Please note – When you submit a booking via our online reservation system you will receive an automatically generated booking summary by email to the email address you provide in the booking form. This does not form a contract between us. A contract shall only arise when your booking is subsequently confirmed by post or email.

Booking Terms and Conditions for Kernock Cottages

CONTRACT

The Contract for a short-term holiday rental will be between the Owners of Kernock Cottages (referred to as “us” or “we”) and the person making the booking under the following booking conditions. UK law will govern the Contract. The contract of hire is not effective until we have received and processed the deposit. The contract will be subject to these booking conditions, and must be complied with. The party leader must be at least 18 years of age at the time of booking and the booking form must list names, addresses and ages of your party. You are responsible for ensuring that all members of your booking party comply with the Terms of Use (as set out below), however, the Contract for the provision of accommodation is between us and you (as the person making the booking).

PAYMENT

Bookings are confirmed on receipt of the booking form and receiving the deposit of 1/3 of the holiday cost. The balance of the rental will be due for payment six weeks before the start of your holiday. We will send you a reminder when the balance is due. The balance should be paid within 3 days of receipt of the reminder. We reserve the right to cancel a holiday where payment has not been made within a week of notification of the balance being due. If the booking is made within six weeks of the holiday start date, then payment will be due in full.

CANCELLATION

Our Cancellation and Refund policy is at www.kernockcottages.com/information/cancellation-policy .

TERMS OF USE

You may access the property from 5pm on the day of arrival (earlier arrivals are strictly by arrangement only). Please note that departure is by 9.30am on your final day (again, later departures are strictly by arrangement only). We need this time to ensure that the cottage is ready for your arrival after the previous guests. Sadly, we don’t have a magic wand, and need to clean the old-fashioned way! You must not use the property except for the purpose of a holiday during the holiday period, and not for any other purpose or longer period. The agreement to stay in the property for the holiday period does not create the relationship of Landlord and Tenant between the parties. You shall not be entitled to a new tenancy, or to any assured short hold or assured tenancy or any statutory protection under the Housing Act 1988 or other statutory security of tenure now or at the end of the Holiday Period. On departure, you are requested to leave the accommodation in a clean and tidy condition. This includes washing up, placing rubbish in bin liners and putting in outside bins, and ensuring the oven is generally clean and free from grease. It would be helpful if grease was wiped also from the BBQ plates for us to clean them fully later.

USE OF THE PROPERTY

Under no circumstances may more than the maximum number of persons stated in the brochure and on the web site occupy the property, unless by prior arrangement with the owners. We reserve the right to refuse admittance if this condition is not observed.

You must not use the Cottage or the site for any illegal, dangerous, offensive, noxious or noisy activities or behave in a way that may be a nuisance or annoyance to us, other guests or our neighbours. Kernock is a peaceful location and we ask that you respect that and our other guests. As such, the playing of music, singing or other excessive noise that can be heard outside of your cottage after 9pm is not permitted.

Smoking is not allowed in any of the cottages or in the hot tubs. If you wish to smoke outside, please let us know, and we will provide you with a suitable container. Please do not discard cigarette butts in the garden or grounds.

LIABILITY

Kernock Cottages, its employees and representatives shall not be liable to you or your party for loss or damage to property howsoever arising unless demonstrably caused by our negligence or wilful misconduct or that of those for whom we are legally responsible. You must take all necessary steps to safeguard yourselves and your property.

Third Party Services

If you wish to engage any third party to perform any service (including by way of example private catering, beauty therapy, childminding or entertainment services) at the site or the Cottage you must obtain our written permission. Such permission should be requested in advance of your stay with details of the entity you intend to use to perform the service, the service to be performed and details of their public and employer’s liability insurance. Consent will only be given where we and our insurers are happy that the appropriate risks have been covered. The use of candles or fireworks is not permitted in any circumstances. We will not accept liability for the services provided (or failure to provide such services) by any third party supplier or business used by you in the course of your Stay (regardless of whether they are recommended or referred by us). This will not apply where we have been negligent or dishonest in this regard.

CARE OF THE PROPERTY

You are responsible for the property and are expected to take all reasonable care of its furniture, pictures, fittings and effects, in or on the property. You must leave them in the same state of repair and in the same clean and tidy condition at the end of the rental period as at the beginning. You must not use the properties for any dangerous, offensive, noxious, noisy, immoral activities or carry on there any act that may be a nuisance or annoyance to the owner or other neighbouring properties. Smoking is not allowed in any of the properties.

DAMAGES & BREAKAGES

You are legally bound to reimburse us for replacement, repair or extra cleaning costs on demand (although we would not charge you for the odd glass or plate). If you lose a key we will replace it upon you paying for the cutting of a new one.

EV CHARGING

There is an eV and a TESLA charging point at the farm buildings below the entrance, which are shared between the 4 cottages. Guests are requested to behave accordingly and respect other guests’ needs to charge their vehicles. It is prohibited to connect any vehicle to a domestic electrical socket at a cottage on site, for safety reasons. This so-called ‘granny-charging’ is not permitted at Kernock. We operate an honesty fee charging policy for electricity consumed charging a vehicle.

SMART TVs AND PAY PER VIEW SERVICES

Guests are reminded to log-out on departure of any pay per view services they access via Kernock Cottages’ media platforms, eg Smart TVs. Kernock cannot be held responsible for any subsequent financial charges or losses incurred by subsequent guests, who may have used the logged-in accounts of former guests.

RIGHT OF ENTRY

We shall be allowed reasonable right of entry to the property at all reasonable times for purposes of inspection or to carry out any necessary repairs or maintenance.

COMPLAINTS

Every effort is made to ensure that you have an enjoyable stay. However, if you have any problem or cause for complaint, it is essential that you contact us immediately to give us the chance to resolve it. We value dearly your custom and want you to return. We are on site, and will do our best to resolve any problem. This is much easier to do before you leave.

PETS

We only allow dogs, and only when have they been booked in and paid for. (£25 per dog, per stay/per cottage entered). In order to maintain our Five Star Gold Cottages for everyone to enjoy, it is necessary that guests bringing dog(s) agree to abide by the dog rules on our website.

HOT TUB USE

The safety of our guests is paramount. The hot tubs are there for your enjoyment but we require you to observe the Hot Tub Rules which can be found on the Hot Tub page of our website https://www.kernockcottages.com/information/hot-tubs/ . If you or members of your party fail to observe these regulations during your stay we reserve the right to close this facility or restrict your access.

PRIVACY POLICY

We are committed to ensuring the best standards of practice in all our activities. Visitors to our web site can be assured that the protection of privacy and confidentiality are given the highest priority. All personal information is collected, held and used in strict compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Information Collected

We do not collect any personal information from visitors to our website other than information that is knowingly and voluntarily given. Anonymous information is collected, such as the number of visitors to the website in a given period or details of properties and dates selected for online bookings, but it is purely statistical and cannot be used to identify an individual user. Cookies are not used to collect any other information from visitors to the website.

Use of Information

The information collected may be used to contact you with further details of our current activities or to send details of future initiatives or events. It may also be used for research purposes. You can inform us at any time if you no longer require such information to be sent. We treat any data collected during the course of making bookings or dealing with enquiries in strict confidence. Your data will never be sold. As members of Premier Cottages (a marketing collective of the best four and five star cottages in the UK) we have agreed to supply to Premier Cottages Ltd the names, postal and email addresses of all guests booking with us during the previous year, in order that these guests may be sent a Premier Cottages brochure and sent promotional emails from time to time. We also provide them with the email addresses of guest enquiries. By accepting these terms and conditions you are indicating your consent to receiving these communications from us unless you let us know otherwise, which you can do at the point of booking by ticking the Marketing Notes box in the extras section. If at any time you would like your details removed from this list all you need do is to click the unsubscribe link on any of the emails or contact us on stay@kernockcottages.com and we will arrange for you to be removed from the database.

Third Party Disclosure

We will NEVER pass any personal information on to any third party without your consent.

Data Security

We take appropriate measures to safeguard the information we hold from unauthorised access or improper use. Our database is stored in a secure, password protected location. Only users authorised by us have access to this data.

Integrity of Data

We take all reasonable measures to ensure that the information we hold is accurate. In particular we use reliable collection methods and destroy or convert to an anonymous form, any out-of-date data. Individuals may request details of all personal information held by us so as to contest inaccurate or incomplete data, verify the information and have it corrected as appropriate.

Children

Our website is not targeted at children but in any event personal information will not knowingly be collected from children under fourteen years without parental consent.

Enforcement

Any queries relating to our collection or use of personal information should be addressed to stay@kernockcottages.com

RISK ASSESSMENTS

Hazard	Prevention/Mitigation
Slips, trips and falls	Care should be taken in new and unfamiliar surroundings, both inside and outside the cottages. Handrails are provided on all staircases, and on outer steps. Wooden steps outside are embedded with wire for anti-slip. Most of the hot tubs are on raised decking; care should be taken when stepping onto and off these decked areas. Hot tub decking is treated with anti-slip varnish, but care should still be exercised during damp weather. Proximity lights are in place outside of the cottages to assist with movement at night-time, adjacent to the cottages. There are many rabbit holes on the site, especially in the dog park ‘Central Bark’ area; care should be taken to avoid stepping into these holes and distractions such as mobile phones should be avoided. Additional care should be taken when walking through wooded areas, in case of large twigs or small branches being on the ground. Brambles can sometimes embed into the ground creating trip hazards, and guests should be mindful of these when walking near some of the ‘wilded’ areas on site.
Fire	Guests should be mindful of the risks of fire as in their own home. There are no combustible heat sources in the cottages (oil or gas), hence there are no carbon monoxide sensors. Heat and smoke alarms are fitted in each cottage. A small powder fire extinguisher and a fire blanket is provided in each cottage. Candles are prohibited in the cottages. Smoking is prohibited in the cottages.
Burns and scalds	Care should be taken when cooking, especially with oils and water to avoid the risk of burns and scalds.
Electricity	Electrical equipment is checked regularly, including annual PAT testing. Guests should report any concerns to the owners.
Furniture and fittings	Furniture and fittings are checked regularly. Guests should report any concerns to the owners.
Road traffic	There is minimal road traffic on site, but care should still be taken when on or near the roads on site.
Animals/Dogs	Many other guests will have dogs, and should be approached with caution especially when off the lead.
Hot tubs	There is a separate risk assessment for the cottage hot tubs.