All holiday properties should have a set of terms and conditions that govern the booking of that property. Once drafted, it’s important to make sure that your booking terms are available to guests throughout the stages of their booking journey.
Here are our top five places to make your terms available:
#1 – At all times on your website
Having a copy of your terms and conditions available on your website (e.g., in the footer or menu bar) means that there is always a “durable” copy of your terms available for guests to easily find.
#2 – Before guests confirm they are making their booking
When a guest is completing their booking journey, it is sensible to have a mechanism such as a tick box saying “I agree to the terms and conditions” or a function requiring guests to scroll through the terms and conditions to get to that point. This makes it difficult for a guest to argue that they did not agree to the terms.
#3 – On confirming their booking has been accepted
A copy attached in an email reminds guests of the terms they’ve agreed to and ensure that they have a “durable” copy, being a copy that enables the guests to store the information in an unchanged form.
#4 – Upon balance being due
Given that terms and conditions for booking usually contain information about payment obligations and a mechanism for calculating refunds in the event of cancellation post payment, sending the terms in the same format as (3) on or just before balance due date is a good idea.
#5 – Email correspondence
It is best practice for a link to the terms and conditions to be available in the signature of every email that is sent to the guest.
Why is it important to make your booking terms and conditions accessible?
Ultimately, it is important to make your booking terms and conditions accessible on your website for the guests, so that they can read them and make an informed decision to accept and have the terms readily available to refer to once they have accepted.
Should you need advice on drafting and implementing your booking terms, or are looking to implement new terms, please get in touch with our Intellectual Property, Data Protection and Technology team by phone 0345 450 5558 or by email enquiries@stephens-scown.co.uk