Accommodation Standard Terms and Conditions (“Terms”)
1. These Terms
1.1 What these Terms cover. These are the terms and conditions which apply to room bookings or reservations you make with us, whether online, via the telephone or in person.
1.2 Why you should read them. Please read these Terms carefully before you submit your booking request. These Terms tell you who we are, how we will provide services to you, how to change or end the contract between us, what to do if there is a problem and other important information.
2. Information about us and how to contact us
2.1 Who we are. We are Rhodes House Ltd, with our registered office at Rhodes House, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RG. Our registered VAT number is GB 927143918. Where these Terms refer to “we”, “our” or “us” below, unless it mentions otherwise, it’s referring to Rhodes House Ltd.
2.2 How to contact us. You can contact us by telephone on 01865 270901 or write to us at accommodation@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk or by post to Rhodes House, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RG, addressed to the attention of the Accommodation team.
2.3 How we may contact you. If we need to contact you, we will do so by telephone or email, by phoning or writing to you at the details you provided to us during the booking process. A valid email address must be provided for all bookings.
2.4 “Writing” includes emails. When we use the words “writing” or “written” in these Terms, this includes emails.
3. Our contract with you:
3.1 How we accept your booking. Your booking is accepted at the point when we email you a booking confirmation, at which point a contract will come into existence between you and us.
3.2 If we cannot accept your booking. If we are unable to accept your booking, we will either inform you of this before you finalise your booking request, or may inform you of this in writing after you have submitted your booking request. Where we cannot accept your booking, we will not charge you. This might be because the room you have tried to book is not available, or because we have identified an error in the price or description of the room you have tried to book.
3.3 Your booking number. We will assign a booking number to your booking and tell you what it is on your booking confirmation. It will help us if you can tell us the booking number whenever you contact us about your booking.
3.4 Age. You must be at least 18 years old to make a booking with us, or to stay with us (unless accompanied by someone over the age of 18).
3.5 Securing your booking. You must provide us with credit or debit card details to secure your reservation. The card details you provide to us must be valid until the intended date of your booking. If you fail to provide us with valid card details, or it later comes to our attention that the card has lapsed, we reserve the right to cancel your booking immediately without any liability to you. We accept Visa, MasterCard or American Express card types.
3.6 Special requests. Whilst we will try to accommodate any special request you submit during the booking process or later, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to fulfil any special request and we will not breach these Terms or our contract with you if we do not fulfil your special request.
3.7 Our venue. Photographs of rooms on our website or in our advertising material are intended to give you a general idea of the style and layout of the room only. We do not guarantee that the room you are allocated will match any pictures you may have seen.
3.8 Parking. We cannot offer parking at Rhodes House. Please consult our website for more details on car parking.
3.9 You cannot transfer the contract between us. You are required to bring photo ID with you, and to provide this when you check in for your booking. Your booking is personal to you and you cannot transfer it or re-sell it to any other person. We reserve the right to cancel your booking without any liability to you if the named lead guest is not present at check in (or if you cannot produce identification to prove that you are the lead guest named).
4. Price
4.1 How we price. We operate a variable pricing model which means that the price of our rooms varies based on the time of year, day, and demand for rooms at our venues. The price for your booking will be the price which is stated in the booking confirmation which we send you as set out in paragraph 3.1 of these terms. Room prices are per room, per night and are stated inclusive of VAT at the applicable rate at the time of your reservation.
4.2 We will absorb any changes in the rate of VAT. If the rate of VAT changes between your booking date and the date of your booking, your overall price will remain the same.
4.3 What our prices include. Our prices include a continental breakfast box, which will be delivered to your room between 7am and 9am. Any other extras must be purchased and paid for separately.
4.4 When you have to pay. A payment request will be sent to you via email up to 72hrs before your check in time (see paragraph 7). Payment must be received by us in full before arrival at Rhodes House.
4.5 Please note Rhodes House is a cash free venue.
5. Cancellation and alteration
5.1 Your cancellation rights.
5.1.1 You may cancel your booking without any payment to us at any point before 3pm (UK time) on the day that is three days before the day your booking starts. For example, if the first day of your booking is a Saturday, you would be able to cancel your booking at any point before 3pm on the prior Wednesday. After this deadline, the whole booking becomes fully non-refundable. If you cancel after this deadline (or if you don’t arrive for your booking), you will still be charged and required to pay the full price for your booking.
5.1.2 Alterations to bookings. Any request to add rooms or to add nights to an existing booking will be treated by us as a new, separate booking request. Any request to remove rooms or nights from an existing booking will be treated as a partial cancellation, and the rules and timescales above on whether cancellation is available will apply to any such request.
5.1.3 How you cancel. You may cancel your booking by calling our Front of House team on 01865 270901 during opening hours (7am-11pm), or emailing accommodation@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk and informing the team that you wish to cancel, and providing all the relevant details they request about your booking (always quoting your booking number as per paragraph 3.3 above).
5.2 Our cancellation rights
5.2.1 We may cancel your booking (even after it has started) with immediate effect by giving you written notice if:
(i) you do not pay your room charge when you are meant to (once we have notified you that payment is due), or on arrival;
(ii) you breach these Terms between us; or
(iii) we reasonably anticipate that you might breach the Terms and the contract between us if the booking proceeds (including but not limited to, for example, where you have broken a contract between us in relation to another booking previously).
5.2.2 Cancellation payment. If we cancel your booking in light of one of the above circumstances, we will be entitled to charge you the full price for your booking (or to keep any payment you have already made), and such charges will not be deemed to be charges for services. We also reserve our other legal rights in respect of your breach of contract.
5.3 Other reasons we may need to cancel your booking
5.3.1 We may cancel your booking (even after it has started) with immediate effect:
(i) In circumstances where there is an issue with Rhodes House: for example if there is extensive damage to the venue or the area around it. In these instances, we shall, in our sole discretion, choose to end the contract immediately by giving you notice and a full refund within a reasonable period, or move you to a nearby hotel of the same or higher standard for the same price. In the event that we arrange for you to move to a nearby hotel, you shall be subject to and shall comply with the policies belonging to that hotel. We shall accept no liability for any issues which arise once you commence your stay at the relevant alternative hotel. We will be entitled to decide which of these options is used.
(ii) Required foreseeable business closures: we may be required to cancel your booking as a result of any required business or operational decisions (such as carrying out a refurbishment). In these instances, we shall, in our sole discretion, choose to end the contract by giving you notice in writing a reasonable period before your booking commences and give you a full refund within a reasonable period, or move you to a nearby hotel of the same or higher standard for the same price (as set out in paragraph 5.3.1(i) above).
(iii) Cancellation due to events outside our control: we may also cancel your booking if events outside our control mean that we cannot safely and properly make your room available to you. In those instances, we will try to give you notice in writing as soon as we practically can. The circumstances where we might rely on this right include (but are not limited to) change in law or government guidance in relation to hotel bookings, industrial action, explosion, outbreak of disease, pandemics, health and safety issues, fire, flooding, and failure of power and/or water supplies or emergency evacuation. If we need to cancel due to an event which is covered by this paragraph, we will refund you any money you have paid for your booking and will not make any further charges. Except for refunds, we will not be liable or responsible for any failure to perform, or any delay in the performance of any of our obligations to you that is caused by an event outside of our control.
6. Room occupancy and conduct
6.1 You must state how many guests will stay. You are required to state the number of guests who will be staying in each room when submitting a booking request. You may not increase the number of guests allocated to a booking at a later stage unless we agree to this in writing.
6.2 Maximum room occupancy, and ages.
6.2.1 You must not exceed the maximum occupancy of the room allocated to you. We reserve the right to check room occupancy during your stay. Children under 16 are not permitted to stay in our accommodation, unless a parent or guardian is staying in the room with them. We are unable to provide travel cots, although guests may bring their own free of charge.
6.2.2 Children aged 16 and 17 must be travelling with a parent or guardian staying at Rhodes House, but the child can occupy their own room.
6.2.3 A double occupancy supplement of £15 will be applied when any person over the age of 10 is sharing a room with the principal guest.
6.2.4 Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times while staying at Rhodes House. Any guest attending a conference at Rhodes House must make their own arrangements for child care or supervision, if travelling with a child.
6.3 Pets. Assistance dogs are allowed. Otherwise, pets or animals are not permitted.
6.4 Smoking. Smoking is not permitted in the accommodation.
6.5 Your room. We reserve the right to change the room allocated to you at check-in for a room of an equivalent standard or a higher standard. We may require you to move rooms at any point during your stay for any reason for another room of an equivalent standard or a higher standard and we shall not compensate you for this change.
7. Arrival and departure
7.1 Please note reception opening hours are from 7am till 11pm, and the Reception is located at the East Lodge.
7.2 Check in. You may check in from 3pm (UK time) on the first day of your booking. If you intend to arrive for check in after 11pm, you must inform us of this in advance. If you fail to do so, we will be entitled to treat your booking as having been cancelled by you at 11pm on the first day of your booking.
7.3 Check out. All rooms must be vacated by 10am, with room key cards returned to Reception.
7.4 When we can end your stay. If you or any member of your party breaks the conduct rules set out in paragraph 6 above or any of the other provisions of these Terms, we will have the right to:
7.4.1 immediately end your booking and cancel any remaining part of your stay (for all rooms if you have booked more than one room);
7.4.2 to cancel any key cards or otherwise restrict your access to your room or to the venue;
7.4.3 to require you and all your party to immediately leave the premises.
7.4.4 remove any possessions that may remain in your room and (if you do not collect them within 7 days) to dispose of them without any liability to you; and/or
7.4.5 to refuse a future booking request from you at our sole discretion.
7.5 Financial consequences. Where we exercise our right to end your stay early in line with this paragraph 7, we will not be liable to refund you for any portion of your booking and will not be liable to you for any additional costs or losses you might face as a result.
8. Liability
8.1 We are not liable for events outside our control. If you suffer loss or damage as a result of events that are outside of our reasonable control, except for refunds in accordance with paragraph 5.3.1(iii), we will not be liable to you.
8.2 Limit of our liability. Our maximum liability to you whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or for breach of statutory duty shall in no event exceed the price for your booking, unless the Hotel Proprietor’s Act 1956 applies, in which case our liability will be limited to the maximum prescribed under that Act.
8.3 Statutory rights. Nothing in these Terms affects your statutory rights.
9. Data Protection
9.1 How we may use your personal information. We will only use your personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy here.
9.2 Cookies. Like many websites, our website uses technology called cookies and web server logs to collect information about how the website is used and how to improve them. Further details are set out in our Cookie Policy here.
10. Other important terms
10.1 No third party rights. Our contract is between you and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of these Terms.
10.2 If a paragraph is invalid, the rest will continue in force. Each of the paragraphs of these Terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.
10.3 Even if we delay in enforcing these Terms, we can still enforce them later. If you breach these Terms, we may not enforce these Terms immediately and that will not prevent us from enforcing our rights under these Terms at a later date.
10.4 Legal proceedings. These Terms and any connected claims (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by English law, and any disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
