Terms of use
Last updated 3 August 2026
1. Who we are, and agreement to these terms
This website and the Ondio platform are provided by Ondio (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2026/567531/07, a company registered in the Republic of South Africa ("Ondio", "we", "us").
By using this website, a booking website we host, or our messaging services, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use them. We may update these terms; the version published here at the time you use the service is the one that applies.
2. What the service is
We provide software to accommodation providers: hosted booking websites, a WhatsApp guest-messaging assistant, and an admin portal for managing availability, rates and bookings. A property's own agreement with us governs the commercial terms of that service.
3. Bookings are between you and the accommodation provider
This is the most important term on this page. Ondio does not own, operate, let or manage any accommodation. When you book through a website we host or a WhatsApp conversation we power, the agreement for your stay is between you and the accommodation provider. We are not a party to it and we are not an agent for either side.
The provider's own house rules, cancellation policy, deposit terms and payment arrangements govern your stay. Payment is settled with the provider directly. Questions, changes, complaints and refunds relating to a stay must be taken up with the provider.
4. Accuracy of listings
Descriptions, photographs, rates, availability and policies are supplied and maintained by each accommodation provider. We display what they enter and do not independently verify it. If something matters to your booking, confirm it with the property before you travel.
5. Accounts
Accounts on the admin portal are issued by invitation to accommodation providers and their staff. If you hold one, keep your login details confidential, give us accurate information, and tell us promptly if you believe your account has been used without your permission. You are responsible for what is done through your account.
6. Acceptable use
Use the website and the platform lawfully. Do not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of them or to another user's data, interfere with their operation, scrape or overload them, submit false bookings, or use the messaging service to send unlawful, abusive or deceptive content.
7. Automated and AI-generated replies
Our messaging assistant answers guests automatically, and its replies may be generated by an AI language model. Such replies can be incomplete or wrong. Do not rely on them alone for anything that matters — rates, availability, house rules, directions or access details should be confirmed with the property.
A chat message is not a booking. Nothing the assistant says creates or confirms a reservation. A booking exists only once it is recorded in the system and confirmed by the accommodation provider, and a price is binding only once the provider confirms it.
8. Intellectual property
The platform, this website and their software, design and text belong to Ondio or our licensors. You may not copy, reproduce or reuse them commercially without our written permission.
Content that an accommodation provider enters — their photographs, descriptions and rates — remains theirs. By entering it, the provider grants us the licence needed to display and distribute it through the booking website, the messaging assistant and related channels.
9. Third-party services
Parts of the service depend on third parties, including Meta Platforms for WhatsApp messaging. Your use of WhatsApp is subject to Meta's own terms and policies. We do not control those services and are not responsible for their availability or performance. This website may link to other websites, which we do not control or endorse.
10. Fees
Accommodation providers pay for the service on the terms of their own agreement with us. Guests pay nothing to Ondio; what a guest pays for a stay is the provider's charge, settled with the provider.
11. Disclaimers
The website and the platform are provided "as is" and "as available". We do not warrant that they will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of harmful components, or that the information on them is complete, accurate or current. To the extent the law allows, we exclude all warranties not expressly given here.
12. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, Ondio is not liable for any indirect, incidental or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, business, goodwill or data, arising from your use of the website or the platform, from any reliance on information or automated replies obtained through them, or from any accommodation booking or stay. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including under the Consumer Protection Act, 2008.
13. Indemnity
You indemnify Ondio against claims, losses and reasonable costs arising from your breach of these terms or your unlawful use of the website or the platform.
14. Privacy
How we handle personal information is set out in our privacy policy. Instructions for deleting your data are on our data deletion page.
15. Governing law, disputes and general
These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. The parties consent to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Magistrates' Court of the Republic of South Africa, even where the amount in dispute would otherwise exceed that court's jurisdiction.
If any provision of these terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, it is severed and the rest continues to apply. These terms, together with any separate written agreement between us, are the entire agreement about their subject matter. Our failure to enforce a term is not a waiver of it.
Questions about these terms: greeff@ondio.co.za.