the right to cancel a booking where there are reasonable grounds to believe that (i) it is not legitimate (ii) you are likely to breach any of our booking conditions (iii) information supplied by you in relation to your booking is incorrect (iv) you have behaved in a vexatious, abusive or unlawful manner to owners, suppliers or to our staff, or of there is a problem with the property availability. If we cancel your booking, we will tell you in email or SMS and neither we nor the owner will have any legal responsibility to you.
2 Payment
When you book, you must pay the full amount as instructed. We only accept payment in pounds sterling.
Except where otherwise advised or stated in, all monies you pay to us for the arrangements (except for insurance premiums, bookings fees and our commission) will be held by us on behalf of the owner, and forwarded on to them in accordance with our agreement with them.
3 Pricing
We keep the prices charged by the owner or service provider under constant review and the prices of unsold arrangements may be increased or reduced at any time. We may also correct mistakes in the pricing of unsold arrangements at any time. We will confirm the price of your booking when you make it. As changes and mistakes can happen, you must check the price and all other details of your chosen arrangements at the time of booking. All prices quoted or otherwise given to you include all charges and any taxes or government charges which may apply to your booking at the time it is made. You may also be required to pay any additional taxes that arise after your booking has been confirmed.
All accommodation prices are for the property as a whole and not are based on the base number of people as stating in the listing. Charges will apply when extra people are staying above the basic number.
We can charge a booking fee for the services we provide in administering your booking. Any booking fee will be stated in our brochure and on our website and will be shown as a separate charge on your confirmation.
A housekeeping, cleaning and linen charge will be payable. This will be stated at the time of booking.
4 Brochure and website details
We aim to make sure that the information provided by owners, is presented accurately on our website, in brochures and other promotional literature or material we produce and provide. It is intended to present a general idea of the arrangements. Not all details of the relevant facilities can be included on our website. Furthermore, there may be small differences between the actual property/arrangements and its description. This is usually because the owners/service providers are always aiming to improve services and facilities. Occasionally, problems mean that some facilities or services are not available or may be restricted. If this happens, we will tell you as soon as reasonably practical after we become aware of the situation. We cannot accept responsibility for any changes or closures to local services or attractions mentioned in the brochure or on our website, by our advisers or advertised elsewhere. We make reasonable efforts to make sure that information we give you about your property and its facilities or services, as well as advertised travel and other services, is accurate and complete on the date given. We cannot accept responsibility for any inaccurate, incomplete or misleading information about any property/arrangements or its facilities and services, unless this was caused by our negligence.
Where Wi-Fi is an advertised facility, please note that its provision is subject to availability and network conditions. It may not be available 24 hours a day and is provided for pleasure not for business purposes. Bookings are not accepted if they are wholly reliant on the uninterrupted, unlimited provision of Wi-Fi.
This ODR platform is a means of registering your complaint with us; it will not determine how your complaint should be resolved.
5 If you change or cancel your booking
a. Changes
If you want to change any detail of your confirmed booking, we will do our best to make the changes. However, we must receive your notice in writing by email and a confirmation that we have received it. We may agree to accept notice over the telephone, but this should be arranged with us first. Some owners may treat changes to your dates or property as a cancellation of the original booking and so you will have to pay cancellation charges. Also, we cannot guarantee that the owner concerned will be able to meet your request. Changes can only be accepted in accordance with the owner/service provider’s terms and conditions. You will be charged an administration charge of £35 for each change. Plus, where the owner can meet your change request, you will have to pay any costs incurred by them in facilitating this change for you, which will be charged at the current brochure or website price, which may be different from the price in the brochure or website from which you booked your chosen arrangements.
b. Full cancellations
If you have to, or want to, cancel your booking after it has been confirmed, you must phone us on the number shown on your booking confirmation as soon as possible. The day we receive your notice by phone to cancel is the date on which we will cancel your booking with the owner. You will have to pay a cancellation charge based on the number of days before the arrival date at the property that we receive notice, as shown in the following table. This means that if you have paid the balance of your total holiday cost and then have to, or want to, cancel, you may receive a refund of part of the cost. However, if you have not paid your total booking cost, including any booking fee and the premiums for any insurance (if you have bought this) by the time of your cancellation, you may have to make a further payment to cover the cancellation charge.
Total cost means the total cost of the accommodation booking, including any extra items. You will still have to pay any insurance premiums, booking fees, credit-card charges and administration fees for making any changes. If you have already paid insurance premiums, booking fees, creditcard charges and administration fees, we will not refund these if you cancel.
The cancellation charges below have been calculated as a genuine pre-estimate of the losses we would incur in the event you cancelled your holiday within the stipulated time period. If you have already paid insurance premiums, booking fees, credit-card charges and administration fees, we will not refund these if you cancel.
If you cancel more than 60 days you will be charged a cancellation fee of 50% of total cost and you will be refunded 50% of the total cost
If you cancel 60 days or less you will be charged a cancellation fee of 100% of total cost and you will receive a refund of 0% of the total cost
If you live outside the UK and have booked through a local agent, the term ‘total cost’ in the above, means the amount paid by your local agent to us after taking off any booking fees, insurance premiums and any administration charge. To avoid any doubt, ‘total cost’ does not include any charges made by your local agent or anyone else for booking fees, flights, other travel services or any other amounts not paid to us, and you may be liable to pay such charges in the event of cancellation in accordance with the cancellation policy of the local agent or other service provider. Other service providers may charge higher cancellation charges
c. Cutting short your stay
No refunds are payable in the event that you cut short your stay.
d. Part cancellations
If any person(s) in your party needs to cancel, this will not normally affect the total cost of your booking unless you cancel any travel arrangements or extra services which are charged on a ‘per person’ basis. In these instances, the owner may provide a refund of any per person charges remaining after taking off any applicable cancellation charges. If you need to cancel all or part of your trip, you must return all travel tickets or vouchers (for example, for ferries).
e. Cancellations due to government public health measures
If you have to cancel your booking because UK government public health measures mean it is unlawful to travel to or to make use of the accommodation you booked, you may choose to:
∙ transfer your booking to a later date free of any administration charges, subject to availability – you will have to pay any difference in price if the cost of the new booking is higher or be reimbursed the difference if the cost of the new booking is lower;
∙ request a voucher with a redemption value equal to the amount previously paid by you for the booking – the voucher terms and conditions will be available to you before you make your choice under this clause; or
∙ obtain a refund of the amount already paid by you for the booking. You will have to contact us in order to access these options.
6 Changes by the owner
The owners, do not expect to have to make any changes to your booking. However, sometimes bookings have to be changed or mistakes have to be corrected. Owners, have the right to do so. If they do, we, on their behalf, will contact you (by phone if reasonably possible in the case of a significant change or email in the case of a minor change) as soon as is reasonably practical. We will explain what has happened and let you know about the change. However, we will have no further liability to you.
7 Cancellations by us or the owner
If we or the owner cancel your booking or are prevented from providing the accommodation you have booked, you may choose to: ∙ accept alternative accommodation – you will have to pay any difference in price if the cost of the new accommodation is higher or be reimbursed the difference if the cost of the new accommodation is lower; ∙ request a voucher with a redemption value equal to the amount previously paid by you for the booking – the voucher terms and conditions will be available before you make your choice under this clause; or ∙ obtain a refund of the amount already paid by you for the booking. We will contact you to inform you of these options.
8 Our legal responsibilities to you
As we act only as agents for the owner, we cannot accept any legal responsibility for any act or neglect on their part or of anyone representing or employed by them. And we cannot accept any liability for any problems or faults with or in any property or travel arrangements as all properties and travel arrangements are only controlled by the owners. Your contract is with the owner and is governed by their terms and conditions, which may contain other limits on their legal responsibility. Our responsibilities to you are limited to making the booking in accordance with your instructions. We accept no responsibility for any information about the arrangements that we pass on to you in good faith. If you have any complaints about any services we provide e.g. our booking service (as opposed to the arrangements provided by the owner), you must let us know immediately in writing and in any event within seven days of the end of any arrangements booked through us. Unfortunately, we cannot accept any legal responsibility if you do not let us know. If we are found to be at fault in relation to any service we provide (as opposed to any service provided by the owner for whom we are not responsible), we will not pay more than the commission we have earned for the booking (or the appropriate proportion of this if not everyone on the booking is affected), plus any reasonable expenses you cannot recover from elsewhere.
We do not exclude or limit what we will be legally responsible for if death or personal injury is caused as a result of our negligence or that of our employees whilst acting in their course of their employment, or for any criminal act we may commit. Neither we nor the owner can be held responsible for noise or disturbance which comes from beyond the boundaries of the property or which is beyond the owner’s control. If we know about a problem before you arrive, we will contact you to let you know. We cannot be held responsible for the breakdown of mechanical equipment such as pumps, boilers, swimming – pool filtration systems, nor for the failure of public utilities such as water, gas and electricity.
9 Owners and service providers’ terms and conditions
The services which make up your holiday are provided by people, firms, companies and other organisations which are totally independent of us and for whom we act as agents. These service providers and owners provide services in line with their own terms and conditions. Some of these terms and conditions may limit or exclude their liability to you, usually in line with international conventions which apply. The terms and conditions are available from the suppliers if you ask.
10 Insurance
This section does not apply to bookings which take place entirely in the UK where insurance is optional. We recommend that you take out enough travel insurance to cover you for your total stay.
We do not check insurance policies to make sure they are suitable and this remains your responsibility. You are responsible for covering us if we suffer any losses or expenses arising out of your failure to take out proper insurance cover. We strongly advise you to take out insurance which will cover any damage which may happen to property which belongs to other people and which may get damaged. Please read your policy details carefully and take them with you on holiday. It is your responsibility to make sure that the insurance cover you buy is enough for your needs.
11 Your property
The owner has set the following conditions on your stay at the property: Arrival and departure- You can arrive at your property at any time after 3pm (unless we tell you otherwise, for example on your confirmation) on the start date of your rental period. You must leave by 10am on the last day. If your arrival will be delayed beyond 9pm on the start date of your rental period, you must contact the person whose details are given in the location guide. If you fail to do so, you may not be able to get into the property. If you fail to arrive by 12 noon on the day after the start date of your rental period and you do not let the person whose details are given on the location guide know you are arriving late, we on behalf of the owner may treat your booking as having been cancelled by you. In this situation, we will not refund any money you have paid.
Security deposits – Some owners require payment of a security deposit. If this applies to your chosen property, this is a direct arrangement between you and the owner, which we may or may not administer on behalf of the owner. The amount and details of how the payment should be made and how and when it will be returned (less any costs for breakages, damages etc. if applicable) will be provided at the time of booking.
Behaviour – You and all members of your party agree: ∙ to keep the property clean and tidy; ∙ to leave the property in a similar condition as you found it when you arrived; ∙ to behave in a way at all times while at the property which does not break any law; ∙ not to use the property for any illegal or commercial purpose; ∙ not to sublet the property or any part thereof or otherwise allow anyone to stay in it who we have not previously accepted on behalf of the owner as a member of your party; ∙
Not to behave in anti-social manner, breach the peace or otherwise act in a way which may disrupt or affect the enjoyment of others. Maximum occupancy – You also must not allow more people than you confirmed at the time of booking to stay overnight in the property. You cannot arrange for more visitors to the property without the advance consent of the owner. You cannot significantly change the number of adults or children during your stay. (For example, if you book for two adults and two children, you cannot arrive with four adults and no children.) You must not hold events (such as parties, celebrations or meetings) at the property without the advance consent of the owner. If you do any of these things, the owner can refuse to hand over the property to you, or can repossess it. If the owner does this, we will treat this as you cancelling the booking. In these situations you will not receive a refund of any money you have paid for your booking. And we or the owner will not be legally responsible to you as a result of this situation. (This will include, for example, any costs or expenses you have to pay due to not being able to stay in the property, such as the cost of finding other accommodation.) Neither we nor the owner are under any obligation to find any alternative accommodation for you.
Pets – Pets are not allowed unless we say so in the brochure/website. If you take a pet with you, it is not allowed upstairs, on beds or furniture, or in any shared facilities. You must not leave any pets unattended in the property, including any garden, and you must keep dogs on a lead within the boundaries of a property (including the garden). Registered assistance dogs are allowed in most properties featured in this brochure even if the property description says that pets are not allowed. If you or any member of the party has a pet allergy, we cannot guarantee that dogs, or other pets, have not stayed in your chosen property, even if the owner does not allow pets, nor can we accept any responsibility for any subsequent health reaction. It is your responsibility to make specific enquiries before booking as some property owners may take their own pets to a property. You should also read the information on taking pets on holiday included in our brochure or on our website. If there is a charge for taking a pet, you will be told at the time of booking. No Smoking -all properties are strictly no smoking (including E-cigarettes).
12 Damage
You are responsible for and agree to reimburse to the owner and us all costs incurred by the owner and/or us as a result of any breakage or damage in or to the property which is caused by you or any members of your party or any other persons invited into the property by you. The owner and/or we can ask for an extra payment from you to cover any such costs. The owner expects the accommodation to be left in a reasonable state on departure. If in the owner’s or caretaker’s opinion, additional cleaning is required, you will be liable to the owner for the cost of this cleaning.
13 Right of Entry
The owner is allowed to enter the property at any time.
The owner or its representative also is allowed to enter the property to inspect it (including but not limited to where you have complained about the property or if a complaint has been raised against you). You agree to allow the owner or their representative (including workmen) access to the property as required by this clause.
14 Unreasonable behaviour
The owners of all properties can refuse to hand over their property if the unreasonable behaviour of anyone in your party is likely to cause offence to other guests, to members of staff or to neighbours, or if the owner has reasonable cause to believe you or any member of your party will cause damage or loss to the property, its services or facilities. If this happens, the contract between you and the owner will end and you will not receive any refund and neither we nor the owner will have any further responsibility to you.
The owners of all properties can end a stay after the keys have been handed over, if the unreasonable behaviour of anyone in your party (including anyone invited into the property by you) is likely to spoil the enjoyment, comfort or health of other guests, residents, neighbours or members of staff or where you or any member of your party (or anyone invited into the property by you) has broken or is likely to break any of these booking conditions, the Owner’s terms and conditions or any other terms and conditions applicable to the property which you have been told about. If this happens, you will have to leave the property immediately and no refund will be given. You may also be responsible for any costs the owner has as a result of your behaviour as set out in clause 15.
15 Complaints
If you want to complain, we, together with the owner will want to take action to sort your complaint out as soon as possible. Because the contract for your arrangements is between you and the owner you should put any queries or concerns to them. It is essential that you contact the owner or their representative immediately if any problem arises so that it can be sorted out as quickly as possible. It is often extremely difficult (and sometimes impossible) to sort out difficulties properly unless the owner is told promptly. If you discuss the problem with the owner or their representative during your stay at the property, it can usually be sorted out straightaway. In particular, complaints which would only be temporary (for example, complaints on how the property is prepared or the heating not working) cannot possibly be investigated unless registered during your stay.
If you cannot contact the owner or their representative, or if you are not happy with their response, you should immediately phone the Customer Services Line on the number shown on your confirmation. If, after this, you feel that the problem has not been dealt with to your satisfaction, you must, within 28 days of returning from your stay, put your complaint in writing to us. We will then pass this on to the owner. Send your email to afanvalleyescapes@gmail.com
16 Governing law and jurisdiction
Any dispute, claim or other matter which may arise in relation to your booking will be governed by English law and you agree that any dispute will be dealt with exclusively by the courts of England and Wales.