Host terms of service

1. Who these terms are between

These terms are a contract between you, the owner or manager of a holiday let who registers a property on Saltwater Direct (we call you the host), and The Saltwater Group Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17417170) whose registered office is at 82a James Carter Road, Mildenhall, IP28 7DE, trading as Saltwater Direct (we, us). By creating a host account you agree to them. If you are registering on behalf of a company or another owner, you confirm you have their authority to do so.

Guests who book through the site are covered by the booking terms shown to them at the time of booking, not by this document. Our privacy policy explains how we handle personal data and forms part of these terms.

2. What Saltwater Direct is

Saltwater Direct is software. It gives you a public listing page with a booking calendar, takes bookings and guest payments on your behalf, sends guest messages, tracks your compliance certificates, and lists your property in our search for guests looking to stay on the coast. You remain the person letting the property. We are not your agent, we do not own or manage the property, and the contract for each stay is between you and the guest.

3. Your account and your listing

• You must give us accurate contact details and keep them up to date, including a phone number we can reach you on. Your password is your responsibility; tell us straight away if you think someone else has used your account.
• Everything in your listing (descriptions, photos, prices, house rules, sleeping capacity, whether dogs are welcome, the address) is yours and must be accurate and yours to use. You are responsible for what guests are told, and for honouring it.
• You must have the right to let the property, and any consents needed to do so (for example from a mortgage lender, freeholder, insurer or local authority).
• We review each new listing before it goes live and may ask you to change it. We can take a listing offline if it is inaccurate, misleading, unlawful, or attracts repeated guest complaints. We will tell you when we do and why.

4. Safety and legal compliance

You are solely responsible for the property meeting the law that applies to it, including gas and electrical safety, fire safety, energy performance, insurance, planning rules, and any licensing or registration scheme for short-term lets. The compliance tools in your dashboard (certificate storage and expiry reminders) are there to help you keep track. They are not advice, they do not check the certificates you upload, and a reminder from us, or the absence of one, does not shift any responsibility to us.

5. Plans and what they cost

Each property you list needs a plan. Plans are billed monthly in advance, per property, through Stripe, using the card you give at checkout. Current prices are:

• Basic: £29 a month for the first unit, plus £15 a month for each further unit at the same property.
• Standard: £59 a month for the first unit, plus £30 a month for each further unit.

A unit is one separately bookable space at the property, such as a barn or apartment with its own calendar. Adding a unit changes your next bill pro rata; Stripe works out the exact amount. If you switch plans mid-month, the difference is charged or credited pro rata in the same way.

Prices include VAT where it applies. We can change prices for new hosts at any time. For an existing plan we will give you at least 30 days' notice by email before any change takes effect, and you can cancel before then. Any promotional rate you were given (for example a founding host discount) stays at the rate and for the period stated when you received it.

6. Commission on bookings

We charge no commission on any booking that comes from a link you share yourself: your own website, social media, email, a business card, a returning guest. Where a guest finds you through Saltwater Direct's own search or browse pages, we charge 10% of the amount the guest pays. Which applies to a booking is fixed when the booking is made and shown against it in your dashboard.

If you take guest payments through Stripe (section 7), the commission is deducted automatically from each payment before the balance is sent to you. If you do not, we will invoice you for the commission owed, normally monthly in arrears, payable within 14 days.

7. Guest payments

To take card payments from guests you connect your own Stripe account through your dashboard. Stripe's terms apply to that account and Stripe, not us, holds and pays out the money. Guest payments go to your Stripe account, less our commission where it applies. Stripe's own card processing fees are charged to you by Stripe.

Until you connect Stripe, bookings are confirmed without payment and it is up to you to collect the money from the guest directly. We do not collect or hold guest money on your behalf in either case.

8. Bookings, cancellations and refunds

• A booking made through your listing is a binding agreement between you and the guest. You must honour confirmed bookings.
• You choose a cancellation policy for each unit from the options in your dashboard. It is shown to guests before they book and fixed to each booking at the time it is made. The cancellation charge in each policy is a percentage of the whole stay price, whatever the guest has paid so far, and the refund is the amount paid above that charge; a deposit smaller than the charge is not refunded. Refunds to guests under that policy are your responsibility and are paid from your funds, through Stripe where the guest paid by card.
• If you have to cancel a confirmed booking, you must refund the guest in full and tell them as soon as you can. Repeated host cancellations may lead us to take your listing offline.
• Bookings that arrive through calendar feeds from other platforms are shown in your calendar to stop double bookings. Those bookings remain subject to the other platform's terms, and we charge nothing on them.

9. Guests and their data

Guest details (name, email, phone, party size, notes) are shared with you so you can host the stay. You may use them for that stay and for your own direct relationship with the guest afterwards, provided you comply with data protection law. You must not sell guest data or add guests to marketing lists without their consent. Messages sent to guests through Saltwater Direct are sent in your name; you are responsible for what your templates say.

10. Cancelling your plan

Plans are month to month. You can cancel any property's plan at any time from the Subscription page in your dashboard, or by emailing us. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing month; you keep access until then and are not charged again. We do not refund part-months. When a plan ends, the listing is taken offline, but your account, bookings and certificates stay available to you and you can reactivate at any time.

Any commission owed on bookings already made stays payable after cancellation. Confirmed future bookings remain your obligation to the guest.

11. When we can suspend or end your account

We can suspend or close a host account if a payment fails and is not put right within 14 days of us telling you; if a listing or your conduct is unlawful, dishonest or abusive towards guests or our team; or if you seriously or repeatedly break these terms. Where practical we will warn you first and give you a chance to fix the problem. We can also end these terms for any reason on 30 days' notice, in which case we will refund any unused part of the current month.

12. Availability of the service

We aim to keep Saltwater Direct running at all times but cannot promise it will never be interrupted. We depend on third parties (hosting, Stripe, email delivery) and on calendar feeds published by other platforms, which we do not control. We will do what we reasonably can to fix problems quickly and to tell you about planned maintenance. You should keep your own record of bookings.

13. Our responsibility to you

Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that the law does not allow us to limit. Subject to that:

• We are not liable for loss of profit, loss of bookings, or any indirect loss, including loss caused by a double booking where a calendar feed from another platform was late or incomplete.
• We are not liable for anything a guest does at your property, or for disputes between you and a guest.
• Our total liability to you in any 12-month period is limited to the plan fees you paid us in that period.

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. For anything that affects you materially we will email you at least 30 days before the change applies. If you carry on using Saltwater Direct after that date, the new terms apply; if you do not agree, you can cancel under section 10 before then.

15. General

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales and any dispute will be dealt with by the courts of England and Wales. If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies. These terms, together with the privacy policy, are the whole agreement between us about Saltwater Direct.

Questions about these terms: hello@saltwaterdirect.co.uk.