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Accommodation - getting started

Developing booking terms and conditions

Contents

  • What do you need to consider?
  • What are the different accommodation categories?
  • Legal considerations
  • Developing booking terms and conditions
  • Tourist Accommodation Quality Grading Scheme
  • Hotel Accommodation
  • Guest House Accommodation
  • Bed & Breakfast
  • Guest Accommodation
  • Self-catering Accommodation
  • Hostel Accommodation
  • Bunk House
  • Campus Accommodation
  • Camping, Caravanning and Glamping
  • Grading of Caravan and Camping Parks
  • Glamping Accommodation
  • Advice and next steps for tourist accommodation providers
  • Insurance and Risk Management for Tourist Accommodation
  • Creating a Guest Information Pack
  • Welcome Schemes
  • A Welcome Hamper - the best way to welcome your guests
  • An insight into Exempted Camping
  • Temporary campsites & the ‘28-Day rule’
  • Tourist Accommodation Associations

Contents

  • What do you need to consider?
  • What are the different accommodation categories?
  • Legal considerations
  • Developing booking terms and conditions
  • Tourist Accommodation Quality Grading Scheme
  • Hotel Accommodation
  • Guest House Accommodation
  • Bed & Breakfast
  • Guest Accommodation
  • Self-catering Accommodation
  • Hostel Accommodation
  • Bunk House
  • Campus Accommodation
  • Camping, Caravanning and Glamping
  • Grading of Caravan and Camping Parks
  • Glamping Accommodation
  • Advice and next steps for tourist accommodation providers
  • Insurance and Risk Management for Tourist Accommodation
  • Creating a Guest Information Pack
  • Welcome Schemes
  • A Welcome Hamper - the best way to welcome your guests
  • An insight into Exempted Camping
  • Temporary campsites & the ‘28-Day rule’
  • Tourist Accommodation Associations

Developing booking terms and conditions

If you run a tourist accommodation business it is good practice to have established Terms & Conditions (T&Cs) for all your bookings.

Bedroom at Blackrock House Bed & Breakfast.

Terms and conditions (if provided to guests in advance of their booking) will form a legal contract between you and your guest.

Why are they needed?

Having the correct written T&Cs for your business, large or small, is a critical safeguard that you should have in place from the moment you start trading.

Your T&Cs will apply to all bookings whether made via your website or by telephone, email or in person (provided a copy has been given to individuals in advance of the booking).

What are they?

T&Cs simply spell out to your guests from the outset, your terms for doing business. They set out the rules and regulations that guests must adhere to. As your business grows and evolves, it is also important to keep your T&Cs up to date and relevant.

Benefits of having T&Cs

  • Provides you with trading certainty.
  • Enhances customer relationships through clear communication.
  • Creates efficiency by ensuring consistency, in turn helping you to provide good customer service.
  • Minimises your risk of legal disputes and enables you to enforce your rights.
  • Can be tailored to meet your business needs and to comply with applicable laws.
  • Improves cash flow, by including clear requirements regarding payment timeframes and the consequences of late payments etc

Top tips for setting out your T&Cs

  • Read T&Cs on other properties like yours.
  • Draw up a list of the key services that you are offering your customers.
  • Think of all the scenarios of what could possibly go wrong and then set out what you would do in each case.
  • Put yourself in the shoes of your customers and make sure the language is at their level and user friendly. Hiding everything on one page in the smallest font possible will not endear you to your customers.
  • Create a new page for your T&Cs, and upload it to your website.
  • Don’t forget that this should be something that you revisit and update, as and when required.
  • When in doubt, seek help. Ask for advice from your mentor, a professional or fellow business owner.
PDF

Guide to Developing Tourist Accommodation Booking T&Cs

To find out more download our full guide here

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Legal considerations

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Tourist Accommodation Quality Grading Scheme

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