Owner Terms

By Wales.org | Nicholas Barrett, Founder & Editor | Updated November 2026

Table of Contents

1. About these terms

These terms are the agreement between you, the owner or operator of the accommodation you list, and Nicholas Barrett, trading as Wales.org, of 4th Floor, 14 Museum Place, Cardiff CF10 3BH (“Wales.org”, “we”, “us”). Contact us at hello@wales.org.

By approving your listing and paying your first listing fee, you agree to these terms on behalf of your business. You confirm that you’re authorised to do so, and that you’re acting for the purposes of your business, not as a consumer.

What these words mean:

Wales Direct: our service for listing places to stay in Wales and taking bookings from guests, at wales.org/book.
Place: each separately listed property or unit, such as a cottage, a room type, a pitch type or a hotel. Your listing fee is charged per place.
Listing: the page for a place on Wales Direct, with its description, photos, prices, availability and rules.
Guest: anyone who books or enquires about your place through Wales Direct.
Guest Booking Terms: the terms guests agree to when they book, published on Wales.org and linked from every booking page. You agree to honour them.

Our role. We provide booking technology and a place to be found. When a guest books, the contract for the stay is between the guest and you. Payment goes straight into your own Stripe account. We don’t take payments for stays, we aren’t a party to your contract with the guest, and we aren’t your agent except to show your listing and pass on bookings through the Wales Direct system.

These terms, the Guest Booking Terms and our Privacy Policy together make up the whole agreement between us about Wales Direct.

2. What we provide

For each place you list, while your listing is active, we provide:

a Wales Direct listing, with photos, description, facilities, prices and rules;
your own page on Wales.org and a pin on the Interactive Map;
the Wales Direct booking and payment pages, connected to your own Stripe account (or, if you prefer, a link to your own booking system);
booking notifications and guest details by email;
calendar sync with other booking sites using iCal links;
the damage deposit process described in section 7, if you choose a deposit;
regular statistics about your listing.

We’ll provide the service with reasonable care and skill, and keep your listing live except for maintenance, faults outside our control or a suspension under section 10.

What we don’t promise. We can’t guarantee a number of bookings, visitors or enquiries, where your listing appears in our pages or in search engines, or that the service will always be available or free of errors. We may improve and change Wales Direct over time. If a change removes a main feature you’ve paid for, we’ll tell you, and you can end your listing and receive a refund for the unused part of your year.

Reviewing listings. We review every listing before it goes live and may ask you to change anything that’s inaccurate, unclear or against these terms. We may refuse a listing that isn’t a genuine place to stay in Wales, or that we reasonably believe would harm guests or Wales.org’s reputation.

3. Fees, renewal and cancellation

Listing fees. You pay a yearly listing fee for each place, in advance. Wales.org takes no commission on your bookings.

Your places	Founding price, first year	Standard price, per year
1st and 2nd	£50 each	£85 each
3rd to 5th	£35 each	£60 each
6th to 10th	£25 each	£45 each
11 or more	By agreement	By agreement

Founding prices apply to places you reserve by 23:59 on Sunday 29 November 2026, as long as you pay within 14 days of us sending your payment link. They cover the first 12 months of each listing. After that, the standard price applies.

Your year starts on the day your listing first goes live (for founding owners whose listing is ready by then, 30 November 2026).

Automatic renewal. Your listing renews automatically each year at the standard price, and the card you used to pay is charged on the renewal date, unless you cancel before then. We’ll email you at least 30 days before each renewal with the date and the amount. If the renewal payment fails, we’ll tell you, and if it’s still unpaid 14 days after the renewal date, we may suspend your listing until it’s paid.

Cancelling. You can end your listing at any time by emailing hello@wales.org. Fees already paid aren’t refunded, except as set out in sections 2, 10 and 12, but you won’t be charged again.

Price changes. We may change the standard price for future years. We’ll tell you at least 30 days before your next renewal, and the new price only applies from that renewal.

VAT. Wales.org isn’t currently registered for VAT, so no VAT is charged. If we register, VAT will be added at the applicable rate from your next renewal, and we’ll tell you first.

Payment. Listing fees are paid by card through our own Stripe account, using the payment link we send. When you pay, you’ll be asked to tick a box confirming that your listing renews automatically each year at the standard price, and that your card will be charged unless you cancel. By doing so, you authorise us to charge the same card each year for automatic renewals under this section, until you cancel. You can update your card at any time by contacting us. Listing fees are separate from your guests’ payments, which go to your Stripe account.

4. Your listing and content

Accuracy. You’re responsible for your listing being accurate, complete and up to date: the description, photos, facilities, accessibility, location, maximum guests, prices, availability, house rules and cancellation policy. Don’t describe anything your place doesn’t have, and tell us or update your listing straight away if anything changes. Under consumer law, guests rely on what your listing says.

Prices. The prices you set must include every compulsory charge a guest has to pay, such as cleaning fees and any visitor levy in your area, so that the total shown before booking is the full price. Optional extras must be clearly described as optional.

Your details. Your listing or booking confirmations must show your business name and a contact address, so guests know who they’re contracting with.

Content licence. You keep ownership of the text and photos you give us. You give Wales.org a free, non-exclusive licence to use, edit for length and style, and display them on Wales.org, in our newsletter and social media, and in press about Wales Direct, to promote your listing while it’s active. When your listing ends, we’ll remove your content from our live pages within 30 days, though it may remain in social posts and newsletters already published.

Your promises about content. You confirm that you own, or have permission to use, everything you give us, and that it doesn’t break anyone’s copyright, privacy or other rights. Only use photos of people who’ve agreed to appear.

Edits by us. We may correct obvious errors, shorten text or adjust formatting so listings are consistent. We won’t change the meaning of your listing without asking you.

5. Payments through Stripe

Your own Stripe account. To take bookings and payments through Wales Direct, you need your own Stripe account, connected to Wales Direct. Guests pay you directly through it: you’re the seller, and Stripe pays the money into your bank on its normal schedule. Wales.org never receives, holds or controls your guests’ payments.

Stripe’s terms. Payment processing for Wales Direct is provided by Stripe and is subject to Stripe’s own agreements with you, including the Stripe Services Agreement. By connecting your Stripe account, you agree to follow them. You authorise us to receive information from Stripe about your account (such as whether it can take payments) and about bookings paid through Wales Direct, and to share booking information with Stripe, so the service works.

Stripe’s fees. Stripe charges its fees to your account. Wales.org adds no fee to any guest payment.

Refunds. You’re responsible for refunds to guests, in line with your cancellation policy, the Guest Booking Terms and the law. You must give a full refund if you cancel a booking or can’t provide the place booked. Refunds go back to the guest’s original payment method through Stripe.

Chargebacks and disputes. If a guest disputes a payment with their card provider, the dispute is between you, the guest and Stripe. You’re responsible for responding, and for any amount and fee Stripe takes. We’ll give you any booking information we hold that helps.

Pay by Bank. If you switch on Pay by Bank in your Stripe settings, guests can pay that way on bookings without a damage deposit. Stripe’s terms for Pay by Bank apply.

Linking to your own booking system. If you choose to send guests to your own booking system instead, those bookings are entirely between you and the guest, under your own terms, and sections 5 to 7 don’t apply to them.

6. Bookings, cancellations and calendars

Honouring bookings. A booking made through Wales Direct is a contract between you and the guest, on the terms of your listing, your cancellation policy, your house rules and the Guest Booking Terms. You must honour every confirmed booking.

Cancellation policy. Every listing must have a cancellation policy, chosen from the options Wales Direct offers, shown on the listing before booking and in the guest’s confirmation. You must apply it as shown. If your own house rules conflict with the Guest Booking Terms, the Guest Booking Terms apply unless your rules are more generous to the guest.

If you cancel. If you cancel a booking, or can’t provide the place booked for any reason (including events outside your control), you must refund the guest in full straight away and tell them, and us, as soon as you know. Cancelling bookings without a very good reason may lead to suspension under section 10.

Calendars. You must keep your availability up to date. If you list your place on other sites, add your Wales.org calendar link to them and theirs to Wales Direct, so dates stay in step. Calendar sync isn’t instant, so a double booking is occasionally possible. If one happens, you must either offer the guest an alternative they’re happy to accept or give them a full refund straight away.

Guest contact. You must respond to guests’ questions about their booking within a reasonable time, and within 2 working days at the latest. If a guest tells us a refund due to them hasn’t been paid and you haven’t replied to them within 5 working days, we’ll contact you, and we may suspend your listing until it’s resolved.

Complaints. Deal with guests’ complaints fairly and promptly. We may help you and a guest reach a fair outcome, but we can’t make decisions for you.

7. Damage deposits

You can choose a damage deposit of £100, £150 or £200 for a place. If you do, the amount is shown on your listing, and bookings for that place can only be paid by card.

How it works:

When a guest books, nothing is taken for the deposit. Stripe saves the guest’s card on your Stripe account, with the guest’s agreement under the Guest Booking Terms.
On the day the guest checks out, Wales Direct places a hold for the deposit amount on the card.
You have 3 days after check-out to report damage through your owner page, with the amount and a clear reason. If you don’t, the hold is released automatically.
If you report damage, only the amount you claim, up to the deposit, is taken from the hold, and the rest is released. The guest is emailed the amount and your reason.
If a hold can’t be placed (for example, the card has expired), Wales Direct tells you. You can still claim for damage within the same 3 days, and the saved card is charged instead, up to the deposit amount. If that charge fails, it’s up to you to contact the guest.

Your rules for claims:

Claim only for genuine damage, breakages, missing items, or cleaning beyond normal use, as described in your house rules. Normal wear and tear isn’t damage.
Claim only what it reasonably costs to put right, and keep evidence (photos, receipts or quotes) for at least 6 months.
Never take more than the deposit through Wales Direct, and never use a guest’s saved card for anything except a damage claim under this section.
If you believe damage costs more than the deposit, any further claim is between you and the guest, outside Wales Direct.

Disputes. If a guest disagrees with a claim, respond to them promptly and fairly. A guest can also dispute a charge with their card provider; if they do, section 5 applies. We may ask to see your evidence, and repeated or unfair claims may lead to suspension under section 10.

8. Guests’ personal information

Who is responsible. When a guest books, we send you their name, email address, phone number and booking details. Once you receive them, you’re a separate controller of that information under UK data protection law (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), responsible for how you use it. Wales.org is a separate controller of the information we hold to run Wales Direct, as our Privacy Policy explains. Neither of us processes guest information on the other’s behalf.

How you may use guest details:

to manage the booking and the guest’s stay, and to contact them about it;
to meet your legal obligations, such as tax records and any guest records the law requires;
to send marketing, such as future offers, only to guests who ticked the box to hear from you, shown as “Happy to hear future offers: Yes” on the booking. Every marketing email must include an easy way to opt out, and you must stop when asked.

You mustn’t sell guest details, share them with anyone else for their own purposes, or add guests who didn’t tick the box to any mailing list.

Your obligations. Keep guest information secure, including the guest list you can download from your owner page. Keep it only as long as you need it, have your own privacy notice that explains how you use it, and deal with guests’ data protection requests yourself. You may also need to pay the ICO’s data protection fee: check at ico.org.uk.

If something goes wrong. If a security breach affects guest information you received through Wales Direct, you’re responsible for dealing with it, including telling the ICO and guests where the law requires. Please also tell us promptly, so we can check our own systems.

9. Your legal responsibilities

You run your accommodation business, and you’re responsible for meeting every legal requirement that applies to it. Wales.org doesn’t check these for you. In particular, you’re responsible for:

Safety: fire safety, including a fire risk assessment where the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires one; annual gas safety checks where there are gas appliances; safe electrics, furniture and furnishings; smoke and carbon monoxide alarms where required; and the general safety of your place and grounds.
Permissions and licences: any planning permission your place needs, a caravan or camping site licence if you run a park or site, and any other licence or registration scheme that applies now or is introduced in future, such as a licence to sell alcohol or registering a food business.
Welsh Revenue Authority registration and the visitor levy: registering your visitor accommodation with the Welsh Revenue Authority by 31 March 2027 (or by the date it requires). If your council charges a visitor levy, you must account for it and pay it, and include it in the prices on your listing.
Tax and rates: your own income tax, VAT if you’re registered, and council tax or business rates.
Guest records: keeping any record of guests the law requires. For example, the Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972 requires accommodation providers to record guests aged 16 or over, with extra details for overseas guests.
Insurance: keeping suitable insurance for paying guests, including public liability insurance, throughout your listing.
Equality: not discriminating against guests unlawfully, under the Equality Act 2010, including accepting assistance dogs as the law requires.
Consumer law: treating guests fairly, showing full prices, and describing your place accurately, as consumer protection law requires.

We may ask you to confirm any of these, and we may suspend a listing if we reasonably believe your place is unsafe or operating unlawfully.

10. Suspension and ending the agreement

When we may suspend a listing. We may hide a listing from guests, temporarily, if:

a renewal payment is unpaid 14 days after the renewal date;
a guest reports a refund that’s due and you haven’t replied to them within 5 working days;
we reasonably believe a place is unsafe, operating unlawfully, or very different from its listing;
we receive serious or repeated complaints, or you make repeated or unfair damage claims;
you cancel bookings without a very good reason; or
you break these terms in another way that matters.

We’ll tell you why and what’s needed to put it right, unless the law or guests’ safety prevents us. Bookings already made stay valid, and you must still honour them.

When we may end the agreement. We may end the agreement and remove your listings by email if you seriously break these terms, or if you don’t put right a breach within 14 days of us asking. We may also end it for any reason with 60 days’ notice, refunding the unused part of your year.

When you may end it. You can end your listing at any time, as section 3 explains.

What happens when it ends:

your listing is removed from Wales Direct, and no new bookings can be made;
you must still honour bookings already made, under the same terms;
the damage deposit process continues for those bookings;
you remain responsible for the guest information you’ve received, under section 8;
sections 5, 7, 8, 11 and 12 continue to apply.

11. Liability and indemnity

Your responsibility for your place. You’re responsible for your accommodation, your guests’ stays, your dealings with guests, and anything that happens at your place. You agree to cover Wales.org’s reasonable losses and costs (including legal costs) from any claim by a guest or anyone else that arises from your accommodation, a stay, your breach of these terms, your listing content, or your use of guests’ personal information.

Our liability to you. If we break these terms or are negligent, we’re responsible for losses you suffer that were a foreseeable result. We’re not responsible for:

loss of profits, bookings, revenue, goodwill or opportunity, or any indirect loss;
anything caused by Stripe, other booking sites, calendar sync delays, your internet or email provider, or events outside our reasonable control;
the acts or omissions of guests.

Our total liability to you in any 12-month period is limited to the greater of the listing fees you paid us in the 12 months before the event that gave rise to the claim, or £1,000.

What we don’t limit. Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else the law doesn’t allow us to limit.

Events outside our control. Neither of us is responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as a failure of internet or payment services, severe weather or flooding. This doesn’t remove your duty to refund guests if you can’t provide their stay.

12. Changes, notices and general terms

Changes to these terms. We may update these terms, for example to reflect changes to Wales Direct or the law. We’ll email you at least 30 days before a change takes effect. If a change is to your disadvantage and you don’t accept it, you can end your listing before it takes effect and receive a refund for the unused part of your year. Changes needed urgently for legal or security reasons can take effect sooner, and we’ll tell you why.

Notices. We’ll send notices to the email address on your account, and you can send them to hello@wales.org. Please keep your email address up to date.

Transfer. We may transfer this agreement to anyone who takes over Wales Direct or Wales.org, and we’ll tell you if we do. You may not transfer it without our written agreement, though we won’t refuse unreasonably if you sell your business.

No partnership. Nothing in this agreement makes either of us the other’s partner, employee or (except as described in section 1) agent.

Other people. Nobody else has any right to enforce these terms under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

If part of these terms is invalid, the rest still applies. If we don’t enforce a term straight away, we can still enforce it later.

Law. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute. Before going to court, we’ll each try in good faith to settle a dispute by talking it through.

Contact. Email hello@wales.org, or write to Nicholas Barrett, trading as Wales.org, 4th Floor, 14 Museum Place, Cardiff CF10 3BH.