Terms & Conditions
Raintree House Holidays – Our Terms and How to Book a Holiday
From 29th May 2024
The start of the process is to find your holiday house and check availability. The live and up-to-date availability can be seen on each House page. This can be viewed on screen or printed out. The availability is updated every day and you can Search very easily from the homepage – select a few criteria and then browse a list of houses and which days they have available during your chosen period.
Then make an enquiry – through the website, or by giving us a ring (please leave a message if our lines are busy).
When you are happy, we will ask you to confirm your reservation – by providing a Booking Deposit initially and then completing the Booking Form which we will email to you after receipt of your Booking Deposit. We can send the Booking Form by post on request.
Booking Fee
All bookings made will incur a Booking Fee of £15 for bookings of £1,250 or less, or £40 for bookings of more than £1,250. This is non-refundable and will be due along with your Booking Deposit when you make your booking.
There is no longer any Payment Surcharge to be paid for any method of payment.
Booking Deposit
When you book your holiday, we will require a booking deposit to secure your booking.
This will be approximately 40% of your holiday rental price – although it may change depending on the time of the year and the property in question.
At certain times, we can accept a lower 1st Deposit – please see details below.
We will send you a link to pay your deposit by debit or credit card when you book. You may also pay this deposit by bank transfer or cheque.
The bank transfer details are:
Lloyds Bank PLC, 14 Molesworth Street, Wadebridge, PL27 7DE
Account Name: Raintree House Holidays Ltd
Sort Code: 30-98-98
Account Number: 01838368
Reference – please try to use the following:
1st 3 letters of the lead booker’s surname, and the booking reference number – eg. SMI123456
Any payments by cheque should be made out to ‘Raintree House Holidays Limited’ and sent to: Raintree House Holidays Ltd, Minnows Barn, Porthcothan, Padstow, PL28 8PN
1st Lower Deposit (where applicable)
For early bookings, you may be offered the chance to pay the Booking Deposit in 2 parts, typically 20% and 20% of the final Rental amount:
- Typically, bookings made before October 1st of the previous year will only require a 20% initial deposit. The 2nd part of the deposit (a further 20%) is then due by the last Friday in November.
- Bookings made on or after October 1st of the previous year (to the booking) require a full and standard 40%
Cancellation terms can be seen further below. Cancellation terms vary depending on when the booking is taken and the % paid.
Payment of your Balance
The balance of your rental becomes due 1 month before the start of your holiday- it is your responsibility to send this to us to ensure your holiday booking is not cancelled. Again this can be paid by any of the methods above. At the same time, your Security Deposit needs to be paid.
Security Deposit
The standard Security Deposit varies per house, from £250 up to £500. The website shows the relevant amount per house. This amount is taken as security against any accidental damage that may occur when you are on holiday. This can be taken as a pre-authorised / deferred card payment as part of your balance payment (whereby the money is held for us but does not leave your account). This will then be released back to you within 3 weeks of the end of your holiday.
Alternatively, you can pay by bank transfer with your balance payment, in which case we will refund this by bank transfer within 3 weeks of the end of your holiday. The final option is to send a cheque which we will keep on file and shred within the same time frame.
Very rarely do we need to access this security. It does take this time – to ensure we are happy with the house and to do the administration required.
Where large parties or pets are staying, an additional Security Deposit may be required. If this is necessary, we will of course discuss this with you.
Please Note: the Security Deposit does NOT represent the maximum amount you may be asked for if significant damage does occur. In very rare circumstances, the guest may be asked to pay a larger amount in addition to the Security Deposit. We always try to agree and compromise with guests and very rarely take funds from a guest without their complete agreement.
Arrival at your house
The house will be ready for you at the Arrival time for your specific house on the first day and you must be ready to leave before the Departure time on your day of departure. Each house has their specific Arrival and departure times, and these can be seen on email sent to you a week or so before your arrival and also checked on the website on the specific House page.
Our housekeeping staff will need to start cleaning the house at the Departure time for the specific house. If it is possible to offer an earlier arrival time, we will get in touch with you in the week leading up to your booking, so do keep an eye on your emails (including the junk box).
Please note all our houses are non-smoking
Number of Guests at each Property
Each house has a standard number of guests that it Sleeps – shown as ‘Sleeps 6’ or ‘Sleeps 10’ for instance. Some houses have optional additional beds that can be made up on request, as shown on the house webpage – if you need these extra beds, you must let us know at booking time or at least a week before your arrival.
This represents the maximum number of guests (Adults and Children aged 2 or over) that are allowed at that house without specific permission being given by Raintree. This will only be given in rare and specific situations. In addition, under no circumstances can extra guests be accommodated in a tent or other temporary accommodation at any of our houses. If extra guests are accommodated, inside or outside the property itself, without specific permission, these guests will be asked to leave immediately and in some circumstances the whole party may be asked to vacate the property with immediate effect.
Security and Care of the Rented Property
Please be aware that the care and security of the property are a guest’s responsibility while they are staying. Please ensure that the property is kept secure, with windows shut and doors locked when you go out, or at night, and when you depart on your last day. Damage or theft resulting from windows or doors left open or unsecured is the responsibility of the guest who has rented the property.
How you should leave the Property
The house should always be left secure, with windows shut and doors locked.
Cleaning is included within your property rental. The type of cleaning service you require must be agreed before your arrival at the time of payment of your balance.
Your choices are as follows:
Option 1 – Inclusive Standard Changeover Clean
Guest’s responsibility
- Strip beds
- Pass a hoover around if visibly dirty
- Do washing up (dishwasher can be left full, but clean)
- Ensure fridge, cooker and bathrooms are wiped over
- Put furniture back where found and empty bins around the house to the green bins outside
For a Standard Changeover Clean, there is NO extra charge (inclusive within your holiday price)
OR
Option 2 – Additional Tenant Clean
Guest’s responsibility
- Nothing more than general cleanliness, putting furniture back where found and emptying bins around the house to the green bins outside
Please respond to the form you are sent at the time of your balance payment if you wish to pay the additional charge for this second option.
Linen and Towels
All your linen and house towels are provided by Raintree – unless you have agreed otherwise.
Dogs
Dogs are very welcome at Raintree and in North Cornwall. Most of our houses allow dogs to stay. Please check the house details to see which houses allow dogs and where there are limits on how many dogs are allowed.
All bookings including 1 or more dogs will incur a small charge of £15 per dog, where dogs are allowed and registered with Raintree to be brought on holiday.
We do ask for the breed and age of the dogs you may bring and we may in some unusual circumstances ask for an additional security deposit as well as the Dog Charge. Regardless, we ask that you take special care to ensure that your pet does not cause damage or become distressed while on holiday. We also ask that you keep dogs off the furniture and clean up the garden fully on your departure.
Cancellation of your holiday – normal terms
If your situation changes and you must cancel the booking we will try to make it as painless as possible.
First of all, we would suggest you look online for holiday insurance when you first book your holiday – please do consider this as an option. For a few pounds it will give you peace of mind if you have to cancel.
If you do have to cancel your holiday, you must do so in writing (by letter or email) and receive confirmation we have received this notification. We will always try to re-let the week or weeks. If we are successful in re-letting the property at a similar price, we will retain an administration fee of £50 and the booking fee. If there is a shortfall in the rental price, we reserve the right to retain the difference as well as the admin fee.
If the cancellation is within 1 month of the start of your holiday, the full rental amount of your holiday is due and forfeit, under the conditions just above. For cancellations made prior to 1 month before your stay, only the deposit is forfeit as above.
Generally, we try to be understanding and to help in all situations.
Cancellation of your holiday – early bookings
Bookings made prior to October 1st of the previous year to the booking itself, may be eligible for the Deposit to be paid in 2 parts, normally of 20% and 20%.
In these cases the following cancellation rules apply:
- Any 20% deposit cancelled up to and including 31st August of the previous year (to the booking in question) are considered Refundable for no penalty other than the Booking Fee which is non-refundable.
- Any 20% deposit cancelled from or after September 1st of the previous year (to the booking) through until the full 40% deposit has been paid is considered Non-Refundable. When the full 40% deposit has been paid, normal Cancellation rules then apply.
Standard Cancellation rules apply immediately for all 40% deposits.
A 40% deposit can optionally be paid at any time, with standard Cancellation rules then applying.
Cancellation of your holiday – by significant event and out of Raintree’s control
Raintree do not take responsibility for events of Force Majeure that may occur and affect a guest’s ability to take their holiday with Raintree, such as pandemic or widespread chemical or radioactive contamination, and normal Cancellation terms will apply as above.
In exceptional cases, we may introduce special terms, as we did recently during Covid. The Covid offer made allowed full transfer of fully paid bookings to a future date, or a refund of the majority of the rental (with Raintree retaining 10% of the agreed rental plus the booking fee) in all cases. This offer was applied to bookings which were affected by UK or Cornwall lockdowns, local lockdowns affecting the majority of the party, or direct Government instruction for the majority of the party to isolate.
Raintree will always try to help and be flexible, but consider that they contract with the lead guest and do not specify the number of guests involved or restrict the number of guests other than by the total maximum occupancy of the house let.
Ts and Cs updated 29th May 2024
Booking Fee is non-refundable even for previous year Refundable bookings
Ts and Cs updated 14th December 2023
Booking Fee raised from £15/£35 to £15/£40
Dog charge changed to a flat £15 per dog
Security Deposit now set per house
Ts and Cs updated 1st September 2022
Booking Fee raised from £10/£25 to £15 /£35 and updates to card payment process and security deposit process.
Ts and Cs updated 22nd October 2021
Dog charge changed from £15 for 1st dog and £5 per subsequent, to £15 for 1 dog and £10 per dog for 2 or more.
Previous Updates: Ts and Cs updated 11th January 2021
Addition of “Number of Guests at each Property” and “Security and Care of the Rented Property” sections covering limits on the number of guests and a guest’s responsibility in security the property against theft and damage. Also the addition of Charges for Dogs in the Dogs section.
Previous update: Ts and Cs updated 12th September 2020
Addition of new Cancellation section “Cancellation of your holiday – by significant event and out of Raintree’s control”
For previous versions, please get in touch with Raintree.