These Terms and Conditions (“Terms and Conditions”) govern access to and use of the content and services available at the website: www.proteahotels.com (“Website”). All references to “Protea”, “we”, “us” and “our” are to Luxury Hotels International South Africa (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2014/004555/07, a limited liability company incorporated in South Africa. All references to “you” is to the person accessing the website.

Important Notice

These Terms and Conditions contain certain terms and conditions which appear in similar text style to this clause and which:

  • may limit the risk or liability of Protea or a third party;
  • may create risk or liability for you;
  • may compel you to indemnify Protea or a third party; and/or
  • serve as an acknowledgement, by you, of a fact.

Your attention is drawn to these Terms and Conditions because they are important and should be carefully noted.

Nothing in these Terms and Conditions are intended to or must be understood to unlawfully restrict, limit or avoid any rights or obligations, as the case may be, created for either you or Protea pursuant to the Consumer Protection Act, 68 of 2008 (“CPA”).

Acceptance Of Terms

Protea permits the use of this Website subject to these Terms and Conditions. By using this Website, you shall be deemed to have accepted all the Terms and Conditions unconditionally. You must not use this Website if you do not agree to the Terms and Conditions. Your use of any accommodation offered by us will be subject to applicable terms and conditions in addition to these Terms and Conditions. In the event of any conflict between these Terms and Conditions and any other conditions stipulated elsewhere, including in one of our hotels, these Terms and Conditions will prevail.

Ownership And Copyright

This Website is solely for your personal and non-commercial use. The contents of this Website, including any content, information, software, icons, text, links, graphics, lay-outs, images, sound clips, trade names, logos, trademarks and service marks (“Website Content”) are protected by law, including but not limited to copyright and trade mark law, and are owned by or licensed to Protea. No license to or right in any of the Website Content is granted to or conferred upon you. Any unauthorised use, distribution or reproduction of the Website Content is prohibited unless expressly authorised in terms of these Terms and Conditions or otherwise provided for in law.

Where any of the Website Content has been licensed to Protea or otherwise belongs to a third party, your rights of use will also be subject to any terms and conditions which that licensor or third party imposes from time to time and you agree to comply with such third party terms and conditions.

Use Of The Website

By accessing this Website, you agree that you will not use any device, software or other instrument to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Website and that you will not take any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure. In addition, you agree that you will not use any robot, spider, other automatic device, or manual process to monitor or copy the pages of the Website or the content contained herein, without the prior written consent from an authorised Protea representative (such consent is deemed given for standard search engine technology employed by Internet search websites to direct Internet users to this Website). You may not use the Website to distribute material which is defamatory, offensive, and unlawful or contains hate speech.

You may not in any way display, publish, copy, print, post or otherwise use the Website and/or the information contained therein without the express written consent of an authorised Protea representative.

Any reservations facility or feature of this Website is provided solely to assist you in determining the availability of travel and accommodation and related goods and services and to make legitimate reservations with us. You agree that such reservation facilities or features of this Website will be used only to make legitimate reservations. Overuse or abuse of the reservation facilities or features may result in you being denied access at our sole discretion.

You agree to be financially responsible for your use of this Website (as well as for the use of your account by others, including any person under 18 years old).

Travel Agents

If you are a travel agent or authorised representative of a travel agent using this Website the following applies:

  • We have provided you with a unique password so that access to information related to you and/or your principals and transactions can be restricted to only those individuals to whom you provided the password. It is your responsibility to protect the confidentiality of the password and to not disclose it to any third party.
  • Protea assumes no liability for any access to information or transactions that are executed with the password provided to you. We strongly recommend that you change the password on a periodic basis and whenever a travel agent leaves your travel agency or you suspect that knowledge of the password is no longer limited to those that you have authorised.
  • You agree to notify Protea immediately upon becoming aware of or reasonably suspecting any unauthorised access to or use of your password and to take steps to mitigate any resultant loss or harm.

Your Commitment To Us

Because we deal with you in a non-face-to-face environment, you hereby acknowledge and agree that:

  • all details you record or provide on this Website are accurate, true and correct;
  • you are legally capable of concluding a transaction on the Website;
  • you have read, understood and accepted these Terms and Conditions;
  • we will rely on instructions that appear to originate from you even if they come from someone else impersonating you and to act on any instruction purporting to originate from you, unless you notify us in writing of any irregularities.

This Website may provide you with the ability to use usernames, passwords, or other codes or devices to gain access to restricted portions of this Website (“access codes”). The content contained in such restricted areas is confidential to Protea, and is provided to you for your business use only. We reserve the right to prohibit the use of such access codes where we determine that such use interferes with the Website’s operation or results in commercial benefits or other entities to our detriment.

Disclaimer

The website is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, completeness, or non-infringement, as may be allowed in law. The use of this Website is entirely at your own risk and you assume full responsibility for any risk or loss resulting from use of the Website or reliance on any information herein.

While Protea takes reasonable measures to ensure that the contents of this Website are accurate and complete, we makes no representations or warranties, whether express or implied, as to the quality, timeliness, operation, integrity, availability or functionality of this Website or as to the accuracy, completeness or reliability of any information on this Website. We reserve the right to make changes, corrections and/or improvements to the information and to the products and programs described in such information, at any time without notice.

In addition to the disclaimers contained elsewhere in these Terms and Conditions, we also make no warranty or representation, whether express or implied, that the Website Content is free of viruses, spyware, malware, trojans, destructive materials or any other data or code which is able to corrupt, destroy, compromise, disrupt, disable, harm or jeopardise or otherwise impede in any manner the operation, stability, security functionality or content of your computer system, computer network, hardware or software in any way. Protea Hotels do not accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions on this Website. You accept all risk associated with the existence of such viruses, destructive materials or any other data or code which is able to corrupt, compromise, jeopardise, disrupt, disable, harm or otherwise impede in any manner the operation or content of a computer system, computer network, any handset or mobile device, or your hardware or software, save where such risks arise due to the gross negligence or wilful misconduct of Protea, its employees, agents or authorised representatives.

Availability

Protea will use reasonable endeavours to maintain the availability of this Website, except during scheduled maintenance periods, and reserves the right to discontinue providing the Website or the service or any part thereof with or without notice to you.

Electronic Communications Disclaimer

When you send emails to us or access this Website, you then consent to receiving communications from us electronically. You can opt-out of these communications at any time.

Protea does not accept responsibility or liability for any unauthorized use of its email facility and/or the use of its email facility other than for its own authorized business purposes.

Whilst all reasonable steps are taken by us to ensure the accuracy and integrity of information transmitted electronically to us and to preserve the confidentiality thereof, you acknowledge that Protea accepts no liability or responsibility whatsoever if information or data is, for whatsoever reason, altered, corrupted, or does not reach its intended destination.

Protea’s Best Rate Guarantee

  • Protea’s Best Rate Guarantee (“Best Rate Guarantee”) ensures that you receive the best available room rate when making a reservation through this Website. If you book accommodation through this Website and then find a lower publicly available rate within 12 (twelve) hours for the same hotel, room type and dates and on same terms and conditions on any other website, or through a travel agency and/or travel management company, we will match the lower rate and give an additional 25% (twenty five percent) off, subject to the following:
  • No refunds will be given. We will however amend the booking to the lower rate. Should you not elect to reserve the accommodation at the lower rate, we have no further liability or responsibility to you.
  • The Best Rate Guarantee does not include rates that have been negotiated by the hotel with corporations, membership rates, government rates, promotional rates or travel agency rates; we will only match rates which are generally available to the public.
  • The rate to be matched must also be for the same number of guests on the same dates as the original booking and for the same length of stay.
  • The type of room for which the application of the Best Rate Guarantee is sought must be the same type and quality of room as booked on the Website.
  • The Best Rate Guarantee does not apply to rates for accommodation offered via websites where the hotel brand and specific hotel are not known until the booking is made.
  • The Best Rate Guarantee does not include other websites’ published rates that package or bundle travel, entertainment, hotel and/or food components, such as: airfare plus hotel stay, hotel stay plus car rental or similar packages.
  • Protea reserves the right to cancel the Best Rate Guarantee or amend the terms and conditions as set out herein at any time in its sole discretion, without prior notice to you.

Special Offers

All special offers are subject to the following terms:

  • A minimum night stay is allocated to each special offer, when booking outside of these stay requirements, the special offer will be returned as sold out or not available.
  • All rates advertised are applicable to standard rooms, unless stated otherwise. Upgrade fees are applicable for higher room types.
  • No cancellations or refunds are allowed on any special offer for any reason whatsoever.
  • Full pre-payment is required to secure your booking.
  • All offers and special offer rates are at all times subject to availability.
  • Block out dates are applicable at Protea’s discretion, even when not stated.
  • All rates advertised are on a per night bases unless stated otherwise.

Rates

All rates advertised on the Website are exclusive of tourism levies, service charges, credit card fees (if any), taxes and other similar third party charges.

Child Policy

  • Where room configuration allows, a maximum of two children aged 12 and under, sharing with adults, stay for free and have free breakfast. Free breakfast for children is subject to adults having breakfast and may not be applicable to restaurants within the Protea Hotel Group that are operated independently.
  • Children 13 years and older will be charged as an adult.
  • Free breakfast for children is subject to adults having breakfast and is not applicable to restaurants within Protea Hotels that have been outsourced to an independent franchise.
  • The kiddies’ programmes are only available during school holidays and may be charged at an additional fee for certain activities.

Payment Policy

Payment for any reservations or other services for which fees may be charged by Protea shall be made either on reservation or on departure from the hotel in question or, where applicable, shall be debited to your account after departure. The rates payable in respect of the provision by Protea of any services and/or goods, including but not limited to the provision of accommodation at the hotel of your choice, shall be the current applicable rates of the particular hotel specified by you. Those rates are available from the hotel itself, or alternatively from Protea at +27 (0) 21 430 5300.

You are obliged to vacate your room and check-out by the time communicated to you by the hotel’s management. Failure to do so will render you liable for an additional night’s charge unless prior and alternative check-out arrangements have been made with the hotel’s management.

You hereby agree that any reservation made by you via this Website constitutes an electronic transaction as defined in the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, No 25 of 2002 and that a binding agreement has been concluded between you and the hotel of your choice authorising the hotel to deduct or debit your credit card for payments for services rendered to you. Your signature shall not be required for authorisation purposes.

You are required to produce your card used to pay any deposit together with a valid ID prior to check-in at the hotel.

During periods of high demand some hotels may require full pre-payment. This would be non-refundable in the event of cancellation. The hotel will contact you should this be a requirement for your reservation.

Cancellation And Refund Policy

If you cancel your reservation less than 24 (twenty four) hours from the day of arrival, a cancellation fee of the rate for one night plus 1% (one percent) Tourism Levy and/or any other applicable government taxes or levies will be levied against you. Protea reserves the right to debit your credit card with a cancellation fee equal to one night’s accommodation, if a reservation is not cancelled by 16h00 South African time on the day of your arrival. If your reservation was guaranteed by a charge to your credit card at the time of the reservation, this will be forfeited.

A no-show is the non-arrival of a guest without notification in writing by fax or email to the hotel. In the case of a no-show, a no-show fee of one night plus 1% (one percent) Tourism Levy and/or any other applicable government taxes or levies will be levied against you. If your reservation was guaranteed by a charge to your credit card at the time of the reservation, this will be forfeited.

Requirements For Checking In

Per the amendment of the Immigration Act (No. 13 of 2002), it is now a legal requirement for all Hotels in South Africa to keep information containing details of all GUESTS provided with lodging accommodation.

This information must include:

  • A copy of identification document, or passport;
  • Full names and surname;
  • Residential address
  • Residence status in South Africa

All GUESTs are thus required to provide proof of identification (photo identity document / passport) upon check in as of 01 December 2015.

Privacy Policy

Protea has a strong commitment to providing excellent service to all of our customers and visitors of this Website, including respecting concerns about privacy. Protea will explicitly ask when we need information that personally identifies you (“personal information”). Generally this information is requested when making reservations; joining the loyalty programme (“Prokard”); when requesting a particular service; when sending feedback or when entering a competition. You agree to provide accurate and current information, and not to impersonate or misrepresent any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with anyone or anything.

The purposes for which Protea will use your personal information are as follows: to transact with you via the Website or email regarding reservations, to provide services to you via our Website; to inform you of new features, services, special offers and products; to enable us to process, validate and verify reservations and requests for services and for the purposes for which you specifically provided the information; to improve your experience on this Website.

Protea will be entitled to disclose personal information if Protea is required to do so to: (a) comply with applicable law or with legal process served on Protea; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of Protea, and (c) for the purposes of distributing same to various employees and/or third parties who assist Protea in providing services to you and thus need to know your personal information in order to render a proper and efficient service to you. We will use reasonable endeavours to ensure that all such employees and/or third party service providers having access to your personal information are bound by appropriate and legally binding confidentiality and non-use obligations in relation to your personal information.

We will:

  • treat your personal information as confidential;
  • take appropriate and reasonable technical and organisational measures to ensure that your personal information is kept secure and is protected against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage, alteration, disclosure or access;
  • provide you with access to your personal information to view and/or update personal details;
  • notify you if we become aware of any unauthorised use, disclosure or processing of your personal information;
  • upon your request, promptly return or destroy any and all of your personal information in our possession or control.

We will not retain your personal information longer than the period for which it was originally needed, unless we are required by law to do so, or you consent to us retaining such information for a longer period.

Protea undertakes never to sell or make your personal details available to any third party unless we are compelled to do so by law. In particular, in the event of a fraudulent online payment, Protea reserves the right to disclose relevant personal information for criminal investigation purposes or in line with any other legal obligation for disclosure of the personal information which may be required of it.

Whilst we will do all things reasonably necessary to protect your rights of privacy, we cannot guarantee or accept any liability whatsoever for unauthorised or unlawful disclosure of your personal information, whilst in our possession, made by third parties who are not subject to our control, unless such disclosure is as a result of our gross negligence.

If you disclose your personal information to a third party, such as an entity which operates a website linked to this Website or anyone other than Protea, Protea shall not be liable for any loss or damage, howsoever arising, suffered by you as a result of the disclosure of such information to the third party. This is because we do not regulate or control how that third party uses your personal information. You should always ensure that you read the privacy policy of any third party.

Payment

We use a Secured Sockets Layer (SSL) Line for credit card data and other personally identifiable information. This ensures that your personal information is encrypted as it travels over the Internet and is stored on a secure server once it reaches us. However, due to the nature of the Internet, we cannot guarantee that your communications will be free from unauthorised access by third parties. Protea will not be liable for any loss or damages arising from third parties’ unauthorised access of your data.

Cookies And Remarketing

You are aware that information and data is automatically collected through the standard operation of the Internet servers and through the use of “cookies.” “Cookies” are small text files a website can use to recognise repeat users, facilitate the user’s ongoing access to and use of the website and allow a website to track usage behaviour and compile aggregate data that will allow content improvements and targeted advertising. Cookies are not programs that come onto your system and damage files. Generally, cookies work by assigning a unique number to you that has no meaning outside the assigning site. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows you to deny or accept the cookie feature; however, you should note that cookies may be necessary to provide you with certain features (e.g., customized delivery of information) available on this Websites.

This Website utilises Google remarketing allowing us to show ads to users who have previously visited this Website as they browse the Internet. Through this we are able to present our users with highly relevant ads and offers across the Internet.

The remarketing tag is placed across all non-sensitive pages, so when people visit different pages, their cookie id is added to the remarketing list.

Third-party vendors, including Google, show our ads on sites across the Internet, targeting users based on their online behaviour and their browsing activity.

Visitors can opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Google’s Ads Settings

Conditions Of Residence

You warrant that you are duly authorised to sign for and bind all persons represented by you or for whom you are responsible (“your party”) to these conditions of residence and, failing such authority or regardless of billing instructions, you agree to be personally liable for all amounts arising from the occupation or residence of your party and yourself at the hotel.

You agree to pay not later than the time of departure (unless prior written arrangements have been made with the hotel management) the room rate as determined by the hotel for the period of residence, the costs of food, beverage and any other amounts relating to such residence together with VAT (if applicable), incurred by you and your party during your stay in the hotel. Periodic payments must be made if the account exceeds the credit limit designated by the hotel, and accounts are payable on presentation.

A certificate from the hotel manager shall constitute proof of your indebtedness and of the particulars therein for all purposes including any action instituted by the hotel against you. You agree that after your departure, the hotel may retain goods left behind by you and authorise the hotel, after giving one month’s notice to the address registered by you of its intention to do so, to sell same, privately or publicly, at the hotel’s discretion at such price as the hotel may determine and offset the proceeds of such sale against your indebtedness or to hold such proceeds or part thereof for a period of three years pending any claims by you for those proceeds failing which they shall be deemed to have been forfeited to the hotel.

You hereby agree, as a condition of your occupation of or residence at the hotel, that Protea and the owner, manager and/or operator of the hotel and their affiliates and respective directors, officers, employees, agents and representatives shall not be responsible or liable for any accident or any injury or death of any person or the loss or destruction of or damage to any property, whether arising from fire, theft or any other cause whatsoever and by whomsoever caused or arising from the negligence or wrongful acts or omissions of Protea. You accordingly hereby irrevocably and unconditionally indemnify and agree to hold harmless Protea in respect of any responsibility and/or liability as aforesaid.

Linked Third-Party Website And Third-Party Content

This Website may contain links or references to other websites outside of our control, including those of advertisers. These Terms and Conditions do not apply to those websites and Protea is not responsible for the practices and/or privacy policies of those sites or the cookies those sites use. In addition, because Protea has no control over such external sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that Protea is not responsible for ensuring the availability of such external websites or resources and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such websites or resources. Your use of such other websites is entirely at your own risk and we are not responsible for any loss, expense, claim or damage, whether direct, indirect or consequential, arising from your use of such other websites or your reliance on any information contained on those websites.

Permission For Hyperlinks, Deep Linking, Crawlers And Metatags

Nobody may establish a hyperlink, frame, metatag or similar reference, whether electronically or otherwise (collectively referred to as linking), to this Website or any subsidiary pages before receiving the prior written approval of an authorised representative of Protea, which may be withheld or granted subject to such conditions Protea may specify from time to time. Furthermore, this Website or any part hereof may not be “framed” or “deep linked” in any way whatsoever. This Website may from time to time contain message boards which allow users to comment on their experience at Protea. At times those comments may contain references to matters not related to Protea. Those references do not necessarily represent the views of Protea.

Limitation Of Liability

You acknowledge that Protea shall in no way be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential injury, loss or damages which might arise from your use of, or reliance upon, any material or content contained in this Website or any linked website, or any inability to use the Website, or any unlawful activity on the Website, even if Protea was aware or has been advised of the possibility of such loss, expense, claim or damages, unless such loss or damages arise due to the gross negligence of Protea.

You hereby indemnify Protea against any loss, claim or damage which may be suffered by yourself or any third party arising in any way from your use of this Website or the receipt by you of an electronic mail from Protea or one that purports to emanate from Protea, unless the loss, claim or damage arises as a result of the gross negligence of Protea.

Changes To These Terms And Conditions

We reserve the right to update and/or amend the Terms and Conditions from time to time and without any notice, and you are accordingly encouraged to check the Website regularly. If you use this Website after such updated or amended Terms and Conditions have been displayed on this Website, you will be deemed to have accepted such updates or amendments.

Termination

Protea may in its sole discretion terminate, suspend and modify this Website and/or your use of this Website, with or without notice to you. You agree that Protea will not be liable to you in the event that it chooses to suspend, modify or terminate this Website or your use of this Website.

General

The Terms and Conditions shall be governed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Republic of South Africa.

If any term or condition contained herein is declared invalid, the remaining terms and conditions will remain in full force and effect.

Any failure on the part of Protea to enforce any right shall not constitute a waiver of that right.