Sales Commission

Bookings made through our sales channels like Cool Camping, Glampingly or Cool Places attracted commission charges which were paid by the accommodation partner. These are deducted from the initial deposit when a booking is made.

Who Paid Commission?

The accommodation partner paid commission - not the guest.

When a customer paid a deposit to an accommodation partner, to confirm a booking, we then immediately charged the partner the commission amount for that booking. VAT invoices for commissions charged to accommodation partners are available from the Bookings > Payments tab in Bedful.

We do not refund commission to guests, and you should not refer guests to us, or request that we refund commission payments to guests. Guests pay the deposit to the partner at the time of booking, and would expect to receive any refund due from the partner. Your own refund policies should therefore be chosen on that basis.

Reasons for Commission

The commission charge reflects the work we did on your behalf - promotion, marketing, press coverage, social media, web development, being an industry voice for the accommodation we feature, administration and so on. The commission allowed us to keep doing the things we need to do to drive bookings to our accommodation partners. When our partners received a booking through one of our sales channels, this was the end result of all the work already done to drive bookings.

Although it is a per booking charge, this is not paid by the guest, it is paid by the partner.

Refunds

We do not refund commission directly to guests, and you should not refer guests to us or request that we do so.

Refunding guests is at your discretion, and the amount returned is also chosen by you (up to the full amount paid), and will depend on your particular booking and refunds policy and the circumstances of the guest. To help mitigate this cost to you, we suggest considering a cancellation policy which includes a clause stating 20% of the total value of a booking may be retained to cover your costs - payment fees, commission and the work you've done on the guest's behalf too – commission is not the only cost you incur on a cancelled booking.

If a booking was made under the Coronavirus Booking Guarantee scheme you are not obliged to give refunds, and this is at your discretion. We'd encourage you to ask guests to rebook at a different time instead first.

The commission payment from partners to us is non-refundable, because all our costs are incurred before a booking is made. However we strive for open communication and common-sense. There are times that the guest can't take their trip on compassionate grounds, or they've booked twice in error, and we would look at refunding our commission to the partner.  If you believe you are entitled to a commission refund due to the special circumstances of a particular booking, please contact us directly to discuss it. It may be helpful to do this before refunding the guest, as it may influence the total amount you refund to the guest. As outlined above, please do not refer guests to us for a partial refund for the commission amount - customer refunds always need to come from you, the partner.