1. BOOK ONE OF OUR COTTAGES
Although our website shows when our cottages are available, the situation can change very quickly. Please contact us by calling 01629 828 301 or by sending us an e-mail to enquiries@peak-holidays.co.uk.
We can take your booking over the phone or from e-mail, although your booking will be treated as provisional until you confirm it with a deposit and we issue you with confirmation of your booking in writing. We allow you up to 5 days to send your deposit – see 2 below. Bookings for holidays due within 6 weeks of contacting us will need to be paid for in full immediately– see 2 below.
2. CONFIRM THE BOOKING WITH A DEPOSIT
i. Normally we need you to pay a deposit of 33% of the total cost of your holiday to ensure that the cottage is reserved for your holiday. You can confirm your booking by paying the deposit within 5 days of making the booking – see 4 below for ways to pay. When you want to start your holiday at the cottage within 6 weeks of the booking we will ask for you to pay the full cost of the holiday immediately. Deposits (and full payments if within 6 weeks of the booking date) are not usually refundable to you, but see 9 and 10 below for exceptions. Where we have received the deposit (and full payment if within 6 weeks of the booking date) and the booking is satisfactory, we will send you confirmation of your holiday in writing. Until you have this holiday confirmation we have not legally agreed to hire the cottage to you, and your booking remains provisional. All payments must be in pounds sterling.
ii. As soon as you receive the holiday confirmation from us you must check it for any errors and let us know about these immediately. It is your responsibility to ensure that the holiday booked meets your requirements.
iii. If you provide us with an email address we will use it to send the holiday confirmation to you, otherwise we will send it by post. It is your responsibility to check your email service for emails from us.
3. MAKE THE FINAL PAYMENT FOR YOUR HOLIDAY
To ensure that your holiday can start at the cottage you must have paid us (and any funds transferring or cheque must have cleared into our bank account) the balance of the total cost of your confirmed holiday 6 weeks before it is due to start. If you do not make the final payment by this date, we will assume that you no longer wish to hire the cottage – see 10 below for the consequences of this.
4. WAYS TO PAY
Peak Holidays is a trading name for blue limes ltd, a small company based in Sheffield, which has been trading since 1999. You may pay for your holiday with your credit or debit card (we accept all major cards except American Express), by transferring funds electronically via the BACS system (we will give you our bank account details) or by sending us a cheque made payable to ‘blue limes Limited’.
5. PRICE OF YOUR HOLIDAY
The price of your holiday is detailed on our website. It is in 2 parts – the daily rate is the rent for staying at the cottage and the cleaning charge is for us to clean the cottage ready for your arrival. It is inclusive of all taxes, booking fees and processing charges We will charge you the price published on the website at the time that we confirmed the holiday to you provided that, when the final payment is due, the tax rate has not changed. Where the taxes have increased at the time you make the final payment for your holiday we may have to charge you the increased cost of the tax. Where we have not confirmed your holiday, we may change the prices at any time.
6. DURATION OF YOUR STAY
You may start and finish your holiday on any day of the week. Check in time is from 4pm on the first day of your holiday and check out on the morning of departure is 10am. The minimum duration is 3 nights’ stay and the maximum is 30 nights. No refund will be payable to you should you decide not to stay the full period of your confirmed holiday – see 10 below.
7. ABOUT YOU AND YOUR PARTY
We only accept bookings from people aged 18 or older and, under these legal arrangements which are for consumers, only for the purpose of hiring the cottages as a private holiday residence. Your party may not exceed the maximum number of people that can sleep in the cottage as detailed on the website or other brochures. When you are holidaying with others (including any pets), we will hold you personally responsible for the actions of, and any distress or damage caused by, your party. Children are welcome and do let us know if you want to hire a travel cot and/or high chair for any young children in your party.
8. PETS/ ASSISTANCE DOGS
Dogs really enjoy a holiday in the country with their families, so we have made our cottages dog-friendly where we can – these are indicated on our web-site and other brochures. You may bring your dog to these cottages providing that, at the time you depart at the end of your holiday, there is no sign that your dog has been staying in the cottage or used the garden areas. You must ensure that your dog is well-behaved, remains downstairs (or within designated areas) and off the furniture at all times. You must never leave your dog alone in the cottage or the garden areas. Our cottages and their gardens are not escape-proof, and you remain responsible for the actions of your dog, and its safety and security throughout your stay in the cottage.
9. WHAT HAPPENS IF WE HAVE TO CHANGE OR CANCEL YOUR BOOKING?
We can change or cancel provisional bookings. At this stage we have not legally agreed to hire the cottage to you so, where you have sent or paid a deposit (or the full payment if the provisional holiday is within 6 weeks of the booking date) we will return all monies to you.
We would not expect to change your booking once it has been confirmed although the cottage may be closed owing to COVID 19 restrictions whether applied nationally or locally applied. If this happens we will offer you alternative dates and/or another of our open cottages if we consider they would be suitable for you. If you choose not to accept the alternative offer we will return any payments that you have made to us in full and this will be the full extent of our liability for changing or cancelling your booking.
10. WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE OR CANCEL YOUR CONFIRMED BOOKING?
i. If you find that you are not able to travel or stay at the cottage owing to Government or your local authority imposed COVID 19 national or local restrictions, then we will offer you alternative dates at the same cottage or refund all the monies you have paid to us and waive the normal administration fee. This only applies where the restrictions apply to your address, as the lead person in your party, and not where others in your party are restricted but you are not.
ii. If you or any of your party become ill with COVID 19, decide, or are asked by an official body, not to travel pending tests or to isolate yourself we will not refund your payments. You may ask to change the holiday dates and we will try to help – see 10 iii. below – but we recommend that you insure against having to cancel your holiday for these reasons as you might for other incidents or illnesses.
iii. If you find that you want to change or cancel your booking for a reason other than COVID 19 national or local restrictions imposed by Government or your local authority, please contact us as soon as possible so that we can try to arrange for other holidaymakers to hire the cottage instead of you. We will only be able to act on your decision to cancel or change your holiday when you have told us in writing. Where we can find replacement holidaymakers for the whole holiday period we will refund your payments less an administration fee of £55 to cover our costs.
iv. If your holiday has been confirmed but you want to change the dates of your holiday with us we will try to arrange this. It will depend upon whether you want to stay at the same cottage; the dates you now want; and whether we can find replacement holidaymakers for the whole holiday period. If not already paid, you may have to pay the full cost of the holiday immediately – for example, if the new holiday dates are within 6 weeks. You will be charged more for the deposit and the full cost if the price for the new dates is higher than the original confirmed holiday dates. The price is shown on our website. Any increase in the deposit will be payable immediately to confirm the holiday. We will charge you an administration fee of £55 for re-organising your holiday and the work to sell the dates you had originally booked.
v. If you decide to cancel a holiday before your holiday is due to start, as we may have to drop the price or even fail to find a late-booking holidaymaker, the following arrangements will apply:
a. Cancellation at 43 days or more before holiday due to start – refund deposit less a £55 administration fee;
b. Cancellation at 28 or more days but less than 43 days’ before holiday due to start – refund 50% of price paid less a £55 administration fee;
c. Cancellation at 21 or more days but less than 28 days’ before holiday due to start – refund 35% of price paid less a 55 administration fee;
d. Cancellation between at 7 or more days but less than 21 days’ before holiday due to start – refund 20% of price paid less a £55 administration fee;
e. Cancellation at less than 7 days’ before the day is holiday is due to start or after the start date – refund 10% of price paid less a £55 administration fee;
f. Where the sum due for refund is less than the £55 administration fee you will pay us the £55 immediately.
vi. Where there is a balance owing to us following these calculations you will pay us the sum we are owed immediately.
vii. In addition if you arrive later than planned to start your holiday – see 13 below – or decide to leave earlier than the end of the booked period we will not refund any payments.
viii. You must not bring more people (including children) or pets in your party than you have already booked. If you do we can refuse you entry or ask you to leave if you have already started your holiday, and will not refund any payments to you. If you wish to change the details of your party after you have booked the cottage, please get in touch with us – see 1 above – so that we can discuss your requirements. Similarly, if we are concerned about how you have, or might, treat our cottages and their neighbours during your holiday we can refuse to allow you to enter the cottage, or ask you to leave immediately. In these circumstances you must leave immediately, but we will not refund any payments to you.
11. WHAT WE PROVIDE FOR YOU IN OUR COTTAGES
i. Our cottages are fully furnished for you and your party’s stay and include bed linen, towels, and fuel (including a starter supply of logs for cottages with wood-burning stoves). If requested we can provide a child’s cot (this will be a travel cot without bed linen) and highchair at no further charge.
ii. There is a full inventory provided with each cottage. We check for damage, faulty and missing items after each party has left and will update this. Please tell us of any further damage or missing items that are not listed in the inventory of the cottage and not caused by you within an hour of obtaining the keys to the cottage.
iii. Occasionally, there are breakages or a need to refresh the cottages’ decor so we cannot guarantee that all the features you see described or shown in pictures on our website or other brochures will be in the cottage when you arrive. All changes we make are of equivalent functionality and quality as that shown in our website and other brochures.
12. COLLECTING AND RETURNING KEYS
i. Once you have booked and fully paid for your holiday we will contact you to arrange to arrange how you can check-in at the cottage on your arrival. We can then answer any questions you may have and arrange to provide you with a set of keys to the cottage and any outside buildings you may use during your holiday. Please take care of these keys and always ensure that the cottage is fully secure. If you damage the keys or lock yourself out of the cottage we will have to give you a further set of keys or even replace all the locks. If we have to attend the cottage to let you in or provide replacement keys you will pay a fee of £45 for our time attending the cottage and the cost of the replacement set of keys. Where you lose the set of keys or the locks are damaged you will pay a fee of £250 to ensure that we can replace them and ensure that the cottage is secure ahead of our next guests’ arrival.
ii. When you leave you must ensure that all the external doors and windows (and any internal doors and windows and outside buildings’ doors and windows for which we have given you keys) are locked in the cottage and leave the keys in the place we request.
13. HAVING A GREAT HOLIDAY – WHAT WE ASK OF YOU WHEN YOU STAY
We want you to have a lovely holiday – and want to come back to see us again. We also want others who stay at the cottages after you to enjoy them too. Therefore, as a condition of hiring the cottage you agree to:
i. Arrive and leave at the times stated in 6 above or as agreed with us;
ii. Bring only those in your party that you have booked to stay in the cottage;
iii. Treat the cottage well – using the furnishings and equipment provided as they are intended to be used and leaving everything as clean and tidy as, and in the place, you found it;
iv. Not smoke in the cottage or other outside buildings;
v. Not use candles – we leave a bright torch for use in the dark nights and in case of power cuts;
vi. Keep the cottage secure –you and your party’s belongings are left in the cottage and around the property at your own risk;
vii. Let us know of any problems so we can fix them;
viii. Allow us access to the cottage when we ask for it;
ix. Report to and pay us (including grant us authority to use the same credit or debit card used to pay for the holiday) for any damage that you and your party cause to the cottage or around the property and our costs to manage the repair or replacement required ;
x. Consider our neighbours and not disturb their quiet enjoyment of their homes and lives – all our cottages are all in small villages, some quieter than others and so your behaviour can disturb others;
xi. Take all of your belongings home with you.
14. WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT OF US WHEN YOU STAY
In addition to providing the cottage made ready for your party – see 11 above – you will receive a warm welcome on your arrival together with a welcome pack to settle you. We will not generally intrude in your holiday but you can get in contact with us if you need our help with anything. On occasion we (or others we have authorised) may have to enter the cottage and this may be without giving notice to you. If you are at the cottage at the time we (or others we have authorised) want to be, we (or others we have authorised) will try to limit any intrusion upon on your holiday; if you are not in the cottage at the time we (or others we have authorised) will be respectful of your belongings but may need to move them. We will try to let you know in advance of our plans to be in the cottage, but where we are unable to do this and do not see you at the cottage and we have needed to move your belongings we will try to tell you know as soon as is reasonably practicable.
15. WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT IF WE DON’T FULFIL OUR PART OF THE ARRANGEMENT
i. If you are unhappy with any aspect of your holiday with us we want to know about it. Please do tell us if you have any comments or complaints, preferably as soon as you can so we can do what we can to address them. Where you have problems related to the cottage it is harder to resolve them after you have left and your holiday is over, so please let us know about them during your stay. You may call us on 01629 828301; e-mail on feedback@peak-holidays.co.uk or write to Peak Holidays, The Manse, 37, Oakdale Road, Sheffield S7 1SL. Complaints received later than 1 month after you have left the cottage will become very difficult to investigate as many other guests will have used the cottage.
ii. We will investigate your complaint and provide a response to you about it within two weeks. As your enjoyment of the cottages is key to our business we take all comments and complaints seriously and each is considered by our company directors to enable us to learn and improve our service to you.
iii. We may decide on a goodwill basis to make some financial or other recompense to you as a result of investigating a complaint.
16. WHAT WE DO WITH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
As part of making your booking you will need to provide some personal information to us about you and your party – for example we will see your contact details, any medical information you share with us and your banking details as part of payment. Legally we are the data controller of this personal data. We will use this information in order to prepare the cottage for you, for our internal administration purposes (including processing your payments) and to help us consider whether we have other holidays that you might want to take with us in the future. This may include sharing information with our friends where you decide to stay in their cottage. We will retain the information for up to 6 years after your holiday for this purpose unless you write to us at Peak Holidays, The Manse, 37, Oakdale Road, Sheffield S7 1SL. Other than as detailed here, we will not share this information with other organisations.
17. WHAT IS THE SITUATION IF THINGS HAPPEN BEYOND OUR CONTROL
Where we are unable to provide, or are late in provision of, the cottage to you for reasons beyond our control we shall tell you but will not have to provide alternative accommodation for you. Reasons beyond our control means any event we cannot foresee exercising all due care, for example riots, war or threat of war, terrorist activity, natural disasters, adverse weather, fire, epidemic, pandemic or health risk and other similar events beyond our control. If such a situation arises before your holiday start date, we will return all the payments that you have made for the booked cottage and that will be the full extent of our liability to you.
18. THE LEGAL SITUATION
i. These booking conditions together with either the booking form signed by (or the telephone or email booking request from) you and the holiday confirmation signed (or emailed to you) by us form part of a legal contract for you to hire our cottage(s). Some of our cottages are not owned by us but by others (“our friends”), for whom we act as a booking and letting agent. When you book one of our friends’ cottages we will let you know so that you are aware that the legal contract is between you and which of our friends. In this situation, you have no obligations to us (or us to you) and we are only involved acting as our friend’s agent in relation to bookings (including changes and cancellations and related fees), payment and handling complaints. All of your other obligations (and the other commitments to you) under this contract are between our friends as the owners of the cottage and you. Where you cause damage to our friends’ cottage, our friends may recover the costs of repair or replacement but will not be authorized to use any credit/ debit card in accordance with 13 ix) above and 18 viii) below, although we may do this on their behalf.
ii. These booking conditions supersede any earlier booking conditions published on our website or elsewhere. Further updates to these booking conditions may supersede these booking conditions.
iii. All references to “we”, “us” “our” mean Peak Holidays a trading name for blue limes Limited, a company registered in England at The Manse 37 Oakdale Road Sheffield S7 1SL with registered number is 3837283 and any employee, agent or sub-contractor acting for Peak Holidays in the provision of the cottage to you.
iv. All references to “you”, “your” means the person or people named on the booking form acting as a consumer.
v. All references to the “cottage” mean the property (including its furnishings, outbuildings, garden and other land hired with it) as detailed in the booking form.
vi. The contract for you to hire our cottage only starts when we have issued the signed or emailed holiday confirmation to you as detailed in 2 above.
vii. You occupy our cottage, or our friends’, under the contract as a holiday home as defined in Schedule 1 of the Housing Act 1988 and you acknowledge that the tenancy we grant to you under the contract is not an assured tenancy and that no statutory periodic tenancy (as defined in the Housing Act 1988 and other related law) will arise from your occupancy of the cottage.
viii. You and we agree that the fees detailed at 10 and 12 above are liquidated damages meaning that they are a genuine pre-estimate of our costs arising from your failure to fulfil your responsibilities under this contract and immediately payable to us and where you have paid for your holiday using a credit or debit card, you grant us authority to use the same credit or debit card to pay these fees.
ix. We and our friends do not exclude or limit our liability to you where you have suffered death or personal injury through our or our friends negligence.
x. Our friends and We shall not be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential loss, damages, costs, expenses or other claims suffered by you for us (or our friends) failing to fulfil our (or our friends) implied or explicitly stated responsibilities under the contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, except for fraudulent misrepresentation.
xi. We are not liable for any mis-interpretation by you of the details of our cottages, our website or other brochures, or any conversations with us.
xii. The limit of our and our friends’ entire liability under or in connection with the contract shall not exceed the price you have paid for the hire of the cottage.
xiii. The contract is governed by English law and you , our friends and we agree to be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts. Nothing in the contract shall affect your statutory rights as a consumer.
xiv. If any competent authority should decide that any of the clauses in these booking conditions is entirely or partly invalid or unenforceable this shall not affect the other clauses.
xv. Only you, our friends (where applicable) and we shall have any rights under this contract and The Contracts (Third Party Rights) Act 1999 shall not apply to this contract..
xvi. In some circumstances where you have not complied with this contract our friends and/ or we may decide not to enforce our rights as our friends and we are allowed to do under the contract. Our friends’ or our decision in these situations will not prevent us from enforcing our friends’ or our rights under the contract should you fail to comply with the contract again.