General conditions

Terms and Conditions

These conditions set out the basis upon which Duquesa Estates accepts bookings for holidays described in the duquesa.net website, any associated web sites and any supplements or brochures. Please read these conditions carefully, if after reading you do not wish to be bound by this conditions you have 5 days from the date of booking confirmation to cancel the booking and monies paid to us will be refunded in full.

1. Contract
You may book by email or telephone A binding contract comes into existence when the holiday booking has been confirmed either by post or email to you or your representative. This contract will be governed by Spanish Law and is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Spain. In all cases the person making the reservation on behalf of the group accepts these booking conditions on behalf of every member of the group.

2. Price Guarantee
All prices quoted on the web page are subject to change by the owners, and we reserve the right to correct and amend errors in both advertised and confirmed prices, which we will do so as soon as we become aware of the error. Please check the price of your holiday at time of booking. Once a holiday has been confirmed and paid in full we guarantee not to increase the cost of the accommodation or any extras arranged on your behalf by Duquesa Estates.

3. Payment
In order to confirm your holiday a payment of 20% of the total holiday cost per property (or full payment if the booking is made less than 6 weeks before the arrival date) must be paid at time of booking. Once a contract comes into existence (see 1) you have agreed to pay the total cost of the holiday. We must receive the balance not less than 6 weeks before commencement of the holiday. If we do not receive the total cost by the due date, we reserve the right to cancel the booking. In this case, cancellation charges may apply (see 6).

4. Security Deposits
On arrival and collection of keys you will be asked to provide a credit card number (if not provided already) and sign our registration form which clearly states the number of sets of keys you have been given and also any garage remote or peg given. Upon signing this registration form this will authorise Duquesa Estates to deduct any major damage, breakages or lossess caused to the property or contents during your stay upto a maximum of 500 € per property. Minor damages such as a chipped cup, broken glasses etc. will not be charged for.

5. Holiday Insurance
It is your responsibility to obtain your own travel insurance.

6. Cancellation by You
In the unlikely event of your being forced to cancel your holiday, in full or in part, you should inform Duquesa Estates immediately by telephone or email, and confirm this in writing by post. You remain responsible for the total cancellation charges of the booking. A cancellation will only be accepted from the person originally making the booking. The cancellation will take effect from the date that our office receives the written cancellation notice either by post or email. Cancellation charges are as follows:

More than 42 days before your arrival date : Loss of deposit

29 - 42 days before your arrival date : 50% of total price of holiday

15 - 28 days before your arrival date : 75% of total price of holiday

1 - 14 days before your arrival date : 100% of total price of holiday

7. Amendments by You
If you wish to amend you booking after it has been confirmed, we will endeavor to assist you, however, you may incur additional costs.

8. Cancellation by Us
Occasionally we have no option but to cancel your booking, and we reserve the right to do so. We will endeavour not to cancel within a period of 42 days prior to the start of your holiday, unless we have not received full payment, or we are forced to do so due to circumstances beyond our control. If it is necessary to cancel your holiday for any other reason than that of non payment by you, we will make every effort to offer you an alternative property to an equivalent or better standard (subject to availability or condition 10), or we will make a full refund of all monies paid. Additionally we will pay compensation as set out in condition 11, subject to the following exception.

Compensation will not be paid, nor will liability be accepted, other than offering alternative accommodation or a full refund, should the cancellation be forced upon us by unusual or unforeseeable circumstances outside our control, where by even with all due care and attention we would be unable to avoid.

9. Amendment by Us
The properties featured in our website are often inspected and taken onto our books sometime in advance of your holiday and therefore on occasion owners may effect changes in the intervening period. Also regrettably, regardless of strict quality control, errors do occur. As soon as we are aware of any changes or errors, they will be corrected immediately and should this happen after the confirmation of your holiday we will advise you of any change or error. Normally these will be only minor alterations and will not affect your holiday. Should there be a significant change we will notify you as soon as possible and discuss the implications of the change or error. Should you decide that the change is sufficient to alter your holiday to the degree that you do not want to accept it, where ever possible we will offer you alternative accommodation (subject to availability), or offer you a full refund of payments made to us. If a serious change is made we will pay compensation (see 10). This compensation is not payable nor will we accept liability if we have been forced to make the change due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control and which we could not have avoided even with all due care and attention. A significant change is one made before the start date of your holiday involving a change of holiday property or a change of accommodation to that of a poorer quality than the property originally booked.

10. Compensation Payments
No compensation is payable for minor changes or alterations. Minor changes do not give you the right to refuse the holiday accommodation originally selected. In all cases where compensation is payable, this limits our liability to the payment made. We are unable to pay any expenses or related costs incurred as a result of any cancellation or amendment. Compensation is paid in accordance with the following table and depends on the time of notice given, of any significant change, to you before the start of the holiday.

More than 60 days NIL

42 - 60 days €10

29 - 41 days €15

15 - 28 days €20

1 - 14 days €30

If due to cancellation or significant change in your selected holiday accommodation, you choose to accept a cheaper property than the one originally selected and paid for, we will refund the difference in price. Should you choose to upgrade to a more expensive property than the one originally selected we may ask you to pay the difference.

11. Your Responsibilities
For the duration of your holiday you are responsible for the property which you have booked and you are expected to take care of it. You are responsible for leaving the property in a clean and tidy condition and may be billed for any amount over and above the time normally spent on the cleaning. You are liable for any breakages and damage to the property or its contents, and if you do not replace any breakages or pay locally for any damage sustained, you will be billed when you return from your holiday. Any third party visiting the property during your holiday will be regarded as your responsibility and any damages or breakages caused by any third party will be your liability. You are responsible for any damage to any third party visiting the property that is caused by you or any member of the party staying in the property, or any other person whom you may invite to the property.

12. Our Responsibilities
The accommodation and any other extras which are booked through Duquesa Estates and which are arranged on your behalf by Duquesa Estates are owned and managed by individual owners and suppliers. However should you suffer death, disablement, injury, illness, loss or damage as a result of any failure on our part to perform, or any of our employees, agents, suppliers or sub contractors failure to perform (subject to their being authorised by us and subject to the following exceptions), we will accept responsibility. We are not liable where any failure to perform or improper performance was due to:

i) the act/s and/or omission/s of the person/s affected

ii) any third party not connected with your holiday provided by Duquesa Estates

iii) any event which could not have been foreseen by either ourselves or our employees, agents, suppliers or sub contractors, even with all due care and attention.

We shall not be liable to you or any member of the party on the selected holiday, for any loss which does not arise naturally in the ordinary course, unless we have been notified by you, in writing, before the confirmation of the holiday booking, of any special facts or circumstances relevant to any such claim, and we have knowingly accepted the additional risk. Furthermore we will not accept any liability for any business losses.

13. Numbers of People Accepted at Holiday Accommodation
The owners of the property or their agent or representative retain the rights to refuse admission to more people (including children and infants) than the maximum allowed as stated in the property description. Similarly the owners of the property, or their agent or representative retain the right to refuse the erection of tents, the parking of caravans, motor homes or any other type of temporary or mobile accommodation on any part of the garden or land connected to the property.

14. Complaints
It is our policy to endeavour at all times to satisfy our clients and to this end we ask that should there be any complaint we have the opportunity to rectify any problems with the property or any service which we may have arranged on your behalf. We would ask you to follow the following procedure, in the unlikely event of a complaint or problem. First of all you should contact the office in Duquesa so that we are immediately made aware of and are able to assist with the complaint/problem. On your return from holiday, should you feel that your complaint/problem was unresolved, we would ask you to write to us giving us all the relevant details, within two weeks of your return home. Failure to observe this procedure will make it difficult or impossible for us and the owner of the property to rectify the problem at the time of its occurrence and therefore we regret that we will be unable to accept any liability regarding any complaint or claim which is not notified in accordance with this. We would draw your attention to the fact that although we are very sympathetic to any instances of unforeseen building or construction work which may occur in the vicinity of your chosen holiday home, this is completely outside our control and although we will try our best to help you, we have no ability to stop any such work or noise and therefore cannot accept liability.

15. Force Majeure
We apologise but regret that we are unable to accept any responsibility or liability for any problems or events which we, or our agent, supplier or sub contractor, could not, even with all due care and attention possibly foresee or avoid. These items may include war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, flood, fire or disease and all similar events outside our control.

16. Website
This website is constantly being upgraded, altered and amended. Thus it is not a brochure which has a beginning and end date, therefore it is possible that prices and information may have changed by the time you decide to book a holiday. We therefore emphasise that it is essential that at the time of booking that you check all details and verify all prices of accommodation and any other extras which we may arrange on your behalf. Facilities and local attractions are features which are intended solely as information and we are therefore unable to accept any liability for these being unavailable during your holiday period. All distances and measurements mentioned in the descriptions of properties are approximate.

17. Personal Safety and Safety Standards
Please be aware that when travelling abroad you should take greater care than normal when you are visiting unknown destinations. As with all tourist areas, unfortunately, opportune thieves sometimes operate. Therefore we advise you not to carry unnecessarily large amounts of cash with you and to ensure that handbags, wallets and other receptacles are always secured. When parking and leaving any vehicle all articles should be locked in the boot and covered so as to be totally out of sight. We cannot accept liability for any death, injury or loss sustained due to the non-observance of your own safety. Please note that safety standards apply to Spain and may on occasion not be up to the normal expected standard of safety required in the UK. You should take care to check the safe condition of items such as electric plugs, sockets and switches etc. We would ask you to report any defective item to the local agent and also to notify us, however we regret we cannot be liable for any death, injury or loss due to the use of such defective item.

18. Communal Facilities
All communal facilities available in communities are not charged for or a condition of booking. Duquesa Estates does not provide any support nor does it provide any guarantee that you will be able to use any or all or these facilities during your stay as the maintenance of these are out of our control.  This includes but is not limited to communal WiFi systems, swimming pools, underground parking and lifts.

19. Parking
All accommodation rented through Duquesa Estates comes with allocated parking however parking is at your own risk and Duquesa Estates  offers no warranty or indemnity as to the protection or safety of vehicles left in the car parking premises or any goods left within the vehicles.

Except for death or personal injury caused by negligence, use of the car park is entirely at the customer's risk. Accordingly, Duquesa Estates, the Company and their servants and agents accept no liability in respect of:
(a) any loss, destruction, damage or theft of or from the vehicle or the contents of the vehicle, or
(b) death of or personal injury sustained by customers and others in the car park except where caused by the negligence or other breach of duty by Duquesa Estates or the Company.

20. Access and cleaning during your stay.

The accommodation we offer is self catering with washing machines in all properties for your convenience.

If you book a stay with us for more than 10 nights the property will be cleaned half way through your stay or every seven days for longer durations and the linen and towels will be changed for your convenience, unfortunately if a cleaner is turned away it will not be possible for them to return at an alternative time due to very tight cleaning schedules.

We want you to feel totally secure in your property with no interruptions, however on occasion for maintenance and security of our guests it may be necessary for a member of our staff to enter the property during your stay, we will always endeavor to contact you prior to this wherever possible.

21. Damage
We reserve the right and you hereby authorise us to charge your credit or debit card to a maximum of €250.00 for any damage incurred to the property or community you are renting in (including extra cleaning) and for any items that are missing or damaged including keys and garage remote control  when you leave
The guest acknowledges that this does not limit their liability for damages in excess of this amount.
The cost of any damage will be invoiced to the guest on or as soon after departure as possible by Duquesa Estates

22. Apartment facilities and compensation

All properties rented via Duquesa Estates are fully equipped for everything you may need for your stay and are serviced and checked regularly, in the unlikely event that any equipment breaks down during your stay we will endeavour to repair or replace these items as soon as is practically possible. This may include but is not limited to internet, air conditioning and kitchen appliances. Duquesa Estates is not liable for such breakdowns or delay due to outside contractors and compensation will not be offered.

23. Data Protection
If you make a booking with us, Duquesa Estates will record your personal details and this will be processed in accordance with the EU Data Protection Act. Your data will be used principally to meet your requirements. We retain the data you provide from time to time, including your purchase history and data we collect when you use our products and services. Your data may be used for the following purposes: accounting, billing and audit, credit or other payment card 
None of your details will be shared with third party organisations