Questions

In these Booking Conditions, “you” and “your” means the person named on the booking confirmation and all other persons staying at the property during the rental period. “We” and “us” means Unique Beach Homes. All reservations are made subject to these Booking Conditions.

Privacy Policy
Unique Beach Homes does not store any credit or debit card information. Nor do we share any information with any third parties.

1. Making a booking
Bookings can be made by completing the on-line booking form at www.uniquebeachhomes.co.uk (please follow the on-screen instructions) or by contacting us by telephone at our office to make your booking. We regret we cannot accept bookings where all the guests are under the age of 21.

Until a deposit payment is received by us your booking is considered a provisional booking dependent upon our written confirmation we have availability together with the deposit payment details. Once we have received your deposit payment, we will confirm your stay by issuing a booking confirmation by email. Please check the details & contact us immediately if there are any errors or omissions to any information which appears on the confirmation or any other document as it may not be possible to make changes later. We regret we cannot accept any liability if we are not notified of any inaccuracies in any document within 5 working days of its transmission.

Number of persons
The number of persons (adults and children) must not exceed the maximum number of sleeping places indicated on the website. Sofa beds may be used to accommodate the maximum number of persons permitted to stay. If you are unsure please call or email the office to clarify each property‘s information. Sofa beds are intended as additional and temporary sleeping arrangements. The term ‘sofa bed’ applies to a variety of different products. These include foam fold out chair beds, fold out ‘Z’ beds, pull out sofa beds, couches, day beds, etc. We endeavour to provide as much information as possible on the website. However, we regret that no refunds for these additional sleeping arrangements can be made once booked.

Arrivals
You must call the property manager at least 24 hours prior to arrival, they will give you instructions with regard to key collection. Please have your booking confirmation ready for identity purposes. NB: Please have your maps and booking confirmation with you, as we accept no responsibility for failure to bring directions with you.

Departures
You must vacate the property by 10am on the due day of departure to enable the cleaners to gain prompt access. You are expected to leave the property in a tidy condition; rubbish and unwanted food/ personal items should be removed from the property, washing up should be done and put away and furniture should be in its correct place. Any excessive time needed over and above a standard turn around clean will be deducted from your deposit.

2. Payment
In order to confirm your booking, an initial deposit (or full payment if booking within 28 days of arrival) must be paid at the time of booking by debit or credit card (1% card processing fee applies) or via BACS transfer. This deposit is non-refundable/non-transferable in the event of your cancellation or failure to pay on time as set out below.

The balance of the cost of your booking is due 28 days prior to arrival (or at the time of booking if this date has passed). If we do not receive the full balance on time we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled by you. In this case the cancellation charges set out in clause 6 below will be payable.

2a Security Deposit
You must pay a security deposit of between £(GBP) 300 and 1000, according to the property you have booked, 14 days prior to arrival. The cost of any damage to the property or to any items in and/or at the property caused or any service charges incurred by you or any member of your party (for example excess cleaning charges) will be deducted by us from the security deposit at the end of your stay. If no deductions are required, your security deposit will be refunded in full to you 7 days after your departure from the property. If the security deposit is not sufficient to cover any damage caused or service charges incurred by you, you will be responsible for paying us any additional monies required immediately on request from us.

3. Your contract
A binding contract comes into existence when the deposit payment is paid (see clause 2 above). If you cancel after paying the deposit, our normal cancellation charges will apply. This contract and all matters arising out of it are governed by United Kingdom law. We both agree that any dispute arising out of or connected with your holiday will be dealt with by the Courts of United Kingdom.

4. The cost of your stay
The price of your stay will be confirmed at the time of booking, subject to the correction of any errors. We reserve the right to correct errors in both advertised and confirmed prices. We will do so as soon as we become aware of the error and no later than 4 working days of your deposit being received.

5. Changes by you
Should you wish to make any minor changes to your confirmed booking, you must notify us by email as soon as possible. Whilst we will endeavour to assist, we cannot guarantee we will be able to meet any such requests. Where we can, an amendment fee may be payable together with any costs incurred by ourselves. This excludes a change of property whereby this will be treated as a cancellation and new booking.

6. Cancellation by you
Should you need to cancel your stay after the contract has begun (see clause 3 above), the party leader must immediately advise us in writing. Your notice of cancellation will only be effective when we receive it in writing at our offices. As we incur costs from the time we confirm your booking, and may be unable to re-sell your period of stay, the following cancellation charges will be payable. Amendment charges are not refundable in the event of cancellation.

If you cancel more than 28 days prior to your scheduled arrival date, you will forfeit the deposit paid. If you cancel 28 days or less prior to your scheduled arrival date, you will forfeit the total cost of the booking and remain liable to pay any outstanding balance.

Depending on the reason for cancellation, you may be able to reclaim these cancellation charges (less any applicable excess) under the terms of any insurance policy you may have. Claims must be made directly to the insurance company concerned.

7. Insurance
It is strongly recommended that you take out adequate travel insurance. Please read your policy details carefully. It is your responsibility to ensure that the insurance cover you purchase is adequate for your particular needs.

8. Changes and cancellation by us
Occasionally, we have to make changes to and correct errors on our website descriptions and other details both before and after bookings have been confirmed and cancel confirmed bookings. Whilst we always endeavour to avoid changes and cancellations, we must reserve the right to do so.

If we have to make a significant change to, or cancel your booking, we will tell you as soon as possible. We will endeavour to offer you an alternative should a significant change or cancellation occur.

We regret we cannot pay any expenses, costs or losses incurred by you as a result of any change or cancellation.

Very rarely, we may be forced by “force majeure” (see clause 9) to change or terminate your stay after arrival but before the scheduled departure. This is extremely unlikely but if this situation does occur, we regret we will be unable to make any refunds, pay you any compensation or meet any costs or expenses you incur as a result.

9. Force Majeure
We regret we cannot accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our contractual obligations is prevented or affected by or you otherwise suffer any damage or loss as a result of “force majeure”. In these Booking Conditions, “force majeure” means any event which we or the supplier of the service(s) in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such events may include war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, actual or threatened terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire and all similar events outside our control.

10. Our Liability to you
10.1. We promise to provide your accommodation with reasonable skill and care. We do not accept responsibility if any death, personal injury, failure or deficiency of your accommodation arrangements is not caused by any fault of ours. When we talk about “fault” above, this means failure by ourselves to use reasonable skill and care in performing or providing the service in question. Please note it is your responsibility to show that reasonable skill and care has not been used if you wish to make a claim.

We will not be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss (for example loss of enjoyment), damage, expense, cost or other sum or claim of any description whatsoever which results from any of the following: -

• the fault of the person(s) affected or any member(s) of their party or
• the fault of a third party not connected with the provision of your accommodation by us which we could not have predicted or avoided or
• an event or circumstance which could not have predicted or avoided even after taking all reasonable care (see clause 9)

In addition, we will not be responsible where you do not enjoy your stay or suffer any problems because of a reason you did not tell us about when you booked your stay or where any problems you suffer did not result from any breach of our contract or other fault of ourselves or any losses, expenses, costs or other sum you have suffered relate to any business.

Please note, we cannot accept responsibility for any services that do not form part of our contract. This includes, for example, any additional services or facilities any other supplier agrees to provide for you.

10.2. The promises we make to you about the accommodation we have agreed to provide or arrange as part of our contract – and the laws and regulations of the country in which your claim or complaint occurred – will be used as the basis for deciding whether the accommodation in question had been properly provided. If the particular accommodation which gave rise to the claim or complaint complied with local laws and regulations applicable to those accommodation at the time, the accommodation will be treated as having been properly provided.

10.3. We limit the maximum amount we may have to pay you for any and all claims or parts of claims which do not involve personal injury, illness or death. Except where loss of and/or damage to luggage or personal possessions is concerned or a lower limitation of liability applies to your claim, the maximum amount we will have to pay you for such non personal injury claims if we are found liable to you on any basis is the price (excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges) paid by or on behalf of the person(s) affected in total. This maximum amount will only be payable where everything has gone wrong and you have not received any benefit at all from your stay.

Where we are found liable for loss of and/or damage to any luggage or personal possessions (including money), the maximum amount we will have to pay you is £(GBP) 35 per person affected as you are assumed to have taken out adequate insurance at the time of booking.

11. Complaints and problems
11.1 In the unlikely event that you have any reason to complain or experience any problems with your stay whilst away, you must immediately inform us. Any verbal notification must be put in writing and given to us as soon as possible. Until we know about a problem or complaint, we cannot begin to resolve it. Most problems can be dealt with quickly. For all complaints and claims which do not involve death, personal injury or illness, we regret we cannot accept liability if you fail to notify the complaint or claim entirely in accordance with this clause.

11.2 Please note, we cannot accept responsibility for any services that do not form part of our contract. This includes, for example, any additional services or facilities any other supplier agrees to provide for you. We do not guarantee internet connections and are not responsible if installed broadband services fail.

11.3 If you arrive and find a problem with housekeeping, something broken or missing you must telephone the property manager immediately. Do not rectify a housekeeping issue yourself as we cannot deal with problems retrospectively. If something is amiss we will endeavour to send someone to you as soon as is reasonably possible and where we can we will rectify the problem. When we send a member of the housekeeping or maintenance team to the property to rectify a situation you must allow them access. Unfortunately, complaints received at the end or part way into the stay will not be taken into consideration.

11.4 We are unfortunately unable to guarantee that any entertainment systems advertised will not experience technical difficluties during your stay. We will do our best to rectify situations that do occur. We are not able to offer refunds associated with malfunctioning internet connections, tv services, iPod doc, CD player, DVD player, Video player, Games Console or other entertainment device.

11.5 We cannot be held responsible if you receive a parking fine or wheel clamp due to parking in a restricted zone, not heeding to parking meters or parking in the wrong allocated space for a property. We are not responsible if you receive parking advice at the time of booking and then parking charges subsequently have changed upon your arrival.

11.6 In the unlikely event there is a problem with the central heating system that cannnot be rectified immediately we will supply sufficient alternative heating. Compensation would not be in given in this situation if alternative adequate heating had been provided.

11.7 If appliances fail and cannot be fixed immediately due to waiting for parts to arrive we will endeavour to supply an alternative appliance as soon as possible. Where an alternative appliance, such as a table top oven or fridge, is supplied within reasonable time refunds/compensation would not be given. If an alternative is not able to be given, compensation would be limited to an amount agreed by the landlord and would not necessarily be able to cover all food costs for the period of time without such an appliance. Compensation for dishwasher failure that cannot be rectified within a reasonable time, would be at the discretion of the landlord, dependent on the level of inconvenience it is considered to have caused and the number in the group.

11.8 In the unlikely event that a sofa bed or occasional bed has been damaged by the previous guest, resulting in it being unable to be used for such purpose, we reserve the right to supply an alternative occasional bed.

11.9 Where guests call an emergency contractor guests will be liable for any associated costs. Guests should always call the office and out of hours emergency number.

12. Behaviour
You accept responsibility for any damage or loss caused by you or any member of your party. Full payment for any such damage or loss must be paid direct to us at the time. If you fail to do so, you will be responsible for meeting any legal costs we incur in full in recovering full payment from you. Please note all our properties are non-smoking throughout and we regret pets are not allowed.

We expect all clients to have consideration for other people, in particular noise levels especially after 10.30pm in the evening. If there is excessive noise and a noise patrol officer or an Environmental Health Officer is called, this will result in full retention of your security deposit. By booking with us, you and your party agree to be respectful of neighbours and agree to keep noise to a minimum level both inside and outside the property and especially after 10.30pm. This applies to loud music and noise from people in your group. Please be especially watchful of noise when returning home late at night in taxis or if smoking outside the properties. We would respectfully ask you to do this as the properties are in residential areas and we wish to keep noise disturbance to neighbours to a minimum. We understand the importance to our landlords of having happy neighbours and subsequently take noise complaints very seriously. Inconsiderate behaviour by guests to neighbours will not be tolerated.

Parties are not permitted in the properties except for quiet dinner parties. Balloons and banners should not be displayed outside the property and care should be taken inside the property not to damage walls if such items are displayed inside the property. Selotape should not be used to fix items onto walls and care should be taken not to cause damage to wallpaper and paint.

To minimise the risk of fire you are not permitted to use deep fat fryers or candles in our properties. All our properties are non-smoking and carry a minimum £100 fine if you have been smoking inside the property.

If in our reasonable opinion or in the reasonable opinion of any other person in authority, you or any member of your party behaves in such a way as to cause or be likely to cause danger, upset or distress to any third party or damage to the property, or in any way damage the reputation and/or goodwill of the Owner we are entitled, without prior notice, to terminate the occupation of the person(s) concerned. In this situation, the person(s) concerned will be required to leave the accommodation. We will have no further responsibility toward such person(s). No refunds will be made and we will not pay any expenses or costs incurred as a result of the termination. Should we receive complaints concerning your behaviour and specifically noise we reserve the right to permanently withhold some or all of your security/damage deposit.
Lost keys: Guests will be charged a minimum of £25 per set of lost keys. If the landlord has to replace the lock as a result of lost keys, guests will be liable for any associated costs. If an emergency locksmith is called where guests lose keys, guests will be liable for associated costs.

13. Special requests and medical problems
If you have any special request, you must advise us at the time of booking and clearly note it in the extra information section of the booking form. Although we will endeavour to meet any reasonable requests we regret we cannot guarantee any request will be met. Failure to meet any special request will not be a breach of contract on our part. We regret we cannot accept any conditional bookings, i.e. any booking which is specified to be conditional on the fulfilment of a particular request. All such bookings will be treated as “standard” bookings subject to the above provisions on special requests.
If you or any member of your party has any medical problem or disability that may affect your stay, please tell us before you confirm your booking so that we can advise as to the suitability of the chosen arrangements. In any event, you must give us full details in writing at the time of booking. If we reasonably feel unable to properly accommodate the particular needs of the person concerned, we must reserve the right to decline their reservation or, if full details are not given at the time of booking, cancel when we become aware of these details.

14. Passports, visas and health requirements
It is your responsibility to ensure that you are in possession of all necessary travel and health documents (including Passports and Visas (where applicable) before departure. You must pay all costs incurred in obtaining such documentation.

15. Prices and Website Accuracy
We reserve the right to increase or decrease the prices of accommodation at any time. Please note, the information and prices shown on our website may have changed by the time you come to book your stay. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the website and prices at the time of requesting the booking, regrettably errors do occasionally occur. You must therefore ensure you check all details of your stay (including the price) on your booking acceptance.

16. Complaints procedure
In the event of any problems you must contact us immediately by phone, plus you undertake to do your best to resolve or minimise the problem in order to avoid any prejudices that could result. You must immediately notify us by telephone on the day of your arrival, confirming your complaint in writing within 24 hours by fax or by e-mail of your departure. You are obliged to give us the time necessary to resolve the problem.

Should there be no written complaint supplied as above specified and you leave the accommodation prematurely and without an explicit authorisation by us, you forfeit your rights for a refund of the rental price, unless the terms of this contract have been breached. Complaints received at the end of the stay will not be taken into consideration and no refunds will be given.
Please note that the property is not an official tourist structure, such as a hotel, residences, etc. but a private dwelling. As such, there is no standard or categories that are internationally recognised; indeed it reflects the architecture and furnishings, the local traditions and the personal taste of the owner. This is precisely the kind of holiday that we offer: the chance to partake in the culture of the area chosen, living for a few days or weeks in the same surroundings as an inhabitant would. We cannot however exclude the possibility that these differences can sometimes result in minor inconveniences – due to the special nature of its architecture and of traditions in the area – but which cannot be accepted as complaints.