Host Terms

These Host Terms apply in addition to our Terms of Service. Where they conflict, these Host Terms win for anything to do with your listing, your bookings and your money. You accept them when you sign the Host Agreement in the app.

1. What we do and do not do for you

We would rather under-promise here than have you rely on something that does not exist. As of the effective date above:

If any of this changes — for example if we later put a real, underwritten insurance product in place — we will say so explicitly, with the insurer named and the policy terms published.

2. Getting listed

• Registering does not put you live. Every business is reviewed and approved manually before it appears in the app.
• You must upload the verification documents we ask for — proof of identity for the account owner and proof that the business is registered. We may ask for more.
• You must hold whatever permits and licences Namibian law requires for what you sell. If you offer paid accommodation or tours you must be registered with the Namibia Tourism Board and we will ask for your certificate; restaurants must hold a local-authority certificate of fitness. Health and safety, transport and guiding qualifications are on you too, and we may ask to see them.
• Everything in your listing must be true: the photos must be of your property, the amenities must exist, the prices must be the prices.
• We can decline or withdraw approval at our discretion, and will tell you why.

3. Commission

• We charge 10% of the first N$25,000 of a booking and 5% of anything above that. It is a sliding scale, not a flat percentage: the rate steps down for the larger part of a big booking, so a multi-day tour or a group package costs proportionally less than a single night.
• Your own rate is confirmed in writing when your business is approved, and it may differ from the standard rate depending on what you sell. Where a reduced or different rate applies to you, the same two-band structure applies to it — the upper band is always half your headline rate.
• The guest pays the price you listed. Nothing is added to the guest's bill. The booking fee the guest pays in the app is our commission and part of your price, not an extra charge on top of it.
• If a booking is refunded, the commission is reduced in proportion. On a full refund we keep nothing.
• We will give you notice before changing the commission rate or the threshold, and it will never apply retroactively to bookings already taken.

4. How the money moves

You collect the money for your own service. NamibiaGo does not hold your takings and does not pay them out to you. What we collect is our commission, and we collect it from the guest.

The booking fee

• When a guest books, they pay the booking fee in the app, which is our commission and part of your price. The booking fee is ours; it is not money we owe you.
• The guest pays you the balance directly, by whatever means you normally accept. The booking screen and your confirmation email both state the exact amount to collect.
• Nothing is invoiced to you and nothing is paid out to you. If a guest never arrives, you have collected nothing and we have collected the booking fee under your cancellation policy (section 5).

Taking part of the balance in advance with a pay link

• In the business portal you can connect your own payment link from a supported Namibian payment provider or bank. Before it can be used you verify it with a code we email to your account and with your authenticator app.
• You can then ask a guest to pay up to 30% of the booking price in advance through that link. We may raise that limit, or allow the full price to be paid in advance, once your business has been active for at least 30 days and has completed at least 5 bookings through NamibiaGo. That is our decision, not an automatic right, and we can withdraw it.
• The guest pays your provider directly. We never receive, hold or refund that money. Before the guest leaves NamibiaGo to pay, we show them your legal name, the provider and your cancellation policy — and you refund an advance payment under that policy (section 5).
• An advance payment comes out of the balance shown on the booking. It is never charged on top of it, and you may not ask for more than the booking shows as owed.
• We may freeze a pay link, or all of your pay links, immediately and without notice if we suspect fraud, a compromised account, or a link that does not lead to you. You can freeze your own link from the portal at any time. A frozen link is never switched back on — you connect and verify a new one.

Your advance payment and extra notes

Many Namibian lodges and operators take an advance payment up front and ask for the balance some weeks before arrival. Nothing here stops you. You can set your advance payment percentage, your own balance-due window and extra notes on your business page, and we will show them to the guest on the booking, on the confirmation and in their confirmation email, clearly marked as yours.

• You collect that money directly — by your own means, or through a pay link within the limits above — and it comes out of the balance the guest already owes you. It is never charged on top of the price you listed.
• We do not collect, hold or enforce it. It works exactly as it would on a booking made directly with you: the arrangement is between you and the guest.
• What you publish must be what you actually apply. Terms that contradict what you charge, or that are used to collect more than the booking shows, are a breach of section 6.

Taking the full booking price on your behalf is not something we currently do. If we ever offer it, we will set out the payout schedule, method and any fee in writing before you opt in.

Set-off. If you owe us — for example after a chargeback — we may recover it from booking fees we hold and from any amount that later becomes due to you.

5. Refunds and chargebacks

• You choose one cancellation policy for your business: Flexible — a full refund until 1 day before check-in, then no refund; Moderate — a 100% refund 7 or more days before check-in, 50% from 3 to 7 days, and no refund inside 3 days (this is the default); Firm — a 100% refund 30 or more days before check-in, 50% from 7 to 30 days, and no refund inside 7 days; or Non-refundable — no refund. Days are counted to 14:00 Namibia time on the check-in date.
• Your policy is shown to the guest before they book and covers the whole booking. We refund the booking fee the guest paid in the app by it, and you refund any advance payment the guest paid you by it, directly, as you would on a booking made directly with you. Any amount the guest never paid you is simply never collected.
• Each booking keeps the policy in force when it was made; a change to your policy applies only to later bookings. Extra notes you add to your business page are shown to guests but cannot override your policy.
• Where a refund is due because you cancelled, could not deliver, or materially misdescribed the listing, the guest is refunded in full regardless of timing or policy: we refund the whole booking fee and you return anything you took directly. We keep no commission on that booking.
• If a guest raises a chargeback with their bank, we will ask you for evidence and defend it where the evidence supports you. Where the chargeback succeeds because of something on your side, the amount is recoverable from you.
• Persistent refunds and chargebacks caused by your listing can lead to delisting.

6. Your obligations to guests

• Honour every confirmed booking at the price and terms shown.
• Respond to booking messages promptly. Guests are often mid-journey with limited signal.
• Keep availability and pricing current. Double-booking a guest who has already paid is a serious breach.
• Collect from the guest only the balance shown on the booking, plus extras they actually chose (meals, drinks, activities) — and no more. Taking payment directly for the balance is how the platform works; taking a booking off-platform to avoid commission, or asking a guest to re-book with you directly, is not.
• Do not charge the full listed price to a guest who has already paid the booking fee in the app. We ask guests after check-in what they were actually charged, and we look into it when the answer does not match the booking.
• Do not solicit, incentivise or write fake reviews, and do not retaliate against a guest for an honest one.
• Treat guests without discrimination on grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or age.
• Handle guests' personal data only to deliver their booking, keep it secure, and delete it when you no longer need it. You are an independent data controller for the guest data we pass you.

7. Tax

You are responsible for your own taxes — Namibian VAT, tourism levy, income tax and anything else that applies to your business. We do not withhold or remit tax on your behalf, and nothing here is tax advice. We will make your booking and commission records available so you can account for them.

8. Suspension and delisting

We may suspend or remove your listing if you break these terms, if guest safety is at risk, if your documents lapse, if you consistently fail to honour bookings, if you misuse a pay link (section 4), or if we are legally required to. Where it is safe and lawful, we will tell you why first, and you can reply in the app to have the suspension reviewed.

You may leave at any time. Bookings already confirmed must still be honoured, and anything you already owe us remains payable.

9. Liability between us

Our liability to you for any booking is limited to the commission we earned on it. We are not liable for lost bookings, lost profit, guest behaviour, property damage, or events outside our reasonable control. You indemnify us against claims arising from your listing, your services, or your breach of these terms — including guest injury and regulatory action against your business.

Nothing here excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

10. Governing law

These Host Terms are governed by Portuguese law, with disputes before the courts of Portugal. Your obligations as a Namibian business under Namibian law are unaffected.

11. Contact

Commission, approval and listing questions: support@namibiago.com
Legal: legal@namibiago.com