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, and no fee is charged to them for booking with us.
• The price you publish must be the price a guest would pay you directly. Do not inflate your NamibiaGo price to recover the commission.
• 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 there are two ways that happens. Which one applies to you is shown in your business dashboard.

Deposit model (the default)

• When a guest books, they pay a deposit equal to our commission through the app. That deposit is ours; it is not money we owe you.
• The guest pays you the balance directly at check-in, 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 deposit under the cancellation rules in section 5.

Monthly invoicing (by approval)

• We may approve your business for monthly invoicing instead. The guest then pays you the full amount at the property and pays nothing through the app.
• At the start of each month we invoice you for the commission on the bookings that completed in the previous month, and charge it automatically to the card you keep on file. Keeping a valid card on file is a condition of being on this model. You authorise that charge when you are approved for monthly invoicing.
• If the card is declined or you have no card on file, the invoice becomes payable within 14 days by card or bank transfer, using the invoice number as the payment reference.
• Unpaid commission leads to delisting. We will remind you, and if an invoice is still unpaid 30 days after it was issued we may suspend your listing automatically until it is settled. The debt survives the suspension.
• Monthly invoicing is granted at our discretion and we may move you back to the deposit model on notice — for example after a missed payment.

Your own deposit and cancellation terms

Many Namibian lodges and operators take their own deposit up front and ask for the balance some weeks before arrival. Nothing here stops you. You can set your own deposit percentage, your own balance-due window and your own cancellation policy 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 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 — after a chargeback, or an unpaid commission invoice — we may recover it from commission deposits we hold and from any amount that later becomes due to you.

5. Refunds and chargebacks

• Refunds follow the published cancellation table in the Terms of Service. You accept that table by listing.
• The table applies to what the guest actually paid through the app — normally the deposit. Anything the guest paid you directly is refunded by you under your own cancellation terms (section 4), and any amount they never paid you is simply never collected. Our table does not govern your money and yours does not govern ours.
• 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: we return the deposit 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 a deposit through 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 a commission invoice goes unpaid (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 any commission already invoiced to you 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