1. Introduction
(1) The www.stayz.com.au website, and any mobile application for the website (the “Site”) is owned and operated by Stayz Pty Ltd, Level 18, 100 William Street, Woolloomooloo NSW 2011 (“Stayz”, “we”, “us” or “our”). Stayz is a subsidiary of Expedia Inc. in the United States and part of the HomeAway group of companies within the Expedia group (“HomeAway Group”). You can find out more about the HomeAway Group and how we share data in the Site’s Privacy Policy.
(2) These terms and conditions (the “Traveller Ts&Cs”) together with the Privacy Policy govern, the relationship between Stayz and any individual using or accessing the Site and any of the content or services available through it as a traveller or potential traveller, and who is not using it in his/her/its capacity as a property owner or property manager (each, a “Traveller” or “you”). Travellers include people who use the Site to access information about and to rent vacation properties.
(3) The Traveller Ts&Cs constitute a legally binding agreement between Stayz and the Traveller. By using or accessing the site or Stayz’s platforms or systems, you acknowledge that you agree to and are subject to the Traveller Ts&Cs as well as our Privacy Policy. If you do not fully agree to the Traveller Ts&Cs, you are not authorised to access or otherwise use the Site.
(4) Stayz does not authorise anyone to register with this site unless they are able to enter into legally binding contracts.
(5) Stayz may revise these Traveller Ts&Cs at any time by posting an updated version to this web page. You should visit this page periodically to view the most current Traveller Ts&Cs because they are binding on you.
2. The Basics
(1) This Site is a place where Travellers can view advertising of, and obtain information about, vacation properties offered for short term lets of less than 60 days (“Properties”) by others, including property owners, lessees and managers, (each, an “Owner” and collectively with a Traveller, the ‘users’). We may also offer online booking, online payment or other tools or services to allow users to communicate with each other and to enter into rental agreements or other transactions. We are not an agent for Owners or property managers that advertise properties on Stayz, nor are we an agent for any third party suppliers of other goods or services that are advertised on Stayz.
(2) The Site acts only as a venue for users to interact, and Stayz is not, and does not become, party to any contractual relationship between the Traveller and the Owner, and does not mediate between the Traveller and the Owner in the event of any dispute arising between them. This is true even if the Site facilitates booking of or payment for a Property or the use of other tools, services or products, as Stayz is not a party to any rental or other agreement between Travellers and Owners.
3. Property Listings and Interaction with Owners
(1) Owners are entirely responsible for all of the information, including images, text and other content, relating to the Properties they offer (“Listings”), for updating them and ensuring (where relevant) that they are correctly translated.
(2) If a Traveller finds a Property in which they are interested, they can make a booking request or ask the Owner a question by sending a message, without having to log in to the Site for the purpose.
(3) The Traveller will receive a confirmation from Stayz once a booking request or message has been sent to the Owner.
(4) If the Traveller is asked for credit card details upon making a booking request, their card is charge when the booking request is accepted, in accordance with the payment schedule set out in the booking flow. If the Traveller is not asked for credit card details or a booking request with credit card details is not accepted within the time specific on the Site, the Traveller and Owner may still continue to communicate and agree a booking.
(5) Booking requests and messages using the Stayz system are available for review by the person to whom it was initially addressed and to a limited number of HomeAway Group customer service employees, who may be asked by Owners or others for their past enquiry information. Stayz also monitor messages from time to time which are sent using our platforms. Stayz may, from time to time, use third party e-mail servers to send and track receipt of the enquiry emails, and analyse the pattern of enquiry usage reported by these third party tracking systems. Our system does not hold messages indefinitely and they may not be accessible after the message has been delivered to you.
Please print a copy of any message which is important to you – for example a payment receipt or a booking confirmation.
(6) Stayz has no responsibility for, or involvement in, the communications between the Owner and Traveller.
4. Use of Stayz Online Payments
(1) The Stayz online payments service (“Online Payments”) is provided on the Site to assist Travellers to make legitimate reservations or otherwise transact business with Owners, and to make payments for those transactions through Stayz, and for no other purposes.
(2) You confirm that you are at least 18 years of age and possess the legal authority to enter into this agreement and to use Online Payments in accordance with these terms and conditions. You also agree that all information supplied by you in using the Site and the Online Payments will be true and accurate.
(3) Any speculative, false or fraudulent booking is prohibited. You agree that you will only use Online Payments to make legitimate reservations or purchases for you or another person for whom you are legally authorised to act. You acknowledge that overuse or abuse of Online Payments may result in you being denied access to the Site.
(4) You will be issued with a username and password in order to use Online Payments. The username and password are personal to you and are not transferable, and will be unique to each individual booking that you make. You are responsible for all information posted on or transmitted via Online Payments by anyone using your username and password and any payments due for goods or services acquired through the system by anyone using your username and password. You should notify any breach of security of your username and password to us immediately.
(5) The Owner you have booked with may ask for a refundable damage deposit to be paid. Stayz does not become involved in the payment or return of damage deposits. Return of these amounts is based on the Owner's terms and conditions and their inspection of the property after your stay.
5. Reservation and Payments
(1) If you are using Online Payments, the total transaction value for a booking is split into two portions: (a) the non-refundable deposit and (b) the remaining balance (together, the ‘Booking Value’), as further set out in the Online Payments flow. You may pay both portions (the full amount) of the Booking Value up-front or pay the deposit initially and subsequently pay the remaining balance. Where the stay commences in less than 4 weeks from the time of booking, the full Booking Value must be paid up-front.
(2) If you use Online Payments, we may charge a service fee, which includes a card surcharge of 0.8% and a component towards the other costs we incur in relation to providing online booking and payments.
(3) If you are using Online Payments, the Owner may also ask you to pay a refundable damage deposit (RDD), which may be payable either at the point of booking, or at a later date up to a maximum of 48 hours before check in. You must read and agree to the Owner’s terms and conditions relating to the RDD at the time of booking.
(4) The RDD will be automatically refunded to you on the refund date to the card used to make the original booking. If following an inspection of the property the Owner needs to withhold all or a portion of the RDD in accordance with the agreed RDD Terms, the Owner will provide you with details of the amount being retained prior to the refund date (the “Retained Amount”) and the reasons why.
(5) You agree and acknowledge that Stayz is not a party to the contractual relationship between the you and the Owner, and that the collection of the RDD and any withholding of the Retained Amount is subject to the RDD Terms agreed between you and the Owner at the point of booking. The processing and refunding of the RDD is undertaken by Stayz in its capacity as a payment processor solely in accordance with Owner’s instructions, subject to our terms and conditions. All disputes with respect to the RDD must be handled between you and the Owner directly, and Stayz will not mediate between in the event of any such dispute.
(6) At the time of booking through Online Payments, you must pay the deposit or full amount of the booking (and, if applicable, the RDD) by card in Australian dollars. You will then receive a booking confirmation and reference number for your booking. You will need to use that reference should you wish to refer to your booking at a later date.
(7) By using Online Payments, you agree to the automatic debit of the remaining balance from your card on the due date for final payment. You must ensure that sufficient funds are available for debit at that time. Fees and charges relating to insufficient funds at time of debit will be passed onto you.
(8) If you do not pay the remaining balance by the due date and it remains overdue for more than one week, the Owner may deem the booking to have been cancelled by you and retain the non-refundable deposit. Any RDD paid will be refunded in full.
(9) On receipt of funds from you, Stayz will hold those funds on behalf of the Owner until such time as they are remitted to the Owner, refunded to you (if you are entitled to a refund) or transferred to Stayz in payment of our fees and charges. No interest will be payable by Stayz to you or the Owner on amounts held by Stayz.
(10) If you are not using Online Payments, you must make all arrangements for payment directly with the Owner.
6. Changes, cancellations and refunds
(1) Terms and conditions for booking changes, cancellations and refunds and refundable damage deposits are specific to each Owner and/or each property that they list. These terms are set out on the payment page if you are using Online Payments (and must be read and agreed to before making your booking), or otherwise will be provided to you by the Owner.
(2) If you used Online Payments for your booking, to make changes to your booking or make a cancellation please login using your personal username and password in the link provided in your confirmation email. Stayz is unable to request any booking changes or cancellations on your behalf. If you did not use Online Payments to make your booking, you must contact the Owner to change or cancel the booking.
(3) If you are using Online Payments and you cancel a booking, the deposit portion of the total transaction value is non-refundable. If you have already paid the remaining balance, your right to a refund of that portion will be determined by the cancellation policy of the Owner. Any RDD paid to the Owner will be refunded in full.
(4) If you do not pay any remaining balance by the due date and it remains overdue for more than one week, the Owner may deem the booking to have been cancelled by you and may retain the non-refundable deposit.
(5) Other than cancellation due a failure to pay under clause 6.4 above, if the Owner cancels the booking then you will be entitled to a refund of any deposit portion and/or remaining balance you have paid. Any RDD paid to the Owner will also be refunded in full.
(6) If you used Online Payments for your booking and you are entitled to a refund under the Owner's terms and conditions, the refund will be made through the system to the same card that you used to pay for the booking. In other cases, you must make arrangements for payment of any refund to which you are entitled directly with the Owner.
7. Rights and obligations of Stayz
(1) Stayz shall use commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that depictions on the site of the photos of the Properties that Owners have submitted to Stayz are as true and accurate a representation of those photos as practicable. However, you acknowledge that deviations from original photos can occur when scanning non-digital images, and due to individual screen settings.
(2) Further, you also acknowledge that Owners – and not Stayz – are responsible for the accuracy with which the photos depict the relevant Property.
(3) Stayz may occasionally undertake upgrades and maintenance of the site, its platforms and systems. These works may result in restrictions on the usage. Stayz will, where possible, aim to ensure that works that cause any such restriction are undertaken at a time when most Travellers’ usage is least affected.
(4) Stayz offers a messaging system which may be used by the Owner and Traveller for making contact with one another. Completed enquiry contact forms will be forwarded to the email provided by the Owner of the relevant Property. You acknowledge that unauthorised third parties may misuse the system and unlawfully intercept or read messages. Stayz is not liable for any such misuse.
(5) You acknowledge that Stayz is not responsible for checking the identity, or for the behaviour, of Owners or for establishing the nature, condition or existence of a Property.
(6) Stayz reserves the right to transfer these Traveller Ts & Cs, and to assign or subcontract any or all of its rights and obligations under these Traveller Ts & Cs, to a third party but will not do so in such a way as to reduce any guarantees you are given under these Traveller Ts & Cs.
8. Intellectual Property and Related
(1) All content that appears on this site, and the site itself, is protected by copyright and database rights. Reproduction of the site, in whole or in part, including the copying of text, graphics or designs, is prohibited.
(2) Travellers are permitted to download, display or print individual pages of the site to evidence their agreement with Stayz. The relevant file or the relevant printout must clearly bear the text “© Copyright 2001 – Present Stayz Pty Ltd - All Rights Reserved”.
(3) Where a Traveller submits to or transmits through the site or Stayz’s platform or systems any content of any type, including text or images, the Traveller undertakes that he/she has the right to do so, and has been granted the necessary consent by any persons featured (’model release’) or owners of featured items (’property release’).
(4) To the extent that Travellers’ reviews or other content may contain trade marks or other proprietary names or marks, Travellers undertake that they have the right to do so.
(5) By submitting reviews to the site, Travellers authorise Stayz to use them both on the site and in separately published form.
(6) Stayz also uses Google Analytics to gather statistics on site usage. There are more details in the Privacy Policy and Cookie Notice and in Google’s own privacy policy. Google may aggregate data they collect from their various services including Google Analytics, Google Translate, Google Maps and other Google services including YouTube. You understand and accept that the HomeAway Group has no control over Google’s data collection.
9. Communications and Reviews
(1) Travellers must provide only accurate and truthful information concerning their identity in any communications on the Site, including reviews of Properties.
(2) Messages sent via Stayz’s systems should only relate to genuine booking enquiries. We do not tolerate spam or unsolicited commercial electronic communications of any kind. It is prohibited to misuse Stayz’s systems, such as by sending unsolicited commercial communications (spam) or disclosing personal information of users to a third party, unless you have the express permission from the user. E-mails and site recommendations transmitted via the “Recommend this site” function should only be sent with the recipient’s consent. You agree that you will protect other users’ personal information with the same degree of care that you protect your own confidential information (using at minimum a reasonable standard of care), and you assume all liability for the misuse, loss, or unauthorised transfer of such information.
(3) Travellers may post their reviews of Owners’ Properties (“Traveller Reviews”) on the site. The Owner is given the opportunity to view Traveller Reviews, and to respond to them (an “Owner Response”). Some more detail about Traveller Reviews and Owner Responses is available here.
(4) Please note that Stayz does not, and realistically does not have the ability to, verify the accuracy or otherwise of Traveller Reviews or Owner Responses.
(5) Stayz nevertheless requires all Traveller Reviews, Owner Responses and other communications using Stayz’s systems to conform to the Content Guidelines, and may decline to post any of them that Stayz finds do not comply.
(6) In the event that any Traveller Review appears on the site but fails to conform to the Content Guidelines, then without prejudice to any other available remedies, Stayz shall be entitled immediately to remove from the site the relevant non-conforming Traveller Review.
(7) Stayz does not generally conduct identity checks. If Travellers suspect that the Owner has supplied false information, they are invited to notify Stayz through the contact form.
(8) Stayz complies with its Privacy Policy. Further details can be obtained from the Privacy Policy. The Traveller consents to the use of his data as outlined in the Privacy Policy.
10. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold Stayz and its affiliates in Australia and other countries including the HomeAway Group (“Stayz Affiliates”) harmless against any claims by third parties brought against Stayz or any Stayz Affiliate arising out of or in connection with: (a) any material or content you provide to the Site; (b) your use of any content on the Site; or (c) any breach by you of these Traveller Ts&Cs. Stayz will provide notice to you promptly of any such claims.
11. Prohibitions
The Traveller must not directly or indirectly:
a) With respect to the site, its content, and databases comprised in the site, in any form, whether by using automatic devices or manual processes, exploit, copy, distribute, reproduce, edit, translate, make publicly accessible or decompile any of the same;
b) Monitor content on the site or Stayz’s platform or systems by means of robots, spiders, or other automatic instruments; provided, however, that a limited exception from the foregoing exclusion is provided to general purpose internet search engines (not including any website or search engine or other service that provides classified listings or property rental adverts, or any subset of the same or which is in the business of providing vacation property rental services or other services that compete with the site or Stayz) and non-commercial public archives that use tools to gather information for the sole purpose of displaying hyperlinks to the Site, provided they each do so from a stable IP address or range of IP addresses using an easily identifiable agent and comply with Stayz’s robots.txt file;
c) Use the site or Stayz’s platform or systems for purposes other than those referred to in these Traveller Ts&Cs;
d) Use the site or the tools and services on the site for the purpose of booking or soliciting a rental for a property other than a Property under a valid Listing;
e) Reproduce any portion of the site on another website or otherwise, using any device including, but not limited to, use of a frame or border environment around the site, or any other framing technique to enclose any portion or aspect of the site, or mirror or replicate any portion of the site;
f) Upload or send to the site or Stayz’s platform or systems any contents or programs, which on account of their size or nature, might damage Stayz’s computers or networks;
g) Include content on the site or Stayz’s platform or systems that breaches any applicable criminal or other laws, or encourages any such breach;
h) Use or access the Site or Stayz’s platform or systems in any way that might endanger any computer system or network, including by making available any virus (for which purpose, “virus” includes any program introduced into a system deliberately which carries out a useless and/or destructive function, such as displaying an irritating message or systematically over-writing the information on a user's hard disk);
i) Post or transmit information that is in any way false, fraudulent, or misleading, or engage in any act that may be considered “phishing” (whether primary, secondary or other) or that would give rise to criminal or civil liability;
j) Post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libellous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, indecent, inflammatory, sexually explicit, pornographic or profane material; or
k) Refer to Stayz or any Stayz Affiliate in any way that might lead someone to believe that the Traveller or any website is sponsored by, affiliated with, or endorsed by Stayz or any Stayz Affiliate.
12. Right to delete content
Travellers are responsible for ensuring that their communications, and content posted, through or in connection with the site, including Traveller Reviews and communications with Owners, do not infringe the law, the rights of any person or entity, or contain false information, personal insults, anything slanderous or defamatory, anything that infringes copyright, data protection law or the Content Guidelines. Stayz may monitor any data on the Site or Stayz’s platform or systems and delete it or alter it when it is no longer accurate or up-to-date. Without prejudice to any other available remedies, Stayz shall be entitled immediately to remove from the site any communications or content that infringes these requirements.
13. Notifications
(1) Messages are to be sent using the contact form or by ordinary post to Stayz Pty Ltd, Level 18, 100 William Street, Woolloomooloo NSW 2011.
(2) Notifications of copyright infringement must contain:
a. Your postal address, telephone number and e-mail address;
b. Precise details about the content in question (insertion of the text or image) including a link to the website;
c. A signed declaration in lieu of an oath, which evidences that you:
i. Hold the exclusive rights to use the work;
ii. Have not authorised the use of the material in question in this form.
14. Liability of Stayz
Stayz has taken all practical steps from both a technical and systems perspective to ensure that all of your information is well protected. A secure payment gateway is used to process all transactions and card details. However, Stayz does not give any warranty or make any representation regarding the strength or effectiveness of the secure payment gateway and is not responsible for events arising from unauthorised access to your information.
In no event will Stayz be liable for any lost profits or any indirect, consequential, special, incidental, or punitive damages arising out of, based on, or resulting from the site or Stayz’s platform or systems, any materials or content you submit to the Site, and your use of the Site and/or any transaction between users, even if Stayz has been advised of the possibility of such damages. These limitations and exclusions apply without regard to whether the damages arise from breach of contract, negligence or any other cause of action. If you are dissatisfied with the site or Stayz’s platform or systems, you do not agree with any part of these Traveller Ts & Cs, then your sole and exclusive remedy against Stayz is to discontinue using the site. Nothing in these Traveller Ts & Cs shall exclude or restrict HomeAway Group ‘s liability under the Australian Consumer Law; for death or personal injury resulting from its negligence; nor for HomeAway Group’s fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
15. Miscellaneous
(1) These Traveller Ts & Cs, and the relationship between the Owner and Stayz, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws in force in New South Wales, and you submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in that State.
(2) These Traveller Ts & Cs and the Privacy Policy contain the entire agreement between Stayz and Traveller relating to their subject matter.
(3) Stayz recommends that you save your own copy of these Traveller Ts & Cs in a separate file on your device or in print-out form.
(4) Stayz’s failure to act with respect to a breach of these Traveller Ts & Cs by the Traveller or others does not waive Stayz ’s right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches.
(5) The headings to the Clauses are for ease of reference only and do not affect the interpretation or construction of these Traveller Ts & Cs.
(6) The invalidity of one or more provisions of these Traveller Ts & Cs shall not affect the validity of the other provisions.