Terms & Conditions

Please take note of the following:

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1. USE OF WEBSITE

   1. Use of this website implies acceptance of the terms and conditions below as well as any agreement bound by them.

2. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS - Prospective members must:

   1. be the owner of a fully operational guest accommodation business;
   2. be listed on one or more accommodation booking platform (e.g. Booking.com, Travelground, Safari, AirBnB etc.)
   3. Preferably have a website (a professional one-page website can be developed at a nominal fee negotiated with the SWOP AND STAY administrator) and
   4. Pay the required membership fees, which apply for one calendar year.

3. QUALITY CONTROL POLICY

   1. SWOP AND STAY is not involved with quality grading and while members fulfil the minimum requirements to join, the onus is on the guest to ensure that the establishment complies with their own personal standards. Complaints about star grading should be directed to the Tourism Grading Council.
   2. Should you own an establishment offering top-class, exclusive services and experiences, you can apply to be identified as a PREMIER MEMBER. Registered 5-star establishments by the Tourism Grading Council of SA, will automatically qualify for PREMIER membership. Please note that a 5* grading is not compulsory to qualify. Premier members will pay an additional Premier Membership Fee, but also receive double tokens per person per night.
   3. Members have the right to request free accommodation at any of the registered establishments in exchange for swop tokens, applicable to membership status, per person per night. The approval of this request is solely at the discretion of the Host Establishment.
   4. Registered owners undertake to make their establishments available to bona fide members with available swop tokens, at a time suitable to the host.
   5. Although a host is under no obligation to accept a booking request, once a swop is accepted and confirmed, it constitutes a legally binding contract that must be honoured by the host and may not be cancelled unless agreed upon by both parties.
   6. Should a host renege on the above clause, he/she should pay for and arrange suitable alternative accommodation for such member.
   7. Should a guest confirm a booking and not show up, applicable swop tokens will be forfeited, and the host will be entitled to charge the guest, as the room could have been sold to paying guests.
      • Once the booking request has been approved by the Host, it should be treated the same as a 'paid booking';
      • Should the Host need to cancel the booking for a valid reason, cancellation must be discussed and arranged with the guest personally and the guest must agree to the cancellation;
      • If a booking request has not yet been approved, the guest establishment reserves the right to cancel the booking request online;
      • To be fair to both host and guest, cancellations within 5 days prior to arrival date will result in the guest forfeiting their tokens. The host has the right to refuse cancellation via the booking system. No-shows will forfeit tokens and potentially be liable for a room charge from the host, as the room could have been sold to a paying guest.
   8. Only the registered member, or his appointed representative (specify name clearly), can make a booking request.
   9. The host is eligible to hold guests responsible for any damages or misconduct. Guests, whether sponsored or registered members themselves, accept full responsibility in such an event.
   10. SWOP AND STAY is exempt from any responsibility with regard to any damages accrued by a host or a guest during a swop stay.

4. EARN AND USE OF SWOP TOKENS

   1. SWOP AND STAY grants a limited, revocable license to all registered members to use this website in compliance with the terms and conditions.
   2. Swop tokens may be used to make a booking for family, friends or a staff member. ONLY the member or his/her appointed representative, subject to clause 4.7 below, may make a booking insofar as such booking is made as a gift and no money is received, therefore. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES is it allowed to accept a paid booking and use swop tokens to book guests at another establishment.
   3. One token per person per night (Except when 1 person is occupying a room, 2 tokens per night applies).
      
   4. 20 FREE swop tokens will be allocated to your account upon registration as a member of SWOP AND STAY.
   5. An additional 4 FREE swop tokens, will be added to the referring account upon the recruitment of another member.
   6. A maximum of 20 additional tokens may be purchased annually.
   7. Swop tokens cannot be transferred or exchanged for cash. Members are not allowed to receive cash from anybody and use tokens to book them with another member. You are only allowed to make a booking for a friend, a family member or a staff member as a gift or a reward. Should this come under our attention, your membership will be terminated with immediate effect and you will lose all tokens.
      
   8. At the end of the membership year, swop tokens in your account will be retained and carried forward to the next calendar year.

5. ADDITIONAL EXTRAS THAT MAY BE CHARGED FOR:

   1. Breakfast, other meals, game drives and spa treatments are not included and may be charged for.
   2. Holiday Homes and self-catering establishments with no full-time staff on-site may charge a cleaning fee. This needs to be specified on the establishment listing and must be a standard charge for paid guests on other booking platforms.

6. CANCELLATION OR TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP

   1. No refunds will apply upon termination of membership. 
   2. Remaining tokens are not transferable to another member. 
   3. In the event of the establishment being sold, an ownership change or an establishment closing down, the administrators should be notified. Providing membership fees are up to date, the member may then apply to remain a member for another year, allowing him to make bookings to utilise tokens in credit. 
   4. The administrators retain the sole discretion to terminate any membership due to abuse of, or non-compliance with any terms and conditions herein set out without any refund.
   5. The administrators retain the sole discretion to remove the listing from the website due to multiple complaints about the standard of services and facilities offered. Such members will be allowed to retain his/her unused swop tokens till the end of the calendar year for which his/her membership has been paid.
   6. Should a member fail to renew his/her membership by paying the annual membership fee within 30 days from the invoice date, he/she will lose all remaining swop tokens and there will be no refund of registration or subscription fees.
   7. The administrators retain the sole discretion to terminate any membership due to breach of trust, with immediate effect. Breach of trust in this context meaning a breach of immaterial property rights, as stipulated in point 7 below, or any irreparable deterioration of the trust relationship existing between the administrators and members, due to unethical behaviour by one or either party, i.e. the unauthorized copying of website ideas and content without prior permission.

7. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

   1. The SWOP AND STAY website and all original content is the sole property of SWOP AND STAY and may not be duplicated or used in any way without prior written consent from the administrators.

8. PRIVACY

   1. All private information entrusted to SWOP AND STAY (such as e-mail addresses or other personally identifiable information) will not be shared with third parties and will never be publicly visible unless expressly agreed thereto.

IMPORTANT: Upon registration, member applicants acknowledge to have read and understand all the above clauses and agree to accept and comply with the Terms and Conditions as set out in this document.