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Frequently asked question (FAQ)

Frequently asked question (FAQ)

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Table of Contents

Guest

Costs and Payment

We ask for a deposit on the signature of contracts to confirm your property booking. The standard procedure is a 50% deposit at the time of the booking to reserve your property (and prevent anyone else booking it for the same dates). Please note that the deposit is non-refundable, except where the property is unavailable (in which case we’ll refund you in full). For quick info regarding cancellation and refund policies, please read below. For full policy and cancellation options, please visit our dedicated page.

The full amount or remaining balance amount must be received 8 weeks prior to your arrival date, otherwise we reserve the right to cancel the booking and re-let the property. If the full amount / remaining balance has not been received by this date, we are legally entitled to break the rental contract. It is therefore important that you abide by the payment date.

Yes, we sign the standard short term lease agreement that we sign with all our guests. This includes all the necessary details of the stay, such as the total cost, the exact dates, the amount of the security deposit, the payment details as well as the house rules.

You always sign your rental contract with Kukoto. Kukoto also signs a contract with the owner and therefore acts as a trusted third-party for every rental.

The security deposit is standard procedure in the property rentals industry. This is an amount to be paid, usually together with the second instalment. The purpose of the security deposit is for the guests to make a good use of the property.

The damage deposit is kept and protected in our escrow account during the rental period. Your money is blocked inside the account: no action can be taken with the deposit without the prior discussion and agreement of all parties. This process enables us to protect both you and the owner and to facilitate proceedings in case of damage.

Each owner decides themselves how much to charge as a damage deposit, on our advice. The amount depends mainly on the value of the objects in the property. It can be from a minimum of 1.000 Euros or a night’s stay to a maximum of 8.000 Euros or 25% of the total rent.

The security deposit is fully refundable at the end of the stay provided that there are not any serious damages of the property when the guests check out. Your deposit is refunded by the same method you paid it within a fortnight of your check-out. We are committed to returning your money to you as soon as possible.

Please note that an additional delay outside of our control may be caused by certain credit cards or international transfers (for example using a deferred debit card may result in a delay in the refund date).

Depending on each arrangement made with the property owner the preferred means of payment are credit card payments and bank (wire) transfers. In some cases, the only means of payment is by wire (bank) transfer.

When you book with Kukoto, we send you a confirmation of the cost. That is all you’ll be asked to pay. The only exception to this is:

  • Where your property is charged in EUR/USD/GBP and there’s been a fluctuation in the exchange rate.

Yes! You’ll see discounts and extras (marked by a raspberry red ‘Special Offer’ banner) on properties as you browse through the site. Also, there are Early Bird Discounts on the majority of the properties, detailed in the ‘Prices & Info’ section.

Cancellation and refunds

Your plans have changed and now you need to cancel your reservation. No problem, we understand! Each property is different and each owner has its own policy. You can check the cancellation policy on the property’s page in the ‘House Rules – Cancellation Policy’ section. Usually, to qualify to cancel and qualify for a refund the amount for the property rental must be paid in full (deposits are not refundable) and the booking check-in date must be within the time frame specified on the property page in the ‘House Rules – Cancellation Policy’ section or more than 8 weeks before.

If you let us know more than 8 weeks before your check-in date or if specified otherwise on the property page in the ‘House Rules – Cancellation Policy’ section, then we’re happy to refund your holiday. Unfortunately, we’re not able to refund the deposit you paid to secure your booking. For full policy and cancellation options, please visit our dedicated page.

While it’s rare, sometimes a Host may need to cancel a reservation. We understand that this can affect your plans in a big way. Rest assured that every booking made on Kukoto comes with protection for guests against significant issues, including Host cancellations within 30 days of check-in.

In the unlikely event a Host needs to cancel your booking within 30 days of check-in, you’ll automatically get a refund and we’ll help you find a similar or better home to rebook.

When a cancellation occurs, we’ll inform you with full details, including your refund info. Refund times may differ depending on how you paid. If your cancellation happens within 30 days of check-in, we will assist you in rebooking a comparable or better listing.

As always, you can contact us if you need more help.

Properties and services

No. Kukoto only represents the properties displayed on the website. The properties are managed by their owners (or by property management companies who act as owners). However, we do have direct contacts with these owners: no other intermediaries are involved between our guests and the owners of the properties.

We want our listings to be as informative as possible. For each property we list about 20 images, a short description in English, the distances from all major destinations, the location on Google Maps as well as all the complimentary services you get when you rent each property. However, we are always at your disposal in order to ask any additional questions you might have on the properties.

Each rental includes a cleaning service during your stay. Some properties also include further services on a case-by-case basis (listed on the property’s webpage).

The standard agreement we have with the owners is for every two days housekeeping and change of the linen and the towels at least twice per week. If our guests desire more than that, special arrangements can be negotiated with the owners (usually at a small extra charge). Some of the villas we represent have in-house staff. In those cases, guests can make direct arrangements with the live-in staff.

Yes. The vast majority of the villa owners require a minimum of seven nights stay, especially during peak season. The minimum stay can be less (like three, four or five nights) during the low seasons. There are some rare cases that owners require a minimum of fourteen nights or, on the contrary, they are happy with less than a week’s stay even during the peak season. Some properties run bookings only Sunday to Sunday in order to avoid gaps in between bookings. Our listings display all the necessary details concerning the minimum stay for each property.

Yes, all our properties are booked exclusively. You will have the sole and exclusive benefit of all interior and exterior areas of the property and, if an exception applies (e.g. sports facilities or other shared facilities), we will always indicate this clearly and explicitly before you book.

Not always, so it’s best to do some local research before you head off on your holiday.

All of our properties are entirely different, some owners will be totally on board and others won’t. For the specifics, please check the ‘Comforts & Amenities – Services Tab’ as well as the ‘House Rules’ of your chosen property.

Location

For security reasons, we don’t publicise the exact address details of any of our properties. Once we’ve confirmed your booking with the owner, we will send you the full street address.

Sometimes, to keep the property’s address private, we have to change the name as well. We try to choose names that reflect the property’s character and setting so that you can still get a good idea of its style and story.

Additional services

If you think you’ll be turning up late on your first night, or you just don’t fancy trekking to the supermarket the moment you arrive, we may be able to arrange a welcome basket with the owner. For costs and details, kindly submit an inquiry.

We can organise this once your booking has been confirmed. For costs and details, kindly submit an inquiry.

Children

A lot of our customers are families or groups of families, so the vast majority of our properties are child-friendly. If there’s anything about a property that we feel isn’t particularly suited to kids, we’ll say so in the property ‘Comforts & Amenities – Family Tab’ or ‘House Rules’ – but if you’re not sure about something, get in touch with us and we’ll answer all your questions.

In short, yes. Some owners make an exception for babies and children up to the age of two, though. If you want to find out more about a specific property, get in touch with our support team.

Pets

Some properties are very happy for you to bring the pooch, while others would rather you didn’t. That said, although sometimes they are allowed, they are sometimes (usually) on request only and subject to the owner’s prior agreement. You can check each property ‘Comforts & Amenities – Facilities Tab’ or ‘House Rules’ and check if pets are allowed. Also, you can filter which of our properties are pet-friendly using our handy search function – simply select ‘Property Amenities’ then tick ‘Pets allowed’ and you’ll have a list of holiday homes happy to host your furry friend.

Pools

We define a pool to be ‘child safe’ when it has one or more of the following features:

  1. Safety cover
  2. Fenced or gated
  3. Alarm

Every property is different so please enquire to understand the specific safety measures that each pool has. In some EU countries, in-ground pools are legally required to have a barrier, security alarm or cover, however not all countries have such laws.

Other

No! Our property portfolio goes well beyond what you can see displayed on our website. There is also our offline portfolio, properties whose owners do not wish them displayed on any website. Feel free to send us an inquiry and our vacation specialist will send you these other options by email.

Owner

List with us

We would be delighted to see your property added to our website. Contact us directly on the contact area of our website and submit a business inquiry. Our team will let you know everything we need to make an initial decision. A team member will then evaluate your property against our quality standards and gather all the information we need for our website. Finally, we will take care of the whole process of putting your house online, all you need to do is provide great photos.

You are free to decide on the price per night of your property yourself. However, we are experts in the rental market and will advise you. Please note that the provision of a cleaning service during a guest’s stay is your responsibility and can therefore be included in the rental price.

We take care of answering queries about your property and are the intermediary between you and guests. We only contact you after having talked with the client and making sure that the property is right for them; we will then check with you whether the house is available. A quick response from you will be the determining factor in helping us rent your house out as often as possible!

Renting details

Every time a house is rented out we sign a contract with the client as well as another contract with you. Our role is therefore that of a trusted third-party. In order to be able to act as an intermediary, we are required to sign a search mandate with you in advance which authorises us to search for guests on your behalf. This mandate only needs to be signed once at the beginning of our relationship.

Our goal is to be your trusted third-party in the rental process. We provide optimal protection to the different parties involved in the rental process. This protection comprises several guarantees:

  1. Rental contracts signed on every new booking, both with you and the guest: this contract covers each of the parties and outlines the conditions of their involvement.
  2. The search mandate, signed once at the start of our relationship, which authorises us to search for clients on your behalf.
  3. The damage deposit, for which you fix the amount: we, of course, will advise you. The damage deposit is kept in an escrow account until the end of the rental period, in order to facilitate procedures in case of damage.

We are covered by specialist insurance, which offers a financial guarantee and will reimburse outstanding debts to third-parties in the case of a failure on our part.

Finally, we never display the address of your property on our site or give out personal information.

You are free to decide the amount to charge but we will, of course, be happy to advise you. The client pays the damage deposit before arriving on your property. It will be kept in an escrow account (a blocked account which cannot be accessed without the agreement of all parties) for the duration of the rental period, for the protection of both you and the client and to facilitate proceedings in the case of damage.

In the extremely rare event of the deposit not covering all damage, the client is liable if they caused the damage. If the damage is not the client’s fault, you will need to make a claim on your insurance.

No. To maintain your confidentiality, we never display property addresses on our website. The client will only be sent the exact property address after the contract is signed and payment is made and cleared.

Collaborate with us

Absolutely yes! We collaborate with a series of luxury travel agents around the world. If you want to establish a partnership with us, you are kindly requested to send us your business inquiry on the contact area of our website.

Contact us

Do you need more information?

Get in touch.

Feel free to send us a message if you have any specific needs, or if you require additional information.

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