Terms of Service
Welcome to The Vegan Stay! Your compassionate travel experience starts here.
The Vegan Stay, an integral part of The Vegan Lighthouse Inc, is created to contribute to the creation of a global community of conscious, Vegan and Vegan-Curious Travellers and to financially and logistically support animal sanctuaries worldwide in their efforts to save the lives of more animals and to educate the public about the critical necessity of treating them as sentient beings, capable of experiencing the world subjectively, just as a humans do.
The Vegan Stay is built around this basic philosophy, as succinctly expressed in the Animal Sentience Code. Even though we require all our accommodations to be fully-vegan, we encourage Vegan-Curious guests to use our services as long as they abide by the vegan lifestyle while they use these services. Sanctuary Stays are particularly attractive to guests who want to get to understand animals better, and we encourage such visits. This is consistent with the basic philosophy of the Vegan Stay, and our ultimate goal is to eliminate the exploitation of animals worldwide.
Below, we detail the terms of service as they relate to the services currently offered at The Vegan Stay. These terms will be revised as we add more services to our platform in the future.
Rentals:
The Vegan Stay is a third party platform that facilitates agreements between Vegan or Vegan-Curious Guests on one hand, and Vegan Hosts on the other. As such, The Vegan Stay does not own any of the properties listed on the platform nor does it manage them. Its sole function is to facilitate such agreements between Vegan and Vegan-Curious Guests and Vegan Hosts. Vegan Hosts are encouraged to specify any additional rules they might have on their rental page, which are not covered by the basic rules of The Vegan Stay. The Vegan Stay is not part of the agreement between the Host and the Guest, and its sole function is to function as a medium for such agreements to take place. The Vegan Stay collects the rentas from Guests and distributes them to Hosts no later than 24 hours from check-in by the Guest.
Within these constraints, The Vegan Stay will do its best to support both the Host and Guest to make the experience as pleasant as possible for everyone involved.
“Us”, “We”, and “Our team” in this document and in the rest of this website refer to The Vegan Stay, a vegan homestay and event platform created and operated by The Vegan Lighthouse, Inc.
1. For Guests:
1.1 You abide by the Animal Sentience Code in your conduct while receiving any of the services listed on The Vegan Stay platform. The Vegan Stay is a global community built around the understanding that non-human animals are sentient beings worthy of being treated with love and respect. Everything it endorses must abide by this principle. The Animal Sentience is listed on The Vegan Stay website (www.theveganstay.com) on a separate link.
1.2 The Vegan Stay is a service meant for individuals of an age of at least 18 years AND who are legally able to take part in contractual transactions offered through The Vegan Stay. The Vegan Stay reserves the right to delete any account that does not respect this policy. This policy applies to the principal account holder. Individuals younger than 18 may benefit from the services of The Vegan Stay
1.3 You understand that making a booking through The Vegan Stay is no guarantee of accommodation. Thus, such a booking is considered only an application. The final decision rests solely with the Host. It is within their right to accept or deny a booking request within 24 hours within the time it is submitted without providing any justification, unless they choose to enable the “Instant Booking” feature on their rental page.
1.4 When you make a booking through The Vegan Stay, you agree to pay the total booking fee. This fee includes the rental price, The Vegan Stay service fee, any applicable taxes, and any ancillary fees listed by the Host. The Vegan Stay service fee is the amount charged for using the platform. If the Host is a verified sanctuary, the Host receives 100% of the service fee in addition to the full amount listed for the rental. If the Host is not a sanctuary, then a sanctuary of their choice shall receive 50% of the service fee. Sanctuaries are considered as Partners for The Vegan Stay, and we have developed this scheme to help them create a more diversified funding portfolio.
1.5 Anyone can view the various listings on The Vegan Stay by Category and Location, However, in order to make a Booking, you must create a profile on The Vegan Stay. You should not use the account of someone else to make a Booking. The Vegan Stay will not share login information with a third part. Therefore, it is critical that you keep such information safe.
1.6 You understand that The Vegan Stay does not own the properties in which the activities take place. Therefore, The Vegan Stay does not assume responsibility for the safety of property while at the rental place. Vegan and Vegan-Curious Guests should exercise their best judgment while traveling.
1.7 Any person can browse through the website and see the different listings. However, to be able to make a reservation, you must create an account. We expect that each person creating a profile must provide accurate information. The Vegan Stay reserves the right to terminate any account it deems contains any inaccurate data.
1.8 You should NOT provide identifying personal information, such as email address and phone number, to anyone. Information such as exact address, phone number, or email should be provided ONLY after a reservation is made. We recommend that Hosts and Guests interact exclusively through the messaging service on The Vegan Stay.
1.9 We expect that any person using The Vegan Stay to find travel accommodations to use our services exclusively to request such services. You, as someone who finds an accommodation through our service, should NOT try to circumvent The Vegan Stay to make arrangements with our Hosts. The Vegan Stay reserves the right to cancel any accounts suspected of pursuing our services in a manner not consistent with the basic manner The Vegan Stay operates. Our service fees are the manner through which we can sustain our services and support the work sanctuaries all over the world do. Please support us to do this optimally by respecting our policies.
1.10 You should not make reservations you do not intend to follow through with, as this will cause undue inconvenience for our Guests. However, you can make cancellations at different stages of the reservations. Please refer to our Cancelling And Refund Policy for more details.
1.11 You are responsible for abiding by the national, state (or province), and local laws of the country in which these accommodations take place. Please travel safely and sensibly!
2. For Hosts:
2.1 You abide by the Animal Sentience Code in your conduct while you serve as a Host. This means that you certify that the Vegan Stay or Sanctuary Stay you offer is fully vegan. While we encourage Vegan-Curious Guests to use our services, we require that Vegan Guests offer fully vegan accommodations.
2.2 As a Host, you will fall under one of two categories: 1) Sanctuary Stay (Partner), or 2) Vegan Stay (Client). Sanctuaries, upon application and verification, are considered Partners of The Vegan Stay, which makes them eligible to receive financial support from The Vegan Stay. We explain in detail in other places in the website all the benefits sanctuaries are eligible for.
2.3 You are welcome to associate as many listings as you wish with your account. However, each separate accommodation you offer must go under a separate listing.
2.4 The Vegan Stay does not function as an insurer. Therefore, it is your responsibility to add any addendums, such as a deposit or anything else you see fit for your property and list it on your rental profile. We encourage Hosts and Guests to obtain external insurance based on their needs and goals.
2.5 As a Host, you have the right to accept or decline a reservation at your discretion (as long as such actions do not constitute unlawful discrimination). You have the option to activate the Instant Booking feature or deactivate it. The Instant Booking feature was created to give Hosts more control over who gets to stay at their accommodations. In case a Host activates the Instant Booking feature, they must respond to requests within 24 hours.
2.6 As a Host, you authorize The Vegan Stay to function as an agent to process bookings, and collect payments on your behalf. You also authorize The Vegan Stay to process refunds on your behalf according to the rules outlined in our Refund Policy.
2.7 As a responsible Host, we expect that you do not cancel a reservation made by a Guest only under the most extenuating circumstances. In such an event, you authorize The Vegan Stay to refund in full all payments made by the Guest.
2.8 You are entitled to create your own rules, in addition to the basic rules listed by The Vegan Stay (security deposit, check in time, house rules, etc). In such a case, you are required to clearly list such rules on the page for the listing.
Modification of Terms of Service:
The Vegan Stay reserves the right, at its sole discretion to modify the Terms of Service, at any time.
If we modify these Terms, we will post the change on the Site (as defined below). We will also update the “Last Updated Date” at the top of these Terms. We will provide you with notice of the modifications by email at least thirty (30) days before the date they become effective. If you disagree with the revised Privacy Policy, you may cancel your The Vegan Stay account by contacting us at [email protected]. If you do not cancel your The Vegan Stay account before the date it becomes effective, you are indicating that you accept the modified Privacy Policy.