Terms and Conditions
Welcome to Restnest!
Restnest (“we,” “us,” “our”) is an online accommodation booking platform that connects travelers (“users,” “guests”) with hosts offering accommodation properties (“properties”). By accessing and using the Restnest website (www.restnest.com), or any related services (collectively, the “Services”), you agree to comply with and be bound by the following Terms and Conditions (“Terms”). Please read these Terms carefully before using our platform.
1. Acceptance of Terms
By using Restnest, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree with any part of these Terms, you should not access or use our Services.
2. Eligibility
To use our Services, you must be at least 18 years old and capable of entering into a legally binding contract. If you are using the Services on behalf of a company or other entity, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that entity to these Terms.
3. Establishment Registration and Agreement
When you register your establishment on Restnest, respond to inquiries, and submit quotes via the Restnest platform, you are deemed to have read, understood, and agreed to these Terms as outlined. If you do not agree with these terms, you should refrain from using Restnest’s services.
Conclusion of Agreement
By registering your establishment, you acknowledge that you have the contractual capacity to enter into this Agreement. If an agreement is signed by a person acting on behalf of your business, the signatory warrants that all information provided to Restnest will be true, accurate, and complete.
4. Commission and Fees
You agree to pay a commission to Restnest on any bookings made by customers who are introduced to your establishment via Restnest. The commission payable will be detailed on your account and in your agreement. You agree not to attempt to bypass Restnest’s commission system by taking bookings “offline.” Any such actions will be considered a material breach of this agreement.
5. Cancellations and Refunds
– Cancellations by Guests: In the event of a cancellation, your own cancellation policy will apply, provided that the policy has been communicated to the customer. If you do not have your own policy, the default cancellation policy will apply:
– No show or cancellation within 14 days of stay: No refund.
– Cancellation between 15 and 30 days before stay: 25% of the deposit will be refunded.
– Cancellation between 30 and 60 days before stay: 50% of the deposit will be refunded.
– Cancellation more than 60 days before stay: Full refund.
– Refunds: Upon cancellation, Restnest will apply your cancellation policy and may charge a commission based on the amount retained from the booking. Restnest will process refunds as per the policy and ensure customers are refunded within 3 to 5 working days.
6. Cooling Off Period
In accordance with the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECT Act) and the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) , you are entitled to cancel the agreement within 5 business days of accepting the terms without penalty, subject to any exclusions outlined in the law.
7. Bank Details
It is your responsibility to ensure that Restnest has the correct banking details for all payments. If there is any change in ownership or banking details, you must notify Restnest immediately to avoid payments being sent to incorrect accounts.
8. Intellectual Property Rights
All content, trademarks, logos, and other intellectual property on Restnest, including the content provided by hosts, are protected under intellectual property laws. You acknowledge that you hold the necessary rights to use any logos, names, or trademarks included in your listings and information shared on Restnest.
9. Payment and On-Payments
Restnest will process payments to you after 5 to 8 working days of receipt of funds. You agree to honor bookings processed by Restnest prior to receipt of these funds. Restnest reserves the right to withhold payment if any fraudulent activity is suspected or if the payment requires further verification.
10. Chargebacks
In case of a chargeback (a payment reversal typically due to fraud), Restnest is entitled to reclaim any funds previously paid to you. You agree to reimburse Restnest for any chargeback amounts within 3 working days.
11. Correctness of Information
You warrant that all information provided to Restnest is correct, and you will ensure it is regularly updated. Restnest is not responsible for inaccuracies in content published by third-party affiliates or other sites, and you agree to indemnify Restnest for any claims resulting from such inaccuracies.
12. Reviews and Feedback
Restnest encourages guests to leave reviews after their stay at your establishment. These reviews will be published on your listing, and you will have the opportunity to respond. You agree that Restnest is not responsible for the content of these reviews and indemnify us from any legal claims related to them.
13. Taxes
You are responsible for calculating and paying any taxes, duties, or levies applicable to your business in accordance with local laws. You agree to indemnify Restnest from any liability arising from your failure to pay taxes or provide relevant documentation to tax authorities.
14. Termination
Restnest reserves the right to suspend or terminate your account if you breach any of these Terms, engage in fraudulent activities, or fail to comply with applicable laws.
15. Limitation of Liability
Restnest is not liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from the use of the platform. Our liability is limited to the total amount paid for the relevant booking, as per the specific terms.
16. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
Jurisdiction: You hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the Magistrate’s Court in the Republic of South Africa in respect of any proceedings that may be initiated by us arising out of this Agreement, provided that we shall be entitled, in its sole discretion, to institute such proceedings in the High Court of South Africa and, in such event, you consent to the jurisdiction of such court and agree that costs shall be calculated in accordance with the tariff of such court.
Costs: Should RestNest, instruct an attorney pursuant to any breach or failure to perform any obligation on your part (the part of Contracting Party, or be required to direct any correspondence to you regarding such breach or failure to perform, then without prejudice to any other rights which RestNest may have, it shall be entitled to recover from you all legal costs incurred by it, whether or not legal proceedings are instituted against you, on an attorney and own client scale including tracing fees and collection commission and which costs shall be payable on demand and shall not be required to be taxed
17. Changes to Terms
Restnest reserves the right to amend these Terms at any time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated date. By continuing to use the platform after such changes, you agree to the modified Terms.
18. Contact Information
If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at:
Email: admin@restnest.co.za
Phone: +27 81 0162 772
19. Quotation Errors
Please note that if you quote a customer incorrectly and the customer accepts this quotation, you have the option to accept or decline the booking. However, if you accept the booking, you are required to honour it at the amount quoted.
20. Double Bookings and Failure to Honour Bookings
Double bookings are the result of quoting for a customer’s enquiry, or accepting a customer’s booking, and then selling the same accommodation to another customer.
Your quote is legally binding (for as long as you make it valid), and you must honour the quote or booking.
You are responsible for any liability that may arise as a result of any double booking or your failure to honour any booking for any reason.
RestNest will seek to relocate customers to another similar establishment on our website. You undertake to pay any difference in the cost of the stay together with any reasonably necessary ancillary costs associated with it, including, without limitation, any transport costs required. RestNest will be entitled to recover this difference from you, either directly or via set off against other amounts owing to you. Furthermore, you undertake to refund any deposit paid to RestNest within 1 (one) working day of your failure to honour any booking. Should such amount not be received timeously, RestNest reserves the right to set off such amount against any sums owing to you by RestNest , or held by RestNest on behalf of a customer, in which event you undertake to utilize such deposit against further deposits required by customers booking through our website.
RestNest is entitled to charge the full commission on the quote value of the double booking or any booking which you fail to honour.
Your ranking on RestNest will be negatively affected, and you will move down on our search results.
21. No Shows
While RestNest is sympathetic to the impact upon you of customers booking and not arriving, we are unable to assume any liability in this regard. Due to the nature of the service, we are merely facilitating the transaction between the customer and you, and as such, we do not have control over whether or not they comply with their obligations towards you. As such, any recourse will need to be sought against the customer themselves, and RestNest specifically disclaims any liability or responsibility in this regard.
22. Theft or Damages Caused by Customer
While RestNest is sympathetic to the impact upon you of customers booking and causing damage to your property and/or stealing any property, we are unable to assume any liability in this regard. The agreement for providing accommodation lies between you and the customer directly; RestNest is not a party to or involved in that agreement, and as such, we do not have control over whether they comply with their obligations towards you. As such, any recourse will need to be sought against the customer themselves, and RestNest specifically does not accept any liability or responsibility in this regard.
23. De-listing
RestNest reserves the right to de-list your establishment without notice, or refuse to take further bookings, where there is non-compliance with these terms and conditions or for any reason as may be determined in its reasonably exercised discretion, which may result in a poor customer experience or which may potentially damage RestNest’s reputation. These reasons include but are not limited to: repeated double-bookings, failure to update your establishment information on request, repeated failure to respond to enquiries timeously, or misrepresentation of the standard/nature of your establishment and services offered, infringement of RestNest’s or third-party intellectual property, or severe or consistently negative reviews.
Should this happen, you undertake to honour any bookings already made through the RestNest website or to refund in full all monies received in respect thereof within 3 (three) working days of having been requested to do so by RestNest .
In this regard, you specifically indemnify RestNest from any and all damages you or RestNest may suffer as a result hereof.
24. User Name and Password
You will need a user name and password in order to enable you to gain access to and/or use a service. You will not be able to access and/or use a service without a user name and password.
You agree that:
– You will use your user name and password for your own personal use only.
– You will not disclose your user name and password to any other person for any reason whatsoever and that you will maintain the confidentiality thereof.
– In the event that your password is compromised, you will immediately notify RestNest and change your password.
– You, as the holder of the user name and password, acknowledge you are solely responsible for all transactions, irrespective of whether the service has been utilized or is being utilized by you or not, and accordingly the entire amount outstanding on your account will be deemed to have arisen from (or relate to) your access to and/or use of a RestNest service.
– You agree to cause all persons who use any services under your account or with your authorization to comply with these Terms and acknowledge that the acts or omissions of all persons who use services under your account or with your authorization will be treated for all purposes as your acts or omissions.
– You will not attempt to circumvent RestNest’s user authentication processes or engage in attempts to access RestNest’s network where not expressly authorized to do so.
RestNest also offers a password reset service. RestNest will send a password reset link to your registered email address or cell phone number should you have forgotten your password. Subscription to this service is voluntary. Password reset emails will only be sent to your registered details, and should such details change, it is your responsibility to notify RestNest thereof and to update your details. RestNest will not be responsible for any loss arising due to a third party gaining access to your password through your use of this password reminder service, and accordingly, you indemnify us from any loss you may suffer as a result thereof.
25. Service Delivery and Interruptions
RestNest will use reasonable endeavours to make its services available to you, and to maintain the availability thereof for use by you. However, we provide the services “as is” and “as available” and do not warrant or guarantee that the services will at all times be free of errors or interruptions, be always available, fit for any purpose, not infringe any third-party rights, be secure and reliable, or will conform to your delivery timeline requirements.
RestNest will use its best endeavours to notify you in advance of any maintenance and repairs which may result in the unavailability of a service, but cannot always guarantee this.
26. Support
We have an establishment support team working Mondays to Fridays from 9:00am to 5:00pm.
The establishment team is responsible for support relating to:
– Written content; general description and rooms
– Loading images
– Booking processes and policies
– Child policies
– Rates; adding seasons
– Calendar updates
– Setting the location of the establishment (GPS location)
– Adding select features; swimming pool, sea views, etc.
– Linking to NightsBridge, SiteMinder, and eRes (real-time systems that we work with)
– Changing commission structure
– Changing contact details
In addition, we have a Customer Service team on call from Monday to Friday between 8:30am and 5:00pm, Saturdays between 9:00am and 2:00pm, and public holidays between 9:00am and 1:00pm.
The Customer Service team can assist with any reservation-related queries, including:
– Calendar updates
– Payment queries
– Establishment educationals/how to use the system
– Review resolution
– Getting banking details to facilitate payments
– Getting more information from guests regarding bookings
– Following up with clients that have not responded to establishments online
– Updating booking information, i.e., change in number of room or dates, etc.
– Fraud checks
– Refunds
– Assistance with cancellations
All support will be on a best-efforts basis. We will endeavour to assist you as soon as is commercially reasonable but cannot guarantee any specific turnaround times.
27. Payment Breach
Should you fail to pay any amount on the due date for payment, RestNest may, without prejudice to any of its other rights:
– Take all such further steps as may be necessary to recover the outstanding amount (including all legal costs actually incurred by us in recovering or attempting to recover the sums outstanding) from you, including without limitation the use of debt collection mechanisms; and if the debt arises from an agreement which is a credit agreement, then in accordance with the collection and repayment practices as prescribed in the NCA.
– Charge interest at the rate of 2% above the prime overdraft rate published by RestNest’s bankers from time to time on the overdue amount, calculated from the due date until the date of payment (both dates inclusive), which interest, if charged, will be capitalised monthly.
– Terminate this agreement with immediate effect.
28. Breach
Should you be in breach of any provision of this agreement, RestNest shall be entitled, without prejudice to any other rights that it may have and without notice to you, to forthwith:
– Afford you a reasonable opportunity to remedy the breach; or
– Suspend your access to a service;
– Cancel all agreements concluded between us; or
– Claim immediate performance and/or payment of all your obligations in terms hereof.
29. CPA Obligations
It is recorded that the CPA will apply to our promotion of your establishment via the Website, and that you are thus exposed to wide potential statutory liability to consumers. It is agreed that:
– All the statutory obligations imposed upon us vis-à-vis consumers under the CPA are hereby equally imposed as contractual obligations upon you vis-à-vis us (“CPA Obligations”);
– We shall have the same rights over you as consumers will have over us under the CPA.
– Without derogating from the generality of the foregoing, your CPA Obligations shall include but not be limited to your obligations under the provisions relating to deposits, promotions, cancellation of advance bookings, overselling, overbooking, as well as its obligation to clearly and accurately describe and/or depict the products and services and their prices in any communications with us.
30. Warranties and Indemnity
You hereby warrant the following:
– You have the right to enter into this agreement;
– You will at all times act in a lawful manner and ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, including specifically your obligations towards consumers as set out in the Consumer Protection Act, No 68 of 2008;
– You have the right to use all intellectual property, including trademarks (registered or unregistered), names, and logos, and that RestNest will not infringe any third-party intellectual property rights by marketing your establishment in any way;
– All information provided by you is accurate and true in all material respects.
You hereby indemnify RestNest unconditionally and irrevocably and agree to hold RestNest harmless against all loss, damages, claims, liability, and/or costs, of whatsoever nature, howsoever and whensoever arising, suffered or incurred by RestNest or instituted against RestNest as a result of (without limitation):
– Your use of our services;
– Your failure to comply with these terms and a provision of any agreement concluded between us;
– Any unavailability of, or interruption in the service;
– Your failure to comply with the provisions of any piece of law or regulations applicable to you; and
– Any other cause whatsoever relating to our provision of services to you.