Booking terms and conditions

Last updated 29 September 2026.

Who you are booking with

Urban Hideaways Ltd, company number 15061567. Our contact details are on our contact page and in the guest portal.

We manage properties in two ways, and the listing tells you which applies:

• Properties we manage fully. Your booking contract is with Urban Hideaways Ltd.
• Properties we co-host. Your booking contract is with the property owner, and Urban Hideaways Ltd acts as the owner’s agent. The owner is responsible for the property itself, including its condition and safety. We take and manage your booking, handle communication and arrange your arrival. The owner’s name is given in your booking confirmation.

Bookings made through Airbnb, Booking.com or Vrbo are also governed by that platform’s own terms.

These terms, and the agreement you sign afterwards

These are the terms you agree to when you book.

After booking we send you a guest portal link and ask you to accept a rental agreement for the property you have booked. That agreement covers the same ground as these terms and adds the detail particular to that property, including its house rules, occupancy limit, cancellation policy, security deposit and pet policy.

Nothing in that agreement will impose a materially greater obligation on you than these terms do. If you are not willing to accept it, tell us and we will cancel your booking and refund you in full.

Making a booking

You must be 18 or over to book, and you are responsible for every member of your party.

Your booking is confirmed when we send written confirmation and payment has been taken. Until then, availability and price may change. A booking may be declined, and if it is you will be refunded in full.

Before your stay you must complete pre-check-in, provide valid photographic identification, and confirm the number of guests. Your entry code is issued once this is done.

What the price includes

The total price shown before you pay includes energy, water, broadband and a changeover clean, together with any charge that applies to your booking.

Utilities are included on a fair use basis. Sustained use well beyond what is reasonable for the property and the length of your stay may be charged at cost.

Your stay is a licence, not a tenancy

Your booking gives you a personal licence to occupy the property for the dates booked, for a holiday or short-term temporary stay only. It does not create a tenancy or any other interest in the property, and gives you no right to remain after your booking ends.

Cancellation

Our standard policy is free cancellation up to 14 days before arrival. After that, the booking is not refundable, whether or not you take the stay.

A different policy applies where the listing, or the rate you selected when booking, says so. Rate plans we may offer include non-refundable, standard and flexible. The policy that applies to your booking is the one shown for the property and the rate you selected at the time of booking.

Cancelling a booking is not the same as the general right to cancel an online purchase. Under consumer law, bookings for accommodation on set dates are excluded from that right, so the cancellation policy above is the one that applies.

If we have to cancel, or the property becomes unavailable for reasons outside our control, we will do our best to find you a comparable alternative. If we cannot, you receive a full refund of what you have paid. If your stay has already started, we refund the nights you have not taken.

Security deposit

Not every property takes one. Where a property does, the amount and how it is taken are shown on that property before you book.

A security deposit will not always cover the full cost of damage or loss. Card processing fees charged by our payment providers are deducted from any amount we retain, so the sum actually applied against what you owe is less than the amount held. Where the total due is more than that, you remain responsible for the balance.

Who may stay

Two limits apply: the size of your party as confirmed at booking, and the maximum occupancy of the property shown on the listing.

Extra guests beyond your confirmed party must be agreed with us in advance and may be charged for. The property maximum cannot be exceeded in any circumstances.

You must not sublet the property or allow anyone outside your party to stay.

Accessibility

Our properties are ordinary homes or apartments rather than purpose-built or adapted accommodation. Unless a listing says otherwise, the property is not adapted for wheelchair users or for guests with limited mobility, and it may have steps at the entrance, stairs inside, a sloping or uphill approach, or parking at a distance. Each listing sets out the property’s main access features, and we would ask you to read that before booking.

If you or anyone in your party has an access requirement, please tell us, ideally before you book, and otherwise as early as you can. Tell us what you need and we will tell you whether we think it is suitable, and what we can reasonably do to help.

If the property will not suit you and we cannot make it suitable: tell us before you book and we will not take the booking; tell us after booking but before the free cancellation deadline for your rate and we will cancel and refund you in full; tell us after that deadline and your booking’s cancellation policy applies in the normal way, which is why we ask you to tell us early. Where the property does not match what the listing says about its access, we will cancel and refund you in full whenever you tell us.

We can only take a requirement into account if we know about it. Where we are told only after arrival, there may be very little we can do at that point.

Nothing in this section affects your rights under the Equality Act 2010.

Arrival and departure

Check-in and checkout times are stated on the listing and in your confirmation.

Leaving later than the checkout time without our agreement will be charged. Where it disrupts cleaning or delays the next guests, you will also be liable for the resulting costs, including their relocation and any compensation we provide to them.

Keys

Keys must be returned as set out in the property’s check-in and check-out instructions. While you are staying, if you leave the property you must keep the key on you or lock it securely in the key box where one is provided. If a key is lost or taken because it was left elsewhere, you are liable for replacement, lock changes, and any loss that follows.

Using the property

• No parties, gatherings or events.
• You must not cause noise audible outside the property to the extent that it disturbs neighbours, at any time. A report of excessive noise may result in your stay being ended immediately.
• No smoking or vaping anywhere inside our homes.
• Portable electric heaters must not be used.
• Do not adjust or disable heating controls or the thermostat.

Pets are permitted only where the listing says so and with prior approval, and an additional charge applies. You are liable for any additional cleaning or damage caused by a pet.

Additional house rules are on the listing and in the guest portal.

Access to the property

We may need access during your stay for repairs or inspections, and we will give you reasonable notice and agree a time. We may enter without notice where we reasonably believe there is a risk to someone’s safety or of damage to the property.

Longer stays include a mid-stay clean, usually weekly or fortnightly, on a recurring day agreed with you at the start of your stay. If that day is not convenient in a particular week, tell us at least one day in advance and we will move it where we can. Access cannot be refused.

You must make sure members of our team can get in, either by being there or by leaving the key in the key box. A failed access charge applies if they cannot, and the same applies to the changeover clean after you leave.

Damage and charges

You are responsible for the property and its contents during your stay, and for everyone in your party.

Charges may be made for damage beyond fair wear and tear, missing or damaged items, cleaning beyond a standard changeover, specialist cleaning where there is evidence of smoking indoors, key or lock replacement, and a failed clean. An administration charge of 20% of the cost of any works applies, to cover arranging them.

Where damage or any other breach means the property cannot be let, you are liable for the rental value of the nights lost and for the cost of relocating and compensating affected guests.

Charges are payable within 7 working days of invoice. Where you have provided card details or a pre-authorisation, we may attempt to take payment from that card, and card processing fees are added to the amount due. Where a card payment is declined, blocked or does not cover the full amount, you remain responsible for the balance. Sums unpaid after 7 working days carry interest at 4% a year above the Bank of England base rate, together with our reasonable costs of recovery.

Ending a stay early

A stay may be ended immediately, without refund, for a party or event, exceeding the occupancy limit, smoking or vaping indoors, a report of excessive noise or antisocial behaviour, illegal use, or behaviour that puts people or the property at serious risk.

Problems during your stay

If anything about the property is not as it should be, tell us straight away so that we have the chance to put it right. That includes anything not working, damage, cleaning not up to standard, temperature, damp or mould, pests, or anything else affecting your stay.

You must give us the opportunity to resolve a problem while you are still at the property. If you do not tell us during your stay, we will not be able to consider a refund, reduction or compensation for it afterwards.

Your belongings

Your belongings are your responsibility. We are not liable for loss or damage to them except where we are at fault. We recommend travel insurance covering cancellation and possessions.

Our liability

We do not exclude or limit liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

Subject to that, liability in connection with your booking is limited to the amount you paid for it. We are not liable for events outside our reasonable control.

For co-hosted properties, the owner is responsible for the property itself, and Urban Hideaways Ltd is responsible for the booking and guest services it provides.

Complaints

Please tell us during your stay so that we have the chance to put things right while you are there. Contact us using the details in your booking confirmation or the guest portal.

Your information

We handle your personal information as described in our privacy notice. Some properties have an external camera or video doorbell fitted for security, covering the entrance and immediate exterior only. Where one is fitted it is stated on that property’s listing.

Changes to these terms

The version that applies to your booking is the one published when you booked. House rules may be updated, and the version in the guest portal at the time of your stay applies; we will tell you before arrival if anything material changes.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.