Destination America Property Owners Club - Trading Terms & Conditions Agreement
These terms and conditions set out a co-operative working partnership between USA Travel Business Opportunities, trading as Destination America, on the one hand and individual property owners, or their representative / agent on the other hand, to the mutual benefit of both parties.
The person uploading the details of a property, or properties, for inclusion in our database and to be published on the destination america.com website, has the full authority to do so, and therefore undertakes to accept and agrees to be legally bound by these terms and conditions, and does so in the full knowledge that Destination America does not accept any variation or exception to these terms under any circumstances whatsoever, verbal or otherwise.
Whereby it is agreed as follows:
On the one hand Destination America provides you with the facility and website to offer your accommodation/s for holiday / vacation rental to include property details / specification, rental prices, availability and photographs. And on the other hand the owner / representative / agent submits the property for the procurement of rental bookings through the destinationamerica.com website, on either a non-exclusive or exclusive basis, and in doing so accepts and agrees to comply with this trading terms and conditions agreement. It is understood that it is not an option to use the destinationamerica.com website facility without working in a marketing and booking partnership with Destination America and bookings placed are subject to the standard commission.
The website provides you with the option to trade in UK Pounds, US Dollars or Euros, regardless of your country of residence, on the understanding that whatever currency is chosen to display rates is to be the same as for the payment of bookings.
This agreement commences upon the submission of the registration form to Destination America through its website destinationamerica.com when the property owner or agent ticks to agree to these terms and conditions and proceeds to upload a property(s).
Destination America therefore seeks to work in a co-operative partnership with property owners or their representative/s to the mutual benefit of both parties on the follow ing understanding:
• That you own all or part of the property or represent the owner (with
the full authority to do so) in a marketing capacity.
• That you will respond promptly to both availability enquiries and booking
requests.
• That a property must only feature on the website once.
• That only an individual specific property may be uploaded for the procurement
of bookings through the website.
• That the information processed through the property upload procedure
must be 100% accurate and not misleading in any way.
• That the property information must not contain any reference to any
of the following: Name of a property owner/s, link or reference of any kind
to any external website, any reference to the ‘name’ of a property.
• That only the specific information requested through the steps of the
upload procedure is provided.
• The use of expressions such as ‘The best’, etc in referring
to a property or its aspect – must not be used.
• The use of expressions such as ‘Lowest price’ or ‘Best
deal’ in relation to rental rates – must not be used.
• Not to use superlatives in free text unless it genuinely reflects the
description and not to use capital letters for an entire word.
• That if you have selected the option to keep the availability calendar
up to date then you will do so at all times.
• The first property photograph uploaded must be an exterior one of the
actual property.
• The second property photograph must be one of either the private or
communal swimming pool.*
• *Coastal property without the use of either a private or communal swimming
pool to show a photograph of the nearest beach.
• And that if in the opinion of the webmaster, any part of the property
description is lacking in grammar or quality or any other aspect is considered
to be to the detriment of the website, or contravenes any of the above requirements,
that:
• Destination America reserves the right to amend any free text or information
in order to standardise the website format.
• Destination America reserves the right to reject any photograph if
it deems it unsuitable for any reason whatsoever.
• Destination America reserves the right not to publish a property on
the website if in its opinion it deems a property unsuitable for the destinationamerica.com
website programme, and it does so entirely at its own discretion without further
explanation.
NB: The above is to ensure that each property will show to the site user in a similar and therefore familiar format and it is for the customer to decide which property is best suited to their requirements. In essence we do not want expressions, and in particular the use of superlatives or additional features added into the property information that will unduly influence the decision making process by a customer in any way other than through viewing the property information.
Property Management:
It is your responsibility to ensure that the property is fully maintained,
cleaned and that the equipment is in full working order ready for the arrival,
and that there is a responsible person, usually a property management agent,
on hand to ensure that any problems that do occur are quickly rectified.
It is your responsibility to ensure that the property is maintained by qualified
persons and is safe for use and occupation, furthermore that any maintenance
or refurbishment work is carried out with due diligence and care by reputable
and skilled persons. Destination America does not act in the capacity as
property management agents and nothing in this agreement imposes any obligation
upon us to do so.
The Property:
The owner undertakes that the accommodation will comply at all times with all
local, trade and national laws, regulations and codes of practice relating
to hygiene, fire, safety and any other standards for the rental of the property,
and will at all times be maintained in compliance with current and any and
all future requirements. Furthermore that the property is comprehensively
insured and licensed for holiday rentals and will remain insured and licensed
at all times as required.
That you are directly and solely responsible for the accuracy of all information relating to the property information as uploaded and published on the destinationamerica.com website and that you will be liable for any false, inaccurate or misleading statements.
You will bring to the attention of Destination America any significant changes or alterations to the property or its immediate location, or any deficiency or problem affecting the property for any reason, whether temporary or otherwise. In respect of any forward bookings in place at this time should any material change be to the detriment of the customer’s enjoyment then you agree that the customer will be notified and provided with the opportunity to cancel the reservation without any penalty charge.
That if you should have to cancel a booking/s for force majeure reasons that you will notify Destination America immediately that you have become aware of such a situation so that remedial action can be taken on behalf of the customer. You agree that you will not cancel a booking/s for any other reason than force majeure. In the event that the property is to be sold then the property owner will inform Destination America immediately and any forward bookings can be transferred over to the new owner, with the current owner and Destination America working together to handle any existing bookings during this transitional period. If the property is not to continue as a rental one then Destination America will transfer any of its existing bookings to an alternative property if need be. If a booking is cancelled, for whatever reason, then the owner agrees to accept full responsibility for all losses, claims and expenses incurred by Destination America and/or the customer arising out of the said cancellation, and Destination America will be entitled to terminate this agreement at its sole discretion with immediate effect.
In the event of a customer complaint ‘in residence’ that you will deal sympathetically and considerately with the customers issues and work with the local persons responsible for the care of the property to a speedy resolution. Destination America will arbitrate, in as much as it can, in the event that a situation is not resolved to the customers satisfaction. In the rare event of a serious situation where the client is unable to continue to enjoy the rental of the property without it continuing to be detrimental to their holiday to the extent that they do not want to remain in occupation then the ultimate decision as to the resolution will lie with Destination America, including relocating the rental to an alternative property, in which circumstances the owner of the property vacated will not automatically receive any of the rental income, unless at its discretion Destination America is able to at least make a partial payment, dependent entirely upon the circumstances, but ultimately the final decision will lie with Destination America to do as it sees fit in the common interest of all parties concerned. You therefore agree to our obligation to reallocate the rental funds in these circumstances and that we have no further liability to you.
Customer funds:
Destination America will deposit and hold all monies received from rental bookings
in its HSBC client account for payment to the property owner.
Payments for bookings:
Destination America will remit the full payment due on each booking on the
day following the customer departure from the rental property. In the event
of a reservation for your property being cancelled, then any funds held will
be paid under the terms of cancellation and will be remitted within 7 days
of us being in receipt of written notification from the said customer. Payments
will be made in the currency nominated by the owner which will be the same
as the rental rates entered onto the system. Payments to UK banks will be
sent by BACS, payments in US Dollars and Euros will be sent by American Express
transfer to the nominated bank account. We will pay the charges in respect
of the sending bank but will not be responsible for any charges that the
receiving bank might impose. When the first booking is placed on a property
the owner will receive a remittance advice form for completion in order to
provide us with the details we will require to set up the payment system.
The commission of 15% will be deducted from the rental payment.
We accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever for the non payment of the balance payment by the due date by the customer, save to chase the customer and provide a short period for remedy, following which the booking will be cancelled and the owner notified. The cancellation terms will be applied to the deposit payment and processed accordingly.
Customer Amendments:
That in the event of a request for a change of arrival date, or number of nights,
the owner will agree to accommodate the customer if the change is possible,
and acceptable, without any charge to Destination America. If there is a
change of rental cost then the new rate will be applied to the booking. If
the stay is for a reduced number of nights then part of the booking will
be treated on a pro-rata basis as a part cancellation and the cancellation
terms applied. If the request is not possible, or acceptable to the owner,
then the booking will be treated as a cancellation and the cancellation terms
applied to the customers booking.
General:
That you will not attempt to use the owner system for any other reason than
for which it is intended; that being the procurement of rental bookings in
conjunction with working in partnership with the Destination America website,
destinationamerica.com
That you accept full liability for the provision of the accommodation to the customer as the principal supplier and agree to indemnify Destination America for the full amount of all claims, liabilities, demands, damages, expenses and all other sums incurred by whatever nature, including any breach of this agreement.
That, if you opted to do so, you will maintain the property availability calendar up to date with available and booked dates and that you will keep the rental rates as far forward as possible.
Destination America shall not in any way be liable to the Property Owner or any Third Party for any loss or damage caused by the holidaymakers whether caused by negligence, dishonesty or otherwise, by the use of the property by the renters in any way whatsoever. The owner is solely responsible for all taxes of any nature, local or national, which relate to the property or any rental income from the property.
The owner agrees that no use will be made of information or data supplied by Destination America relating to renters introduced by Destination America saved for the purpose of the rental.
If we believe the property information to be misleading to customers we may at our sole discretion terminate this agreement and remove all the property information from our system, advising the owner accordingly.
In the event of the termination of this agreement, by either party, we will immediately cease to publish the property/s and remove all information relating to it. Any forward bookings in place at this time will be processed in the usual way in a run off period.
We reserve the right to modify the terms and conditions contained in this agreement at our discretion at any time in which case we will notify all parties of such changes, which may be through the website or any other method of our choosing.
The basis of these terms and conditions are governed by English Law and the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. If you reside in Northern Ireland or Scotland, the relevant court can deal with any dispute.
