1. Introduction & Acceptance of These Terms
Pravaasa Stays ("Pravaasa", "we", "us", "our") operates an online travel marketplace in India that helps travellers discover and book verified homestays, villas, cottages, resorts and similar stays, and compare treks and events. These Terms & Conditions (the "Terms") apply whenever you visit our website, use our applications, create an account, make or accept a booking, list a property, or otherwise use any service we provide (together, the "Platform").
By using the Platform you confirm that you have read and understood these Terms and agree to be bound by them. These Terms should be read together with our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Disclaimer, Booking Policy, Cancellation Policy, Refund Policy, Payment & Billing Policy, and, for hosts, the Host Agreement and Host Terms. If a specific policy deals with a topic in more detail than these Terms, the more specific policy applies to that topic.
If you do not agree with these Terms, please do not use the Platform. Continuing to use the Platform after a change to the Terms (see Section 17) means you accept the updated Terms.
2. Key Definitions
To keep this document readable, a few words are used with a specific meaning throughout the Terms and our other policies.
2.1 People and accounts
"Guest" or "Traveller" means a person who searches for, books or stays at a property, or who uses the Platform to discover stays, treks or events.
"Host" means an individual or business that lists accommodation on the Platform, including owners, managers and operators who act on the owner's behalf.
"User" means any Guest, Host or other person who uses the Platform. "Account" means the profile you create to access signed-in features.
2.2 Bookings and money
"Booking" means a reservation for a stay that has been paid for and confirmed on the Platform. "Quote" means the price breakdown shown to you before you pay.
"Escrow" means the arrangement under which a Guest's payment is held by Pravaasa, through its payment partner, and is not paid to the Host until the release point described in our Payment & Billing Policy.
"Cancellation Tier" means the cancellation setting attached to a rate plan, namely Flexible, Moderate or Strict, as explained in the Cancellation Policy.
3. What Pravaasa Is, and What It Is Not
Pravaasa Stays is a technology platform and marketplace intermediary. We connect Guests with independent Hosts so that Guests can book directly with them and Hosts keep their own direct relationship with the people who stay with them.
Unless a listing clearly says otherwise, Pravaasa does not own, operate, manage, inspect on a continuing basis, or provide the accommodation listed on the Platform. The contract for the stay itself is between the Guest and the Host. Pravaasa provides the discovery tools, the booking and payment flow, the escrow arrangement, verification checks, messaging tools and the support process around that contract.
We run verification steps on listings and hosts (such as identity and location checks and photo review). These steps are meant to improve quality and trust. They are not a guarantee that a property is flawless, and they do not make Pravaasa the owner or operator of the property. Please read our Disclaimer for details.
Pravaasa does not charge Guests a service fee on stays. Our revenue comes from a commission charged to Hosts on completed bookings, as set out in the Host Agreement. We do not accept payment for ranking: properties are not ranked higher because a host paid for placement.
4. Eligibility, Accounts & Account Security
4.1 Who can use the Platform
You must be at least 18 years old and legally able to enter into a binding contract under Indian law to create an Account, make a Booking or list a property. People under 18 may travel as part of a Booking made by an adult, who remains responsible for them.
You may browse parts of the Platform without an Account. Making a Booking, contacting hosts, saving trip briefs or listing a property requires signing in.
4.2 How you sign in
Depending on what is available to you, you can sign in with a one-time password (OTP) sent to your mobile number, a sign-in link sent to your email, or Google sign-in. We do not require you to create a password for travellers. Hosts and account holders may additionally switch on two-factor authentication using an authenticator app in the security settings.
OTPs and sign-in links expire after a short time, can only be tried a limited number of times, and are requested subject to rate limits. These controls exist to protect your Account and you should not try to bypass them.
4.3 Your responsibilities
You must give accurate, current and complete information when you register, book or list. For example, if the number of people in your group is different from what you entered, you must correct it before travelling.
You are responsible for everything that happens under your Account. Keep your phone, email inbox and any authenticator app secure. Never share an OTP or sign-in link with anyone, including anyone who claims to be from Pravaasa. We will never ask you for an OTP, a card number, a CVV or a UPI PIN.
If you think someone else has accessed your Account, sign out of all sessions from your account page and contact the support team immediately.
One person should hold one Account. You may not sell, transfer or share an Account, or create accounts to get around a suspension.
5. Guest and Host Responsibilities
5.1 What Guests agree to
Follow the house rules shown on the listing, including check-in and check-out times, occupancy limits, quiet hours and rules about smoking, pets and visitors.
Provide valid government photo identification at check-in where the Host or local law requires it, and give truthful details of everyone staying. Foreign nationals should carry a valid passport and any visa documents the law requires.
Treat the property, the Host, staff and neighbours with respect. You are responsible for damage caused by you or anyone in your group beyond ordinary wear and tear. Any damage claim must be raised through the Platform with evidence, and we do not automatically charge a card for a claim.
Do not exceed the stated occupancy or use the property for events, parties, commercial shoots or any other purpose that was not agreed in advance.
5.2 What Hosts agree to
Own the property or hold written authority to let it, and comply with all laws that apply to running a guest accommodation, including local licences, fire and building safety rules, police or guest-registration requirements, and tax registrations where applicable.
Describe the property honestly: accurate photos taken of the actual property, correct location, true amenities, bed configuration, capacity, house rules and the cancellation tier chosen. Misleading a Guest is a breach of these Terms even if the Guest has not yet arrived.
Honour confirmed Bookings at the confirmed price. Do not ask Guests for extra cash, surcharges or advance payments outside the Platform for anything that was shown as included in the Booking.
Keep your calendar accurate, including any calendar you synchronise through iCal, so that dates that are already taken are not offered for sale.
Never install cameras or recording devices inside bedrooms, bathrooms or changing areas, and disclose any camera in a common area or outside the property.
6. Bookings, Pricing & Payment
Search results and listings show the Host's rates. When you pick dates and a rate plan, we create a Quote that shows the base amount, applicable taxes such as GST, and the total. The Quote is stored, and the price you accept on the Quote is the price you pay. Our Payment & Billing Policy explains that there are no hidden Guest service fees.
A Booking is confirmed only after your payment is successfully completed and we issue a Booking reference. While you are paying, the dates may be temporarily held for you. If payment does not complete, the hold may be released and the dates may be sold to someone else.
Payments are processed by our payment partner Razorpay using UPI, cards, net banking and wallets, depending on what is available at checkout. Pravaasa does not store your full card number, CVV or UPI PIN.
Where a stay's price depends on a Host's rate plan, the Host sets that rate. Pravaasa may show rates inclusive or exclusive of taxes as stated on the Quote, so always check the total before you pay.
Our Booking Policy explains in detail how searching, quoting, confirming and modifying a Booking work, including InstantMatch trip matching, in which several nearby Hosts can be invited to respond to your trip brief and the first suitable Host to accept is matched to you.
7. Cancellations & Refunds
Every rate plan carries one of three Cancellation Tiers, shown before you pay. Flexible gives a full refund if you cancel at least 24 hours before check-in. Moderate gives a 50% refund if you cancel at least 120 hours (5 days) before check-in. Strict does not give a refund on a Guest cancellation. If you cancel inside the window for your tier, the refund percentage is 0%.
Only a confirmed Booking whose check-in has not yet begun can be cancelled from your account. If the stay has already started or has passed, please contact the support team.
Approved refunds are sent to your original payment method. Our Refund Policy explains how refund amounts are calculated, the usual 5 to 7 business day timeline, and what happens if a Host cancels or a payment is duplicated or fails.
The Cancellation Policy and Refund Policy are part of these Terms. Please read them before you book, especially if you are choosing a Strict rate plan.
8. Escrow, Commission & Host Payouts
When a Guest pays, the money is held in escrow. It is released to the Host 24 hours after the Guest's check-in, so that both sides are protected against non-arrival, misdescription and fraud. Net payouts are sent to the Host's verified bank account or UPI ID after deducting Pravaasa's commission.
The Host commission is 10% on eligible completed bookings, with no listing fee or monthly subscription. Commission, tax and payout details for Hosts are set out in the Host Agreement, which each Host accepts digitally before listing.
Pravaasa may delay, hold back or reverse a payout where there is a reasonable suspicion of fraud, a verified dispute about a stay, a legal requirement, or a breach of these Terms. Where we do this we will tell the affected Host why, unless the law prevents us.
Hosts remain responsible for their own taxes, including GST registration and filings where required, and for any deductions the law requires on payouts.
9. Direct Relationships, and Why Payments Stay on the Platform
Pravaasa believes Hosts should be able to build lasting relationships with the Guests who stay with them. After a Booking is confirmed, the Host receives the contact details needed to coordinate arrival, and Guests and Hosts can talk to each other, including through WhatsApp-based chat tools we provide. Hosts are free to welcome Guests back and to share their own contact details for future stays.
That freedom does not extend to taking a Booking that was made through the Platform out of the Platform in order to avoid our payment and escrow protections. You must not ask for, offer or accept payment for a Platform Booking by cash, bank transfer, UPI to a personal account, payment link or any other route outside the Platform, and you must not use the Platform's messaging to move a payment elsewhere.
Why this matters to Guests: a payment made outside the Platform has no escrow protection, no Booking reference, no refund process and no support from us. If someone asks you to pay outside the Platform, please report it to the support team and do not pay. If you do pay outside the Platform, we may not be able to help you recover that money.
Why this matters to Hosts: repeated off-platform payment requests are treated as a serious breach. See Section 10 for consequences.
10. Prohibited Conduct & Enforcement
10.1 What you must not do
Scams and fraud: Do not use the Platform to defraud anyone. This includes collecting advance payments or deposits for properties you do not control, using stolen payment methods, making false chargeback claims, or impersonating another person, Host or Pravaasa.
Fake or misleading listings: Do not publish a listing for a property that does not exist, that you are not authorised to let, or that uses photos, locations or descriptions that do not belong to it. Do not create duplicate listings to manipulate search results.
Fake reviews: Do not write, buy, sell, trade or solicit reviews that are not an honest account of a real stay. Do not review your own property, pressure someone into a positive review, or threaten a negative review to get a refund or a favour.
Off-platform payments: Do not ask for or accept payment for a Platform Booking outside the Platform, as explained in Section 9.
Unsafe or unlawful use: Do not use the Platform for anything illegal, including unlawful surveillance, trafficking, exploitation, illegal wildlife activity or the sale of prohibited items. See our Prohibited Properties & Activities policy.
Platform abuse: Do not scrape the Platform at scale, attempt to access other Users' accounts, probe or disrupt our systems, upload malicious code, or bypass rate limits or security controls.
Harassment: Do not threaten, abuse, discriminate against or harass any person, whether a Guest, Host, staff member or neighbour.
10.2 What happens if you do
Depending on how serious the breach is, we may remove content or a listing, cancel a Booking and refund the Guest, delay or withhold a payout, restrict features, suspend or permanently close an Account, and refuse future registrations from the same person.
Serious cases, such as fraud, fake listings, unlawful surveillance or threats to safety, may lead to immediate suspension without prior notice and may be reported to the police or other authorities. We cooperate with lawful requests from authorities.
We will review reports fairly. If you believe an action was taken by mistake, contact the support team with your Booking or listing reference and any evidence, and we will review it.
10.3 Reporting a problem
If you see a suspicious listing, a request to pay outside the Platform, a fake review, or any behaviour that breaks these Terms, please report it through the support page at /support or at support@pravaasastays.com. Include screenshots, the listing link and the Booking reference where you have them.
11. Reviews, User Content & Intellectual Property
Guests who have completed a verified stay may submit reviews, and Hosts may submit feedback about Guests as described in our Review & Rating Policy. Reviews must be truthful, based on your own experience and free of hate speech, private contact details and defamation. We may remove content that breaks these rules. We do not remove a review only because it is negative.
Hosts keep ownership of the photos, descriptions and other content they upload. By uploading content, you give Pravaasa a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display, resize, translate, optimise and promote that content on the Platform and in our marketing of the listing, for as long as the content is on the Platform. You confirm that you have the rights to give this licence and that your content does not infringe anyone else's rights.
The Pravaasa name, logo, design, software and the way the Platform is organised belong to Pravaasa or its licensors. These Terms do not give you any right to use them except to use the Platform as intended.
If you believe something on the Platform infringes your rights, please write to support@pravaasastays.com with details so that we can review it.
12. Treks, Events, Maps & Other Third-Party Services
Pravaasa lists and compares treks, trips and events run by independent organisers. For many of these, when you choose to book you are taken to the organiser's own website or booking page and you contract directly with the organiser. In that case the organiser's terms, prices, safety arrangements, cancellation and refund rules apply, and Pravaasa is not a party to that booking.
The Platform uses third-party services such as maps, place data, payment processing, sign-in, email and messaging providers. Their availability and accuracy are outside our control, and some are governed by their own terms. Links to third-party sites are provided for convenience, and we are not responsible for their content.
Adventure activities such as trekking carry inherent risk. You are responsible for assessing whether an activity suits your fitness, experience and health, and for following the organiser's safety instructions.
13. Support, Optional Add-ons & Disputes Between Users
If something goes wrong with a stay, please first raise it with the Host through the Platform's messaging so they have a chance to fix it, and then contact the support team through the support page at /support or at support@pravaasastays.com. The sooner you raise an issue, the easier it is to resolve, and evidence such as photos or messages helps a lot.
The Platform includes a way to open a dispute on a booking, for example for a cancellation dispute, a deficiency in amenities, a damage claim or a behaviour complaint. Damage claims need photo or document evidence. We review evidence from both sides, and we do not automatically charge a Guest's card for a claim.
Where offered, Pravaasa Protect is an optional travel-support service that may help with rapid investigation of a host cancellation and with finding a matching verified stay. It is not an insurance product. Its price and what it includes are shown before you choose it, and you do not need it to book.
Our assistance is offered in good faith and does not guarantee a particular outcome. Nothing in this section limits any right you have under law, including your right to approach a consumer forum or court.
14. Suspension & Termination
You may stop using the Platform at any time. To close your Account and request deletion of your personal data, contact the support team at support@pravaasastays.com. Existing confirmed Bookings and any money owed must be dealt with first, and we may need to keep some records as required by law (see our Privacy Policy).
We may suspend or end your access if you break these Terms, if we reasonably suspect fraud or a safety risk, if the law requires it, or if your Account has been inactive for a long period. Where it is practical and safe to do so, we will tell you why.
Ending your use of the Platform does not cancel obligations that have already arisen, such as payments due, and sections that by their nature should continue (such as intellectual property, limitation of liability and dispute resolution) continue after termination.
15. Disclaimers & Limitation of Liability
The Platform is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We work hard to keep it accurate and online, but we do not promise it will be uninterrupted, error-free or free of delays. Listings, availability, photos and prices come from Hosts and third parties, and may occasionally be out of date.
Because Hosts provide the accommodation, Pravaasa is not responsible for the condition, safety or legal compliance of a property beyond the checks and duties described in these Terms, nor for the acts or omissions of Hosts, Guests, organisers or other third parties.
To the extent permitted by applicable law, Pravaasa will not be liable for indirect, incidental or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, opportunity or enjoyment, arising from your use of the Platform or a stay. To the extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim connected with a Booking is limited to the amount you paid for that Booking through the Platform.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under Indian law, including liability for fraud and any rights you have as a consumer under applicable consumer protection law.
16. Your Responsibility for Your Actions
You are responsible for your own conduct on and through the Platform. If a claim is made against Pravaasa because you breached these Terms, provided false information, infringed someone's rights or broke the law, you agree to cover the reasonable losses and costs that result, to the extent permitted by law.
We will tell you about any such claim promptly and give you a fair chance to respond, unless the law or urgency prevents it.
17. Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms to reflect changes to the Platform, to the law or to our practices. The "last updated" date at the top shows when the current version took effect, and earlier versions are listed in the version history.
For significant changes we will give notice through the Platform or by email before the change takes effect, where practical. Changes do not affect a Booking that was already confirmed before the change, which stays subject to the terms that applied when it was made.
18. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution
These Terms are governed by the laws of India. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Platform will be subject to the courts of India, subject to any right you have under consumer protection law to approach a consumer forum.
Before starting formal proceedings, we encourage you to contact the support team so that we can try to resolve the matter informally. Most issues can be sorted out quickly this way.
If any part of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining parts continue to apply. Our failure to enforce a right at one time does not mean we give it up.
19. Contact
For questions about these Terms, or to report a concern, write to support@pravaasastays.com or use the support page at /support. Please include your Booking reference or listing link so that the support team can help you faster.
Questions About This Policy?
Our customer support and legal compliance team is available to assist you.