© Grace Nicols Homes Ltd. 2017
Terms & Conditions of Booking
The following Terms and Conditions apply to all holiday villas, properties or apartments booked
with Grace Nicols Homes Ltd (“We”, “Us”, “Ours” or “Grace Nicols Homes”). Together they
form the basis of your contract with us. Please read them carefully as they set out our respective
obligations. In these Terms and Conditions “You”, “Yours”, “Client” means all persons named in
the booking including anyone who is added or substituted at a later date.
Grace Nicols Homes is a trading name of Grace Nicols Homes Ltd and is registered in England
and Wales under company number 09611821 and whose registered office is 264 High Street,
Beckenham, Kent, BR3 1DZ. Except where otherwise specified, Grace Nicols Homes acts only as
an agent in respect of all ‘accommodation only’ bookings we take and/or make on your behalf.
We accept no liability in relation to any contract you enter into or for property you book through
third party websites (“Property”) or for the acts or omissions of any supplier(s) or other person(s)
or party(ies) connected with any Property. For all ‘accommodation only’ bookings, your contract
will be with the owner/supplier/principal of the Property in question (the ‘Owner’). When
making your booking we will arrange for you to enter into a contract with the applicable Owner
of the Property. Your booking with us is subject to these agency Terms and Conditions and the
specific booking conditions of the relevant Owner you contract with (if any) and you are advised
to read both carefully prior to booking. The Owner’s terms and conditions may limit and/or
exclude the supplier’s liability to you. Property specific terms and conditions for each Owner are
listed under the relevant description on each property advert page. By booking a property you
agree to those terms and conditions.
1. Accuracy of Information
We have personally visited every property, and have made all reasonable efforts to ensure that
the details are correct and that the photos correspond to the property well at the time of the visit.
While we take all reasonable care to ensure the descriptions, facts, opinions and photographs of
properties are accurately reproduced, you must accept that minor differences between the
photographs and text used and the actual property may arise from time to time. Owners reserve
the right to make modifications to the property specification and the visual aspects of the
property; this may include the continual improvement of the property by the Owners and the
alteration of furniture, amenities, facilities previously available, without any prior notice. If we
become aware of material changes after your booking has been confirmed, we will advise you of
these as soon as possible prior to your departure. Distances given on the website relating to
properties are approximate. Travelling times given relate to driving, not walking, unless otherwise
stated and are approximate. You acknowledge that the property is not a hotel but a private
accommodation being let for self-catering holidays. We cannot accept responsibility for any
descriptions, facts or opinions published in any third party or supplier’ brochures or promotional
material.
2. Booking Summary and Booking Confirmation
The Booking Summary which you have accepted is not a booking confirmation, the property will
be booked for the rental period upon dispatch of a Confirmation of Booking and the Owner is
not obliged to make the property available, nor is a binding contract in place, until such time as
the Confirmation of Booking has been sent to you by email by Grace Nicols Homes. Until the
booking has been confirmed it is only a provisional booking.
The nature of the holiday properties we arrange means we are often not in a position to confirm
every element at the time of booking. If for any reason we do not expect the key elements of your
holiday property to be available we will advise you accordingly and proceed with the immediate
refund of all monies you have paid us. Processing your payment is not a guarantee or
representation that your requested property arrangements will be provided or confirmed.
Obtaining confirmation from property owners may typically take one week or more. Grace
Nicols Homes would usually confirm your booking within 2 working days of receipt of (i) your
deposit or full payment as the case may be and (ii) a signed and executed copy of the rental
agreement between you and the Owner.
Except where otherwise advised or stated in the booking conditions of the Owner concerned, all
monies you pay to us for bookings will be held by us on behalf of the Owner concerned. By
paying the deposit the party leader accepts these Terms and Conditions on behalf of all members
of the party and confirms that he/she is so authorised to do so. The party leader is responsible
for all payments due to us and must be at least 18 when the booking is made.
3. Payment
A non-refundable 30% deposit must be paid at the time of booking (or full payment if booking
within 4 weeks of arrival date). If you have paid a deposit, the final balance is payable 4 weeks
prior to the commencement of the holiday. Once this has been paid it is non-refundable as a
cancellation would not leave the Owner with sufficient time to find a substitute booking. If full
payment is not received by the balance due date, we will notify the Owner who may cancel your
booking and retain all payments made by you to date.
Bookings made less than 8 weeks before arrival date require full payment at the time of
confirmation.
Payments can be made by bank transfer, credit or debit card or cheque. Credit card payments
will be subject to a fee of between 2% and 3% depending upon card type.
4. Prices
All prices published on third party or own web sites, brochures and marketing materials are for
guidance only. Although every effort is taken to ensure prices are accurate at the time of
publication we cannot guarantee these prices. Please note, changes and errors occasionally
© Grace Nicols Homes Ltd. 2017
occur. You must check the price of your chosen property at the time of booking. We reserve the
right to alter or correct errors in any quoted or published prices at any time prior to a contract
coming into existence.
Prices displayed are per property per week and are for fully furnished and equipped properties.
Prices are quoted in Sterling or Euros per week depending on the Owner requirements. Prices
are for accommodation only unless stated otherwise on the Booking Form and are inclusive of
end of stay cleaning fees.
5. Capacity
It is a booking condition that the number of people occupying the property may not exceed the
advertised capacity, without prior written consent. Owners may terminate your booking without
refund in the event you breach this condition.
6. Travel Arrangements
Do not make irreversible flight or travel arrangements until you have received final confirmation
of your booking.
7. Changes and Cancellations by You
Any cancellation or amendment request must be sent to us in writing, by email or post, and will take
effect on the day we receive it. Amendments and cancellations can only be accepted in accordance
with the terms and conditions of the Owner of the Property.
If you wish to amend your booking, whilst we will try to assist, we cannot guarantee that such
requests will be met. Please ensure that you have received written confirmation of any changes to
your booking prior to travel in the event your amendments can be facilitated. The Owner may charge
an amendment fee and in addition you must pay us an administration fee of £25.00 per person.
Please note that in the event you wish to cancel your confirmed booking, no refunds of your deposit
will be given in any circumstances; in addition, if you cancel less than 4 weeks before your arrival
date, all payments, including deposit and balance payments you make to us are non-refundable in
any instance. This policy directly reflects the Owners’ individual policies, and you should therefore
take out suitable travel insurance to cover the risks that may lead to such an eventuality.
8. Changes and Cancellations by the Owner
We will inform you as soon as reasonably possible if the Owner needs to make a significant
change to your confirmed arrangements or to cancel them. We will also liaise between you and
the Owner in relation to any alternative arrangements offered by the Owner (if any) but we will
have no further liability to you.
In the event the booking is cancelled by the Owner of the property and no alternative can be
offered, a full refund of all monies paid by you as at the date of cancellation will be made by the
Owner. This policy directly reflects the Owners’ individual policies. Grace Nicols Homes cannot
be held liable for any additional costs incurred by you (such as travel). We recommend that you
take out holiday insurance to ensure against any losses incurred by an owner cancellation.
9. Our Responsibility for Your Booking
Grace Nicols Homes solely acts as an agent and payment gateway on behalf of all of the
properties listed on its websites. Your contract is with the Owner and its terms and conditions
apply. Grace Nicols Homes shall have no responsibility or liability to you other than for the
performance of these services. A booking is made directly between yourself and the Owner of the
property and is a legally binding contract. Therefore before confirming your booking you should
read the terms carefully to ensure that you agree with everything contained within them. Our
responsibilities are limited to making the booking in accordance with your instructions. We
accept no responsibility for any information about the arrangements that we pass on to you in
good faith.
The description of the rental property and facilities at a property are based on the information
provided to us by the Owner, who certifies that the information provided is correct. Grace Nicols
Homes may not be held liable for any fault on the part of the Owner in this regard, or for any
changes affecting the rental property or its surroundings which have not been brought to our
attention by the Owner before you occupy the property. Neither we nor the Owner can be held
responsible for noise or disturbance originating beyond the boundaries of the property or which is
beyond the Owner’s control. In the event that a source of reasonably obvious noise has been in
existence prior to your arrival and we are informed of this, we will contact you to inform you of the
disturbance.
Our booking services do not provide for anything other than the provision of accommodation and we
will not be responsible for any loss, expense, inconvenience, injury or damage caused by or arising
from any fault or defect in any equipment, machinery, appliance, accessory, fitting, fixture or
furniture in the property, garden or communal areas. We cannot be held responsible for the
breakdown of mechanical equipment such as pumps, boilers, swimming pool filtration systems, nor
for the failure of public utilities such as water, gas and electricity. If you encounter problems with such
equipment whilst you are at the property, then you should contact the Owner once you encounter
such problems in order to provide the Owner with the opportunity to try and rectify and faults.
Neither we nor the Owner can be held responsible for disruption of local services beyond our
control, for example water supply, electricity and telephone, nor for temporary noise nuisance such
as road works. These problems affect all residents, irrespective of whether they are holiday-makers or
not.
10. Complaints Procedure
On arrival, should you find any material discrepancy between the description provided on the
website and the property itself, or that any of the amenities listed in the property description are
damaged or broken, or if you have any other cause for concern, please bring it to our attention
immediately so they can resolve the problem and to confirm that any damages were caused by
the homeowner of previous occupiers, not you.
You must give the Owner the opportunity to try to resolve any problems or complaints you may
have whilst you are at the property. Any refusal of this or of reasonable rectification may
prejudice your rights to compensation. The owners may need time to make arrangements.
Owners/keyholders/repair people must be given access to the property if you have a problem.
We reserve the right to contact the Owner or housekeeper at any time during this process, and
you must agree to meet with the Owner/housekeeper directly to discuss the problem. All
complaints must be made to the Owner in writing, as well as verbally, with a copy to us.
Complaints received at the end of the holiday will be processed, but there is no guarantee that
your complaint will be upheld if there has been no attempt by you to try and resolve the issues
whilst you were at the property.
Grace Nicols Homes will not become directly involved in any disputes between the property
Owner and you, but will try to assist if there are communication problems due to language issues.
We do not wish to have dissatisfied customers and consider it part of our service to try to put
right any complaints you may have. We will endeavour to act as intermediary in the case of
disputes, but we do not accept any responsibility for them or the outcome of them.
If the problem was not resolved to your reasonable satisfaction during your holiday, you should
put your comments in writing to us within 7 days of your return. We will forward your written
complaint to the Owner and will, within reason, liaise with the Owner to assist in reaching a
satisfactory settlement for all justifiable complaints regarding the property you may have.
However, it is your responsibility to take the complaint up with the Owner directly if no
satisfactory settlement can be reached.
11. Security Deposit
When you book with us, you accept responsibility for any damage or loss caused by you or any
member of your party. A security deposit is required to cover the cost of any damages,
breakages or loss to, or at the property, and the cost of any additional cleaning or rubbish
disposal. The security deposit amount is specific to each property and is detailed on your booking
quotation. It must be paid prior to your arrival either by bank transfer, cheque or cash. If the
security deposit is paid directly to us, the full amount will be allocated to the Owner.
If there are no damages or breakages on your departure, the security deposit will be refunded to
you in full once the Owner/housekeepers confirm this to us. Any breakages or damages found
on your departure will be reported to you and the cost of repair or replacement will be deducted
from your security deposit. The remaining balance will be returned to you. If the Owner incurs
extra charges on your departure for cleaning or rubbish disposal, this also can be deducted from
your security deposit. It is solely the decision of the Owner whether to make deductions from the
security deposit and how much to deduct. We cannot accept any responsibility or liability for
losses incurred by the Client in respect of the security deposit. All properties have inventories and
you should check this at the beginning of your stay at the property and again when you leave to
ensure that everything on the inventory is left as described at the end of your stay. Please also
read any House Manuals which will advise on the rules of rubbish disposal in the particular
village/town as these vary across the region and must be adhered to. If it is thought that there
have been any loss, breakages, damages or utility bill abuse, we will notify you that there may be
a problem. In this case, the Owners reserve the right to hold the security bond for up to 8 weeks
as there may be delays while waiting for utility bills, proof of damage or quotations for repair of
damaged items.
Notwithstanding the security deposit held, you remain liable for the full cost of any repairs or
replacements required or other losses incurred by the Owner due to accidental or negligent
breakage, loss, damage or other injury to the property and/or the contents therein. The Owner
has the right to deduct supplementary charges from the security deposit if the property is not
vacated at the stated time or in the event of any other breach of this agreement by you. You
should ensure you have appropriate travel insurance to protect you if this situation arises.
12. Arrival – Departure
Arrivals are scheduled Saturdays between 4p.m. and 9p.m. (arrivals after 9p.m. will be charged
£25.00, arrivals after 11p.m. will be charged £50.00)
Departures are scheduled Saturdays before 7a.m. and10 a.m. (departures before 7a.m. will be
charged £25.00, departures before 6a.m. will be charged £50.00)
In case of extra charges incurred in relation to late arrival or early departure, these would be
payable to us or our Intendant directly.
Please do inform us of the exact time of your arrival a few days in advance.
13. Keys
Please be careful with the set of key to the property you are renting. If lost, you must contact us
immediately and arrangements will be made to get a spare set to you but this would be at a cost of
£70.
14. Inventory
The property is let furnished with kitchen equipment, tableware, glassware, pillows, furniture and
decorative objects as stated in the description sheet signed by the tenant on arrival. The tenant has
24 hours to notify the landlord of any discrepancies. After this time the property and its contents will
be considered exempt from damage on arrival of the tenant.
15. Insurance
It is a condition of booking that, you have arranged or are covered by adequate insurance cover
for personal liability and accidental damage for all members of the party to cover against
© Grace Nicols Homes Ltd. 2017
accidental or negligent damage to the property, and protect against loss in the event of a
deduction from the security deposit. Such insurance will need to cover for potential damages of
up to €3m (£2.5m) minimum and be valid from the date of check-in until check-out of the
property.
It is strongly recommended that the you take out a comprehensive travel insurance policy, which will
include cancellation cover and full cover for the party’s personal belongings as no such cover is
provided by Grace Nicols Homes or the Owner. Accordingly, any such losses incurred are your
responsibility.
16. Use of the property and behaviour
The tenant has a duty to make sure the neighbourhood’s tranquillity is not troubled by him or his
entourage, and has to use the property in respect to the number of people agreed on the contract.
The tenant has the obligation to use the property personally, to occupy it as a responsible person and
maintain it accordingly. All equipment is in good working order and any claim made more than 24
hours after arrival cannot be accepted. Any repairs made necessary due to negligence or poor
maintenance during the stay will be at the tenant’s cost. The tenant is also asked to leave the
property clean and in order, furniture and equipment in the place where they were found, washing
up done, and at the end of the stay bins and fridges empty. Failure to do so may cost sums which will
be deducted from the security deposit
The person who makes the booking is responsible for the correct and decent behaviour of each
member of the party. Should you or a member of the party not behave in such a manner, the Owner
may use their absolute discretion to terminate the holiday of the person(s) concerned and/or the
Contract applicable to the property. In this situation, the person(s) concerned will be required to leave
the accommodation. Neither we nor the Owner will have any further responsibility toward such
person(s). No refunds will be made and neither we nor the Owner will pay any expenses or costs
incurred as a result of the termination. The Owner is also entitled to ask you to leave the property
without any refund if, in their reasonable opinion, your behaviour is unacceptable (ie. drunken or
loutish behaviour) or if the police are called by neighbours to control the noise levels.
17. Swimming pool safety
Swimming pools are not normally open all year round. If your rental period is outside June to mid-
September, please check with us that the pool is available for use for the period that you wish to stay
at the property. We cannot be responsible for low water temperatures or any problems with any
swimming pools. A few pools have heating but most do not. Pools are usually warm enough to swim
in from June to mid-September but this cannot be guaranteed. Upon arrival at the property you and
all members of your party must take time to familiarise yourselves with the location, layout, and
depths of swimming pool at the property. Please take note of any pool warning signs, depth
markings and other instructions for use, which may be displayed. Young children must not be
allowed to wander unaccompanied in the grounds of any property where there is a swimming pool.
You must make sure that all members of the party are familiar with any pool protection in place.
You are fully responsible for ensuring that the alarm/fence/gate or cover is in place at all times
when the pool is not in use. Children must be supervised at all times, especially around the swimming
pool. Swimming pools do not always have depth markings and you should check the water depth
before using the pool. Diving is at your own risk. Children must be monitored while being close to the
swimming pool or while swimming. Children who cannot swim must have appropriate flotation
equipment.
18. Security and valuables
Any valuables left at the property are left at your own risk. Neither we nor the Owner are responsible
for any loss. Some properties have alarms and safes. It is essential and your responsibility to ensure
all doors, shutters, windows are properly secured and locked when absent from the property, or
when by the poolside/in the grounds. You must also ensure that the property is secured at night. No
refund can be given should you decide to vacate the property as a consequence of a burglary.
19. Pets
Pets are not allowed on properties unless stated in the details of the properties and with the Owner’s
permission. The Owner reserves the right to charge a supplement, and/or increase the security
deposit for the property is they see fit. The number of any allowed pets must be agreed prior to your
booking. If you do not inform us of any pets, the Owner reserves the absolute right to request either
the pet is placed in kennels in France for the duration of your stay, or your removal from the property
without refund or compensation. Pet-friendly properties are available but animals must never be left
alone in the house, must not rest on beds or soft furnishings, and never swim in the pool for hygiene
reasons and for the protection of pool liners.
20. Right to access the property
The Owner or their representative shall be allowed access to inspect the property prior to your
departure. They also have a right to access the property during your stay to carry out urgent
maintenance. Gardeners and pool maintenance staff enter the grounds during your stay, normally
very early in the morning.
21. Visa, Passport and Health Requirements
It is the party leader’s responsibility to ensure that all member of the party are in possession of all
necessary travel and health documents before departure. We regret we cannot accept any
liability if you are refused entry into any country due to failure on your part to carry all required
documentation.
22. Force Majeure
Except where otherwise expressly stated in these Terms and Conditions, we regret we cannot
accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our
obligations under our contract with you is prevented or affected by or you otherwise suffer any
damage, loss or expense of any nature as a result of “force majeure”. In these Terms and
Conditions “force majeure” means any event which we or the Owner of a property in question
could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such events may include political disputes,
acts of war, threat of war, riots, terrorist activity (actual or threatened), border closures, industrial
action (actual or threatened), technical problems with machinery, transport or equipment,
government intervention, natural disasters, fire or explosion, inclement weather and acts of God.
23. Privacy Policy
We understand and respect the importance of your privacy and we are committed to
safeguarding your personal information. In providing our service to you, we must collect personal
information from you and will treat your personal data in accordance with the dispositions of the
Data Protection Act 1998, after it has been collected by any of our channels which include our
website, call centre and any future digital services or channels as they evolve.
We will always treat your personal information and that of your party with the respect it deserves
and will never pass it to any third parties, except those that need this information in the course of
providing the property you have booked. We may contact you from time to time with property
information and offers that we think might be of interest. Should you wish to stop hearing from
us, by email or by any other means, please email us at info@gracenicols.com, detailing how you
wish us to use and store your personal information.