What conditions apply when I book a cottage or apartment? The following conditions were adopted by the Swedish Tourism Association on 29 May 1990 based on an agreement with the National Board for Consumer Policies.

Who is responsible?
The responsible lessor is the tourist agency/ booking agency where you book your cottage or apartment. This means that we are obliged to ensure that:

• You receive a written confirmation of your booking.
• You receive your documentation and information about where to pick up the key in good time before your holiday, but not necessarily more than 30 days before the agreed date of arrival.
• Your cottage/flat complies with its description. We take no responsibility, however, for any promises given by the owner or his/her contact to you directly without our knowledge that we are not informed about (do try to get such promises in writing if possible, just to be on the safe side!).
• You are informed of any material changes that may affect your booking.
• You have access to your cottage/apartment from 3pm on the agreed day of arrival, until 12 noon on the agreed day of departure, unless otherwise confirmed in writing.
• We cannot accept responsibility for any printing errors in this brochure.
• If you are not satisfied with your cottage/apartment, you should initially contact your landlord, and failing that to the agency through which you booked. Read more about this in the following section.

When does my booking become binding?
Both we and you are bound by the rental agreement as soon as we have confirmed your reservation and you have paid the deposit (or the full rent).

When must I pay?
If you book earlier than 60 days in advance the deposit is 20% of the full rent and 100 sek of booking fee. The deposit should be paid within 10 days from the date we send you the confirmation. The remaining rent, i.e. full rent less the deposit, must be paid no later than 60 days before the agreed date of arrival.

If you book later than 60 days in advance, the full rent must be paid within 10 days, but no later than the day before arrival. If you booked for a longer period than 30 days, you do not have to pay for the following 30-day periods until the last banking day before each new 30-day period.

What happens if I do not pay in time?
If we do not receive your deposit in time we have the right to cancel your reservation. Should you pay the rent too late this is considered as a cancellation on your part, and the cancellation rules apply.

What happens if I need to cancel?
You may cancel by phone or in writing to the agency or tourist office where you made your reservation. The cancellation is not valid when made to somebody else or sent directly to the cottage/apartment. We are obliged to confirm your cancellation in writing.

If you cancel earlier than 40 days before the agreed arrival date you have to pay a cancellation charge of sek 600. If you cancel 40 days or later before the agreed arrival date you must pay 90% of the full rental. If you have already paid more than the cancellation fee, the agency/ tourist office to which you originally made your payment will refund you immediately. Should we manage to rent your cottage/apartment to somebody else, we will refund you an amount corresponding to the new guest’s rent, less a cancellation fee of sek 600.

But what if anything happens?
You can always protect yourself against cancellation costs by buying a cancellation insurance. This costs 35€ per cottage/apartment and in certain cases gives you the right to cancel up to the day before your agreed arrival. The cancellation insurance premium is paid when you pay your deposit or corresponding booking fee and is not refunded in the event of cancellation.

The cancellation insurance covers the following cases, none of which must have been known at the time of booking:

a) Death, illness or serious accident that afflict yourself, spouse/cohabiting partner, family or travelling companion.

b) Military drafting.

c) If any other serious incident occurs beyond your control which you had no reason to anticipate at the time of booking and which makes it unreasonable to demand that you honour your booking – for example, an extensive fire or flooding in your home.

You must be able to support your reasons with a certificate, affidavit etc from a doctor, authority or insurance company. The certificate should be sent to us as soon as possible, preferably within one week of your cancellation. The premium for the cancellation insurance is not refunded.

What rights do I have?
Should the cottage/flat not be up to the promised standard, or if you are not given access to it at the agreed time and we cannot offer you another cottage/apartment that is similar enough to the one you booked for any differences to be of no significance to you, you have the right to cancel the rental agreement. We must then refund everything you paid to us, and compensate you for any reasonable and proven expenses you may have had, with a deduction for any use you may have had of the cottage/apartment. Instead of cancelling the rental agreement you may also request a reduction in the rental.

Should you have any complaints, please make them known to us or your landlord as soon as possible – preferably within three days of your arrival. Problems occurring during your stay should be brought to our notice immediately, to give us a reasonable chance to put things right.

You have the right to transfer your rental agreement to somebody else and we are then obliged to accept that person, provided there are no specific reasons for us not to do so. You must, however, inform us of this change before your arrival date, subject to an administration fee of sek 250 (which also applies to any other changes you may want to make to your reservation).

What are my obligations?
You must take good care of the cottage/apartment and adhere to the applicable rules, recommendations and regulations. You are responsible for any damage to the property or its furniture/equipment that is caused by the negligence of yourself or anyone in your party.

You must not use the cottage/apartment for any purpose other than the one agreed upon at the time of booking (usually leisure/holiday) and are not allowed to accommodate a greater number of guests in the property or on its grounds than stated in your reservation.

You must clean the cottage thoroughly before departure, otherwise we will arrange the cleaning and debit the cost to your account.

War, natural disasters, strikes etc.
We and you both have the right to cancel the rental contract if the cottage/apartment cannot be used because of war, disasters, industrial disputes, lack of water or energy supply, fire or similar major events that neither we nor you could have foreseen or influenced. In such cases we are obliged to make you a full refund with a deduction for any use you may already have had of the cottage/apartment.

What happens if there is a disagreement?
Get in direct contact with the agency/office that handled your reservation. Remember that your chances of proving your case may be smaller if your complaint is not submitted immediately. If we cannot reach an agreement you may turn to the National Board for Consumer Complaints (Allmänna Reklammationsnämnden), consisting of an impartial chairman and a number of representatives of travel agencies and consumers. Your local trading standards officer may also be able to help you.

Tour operator
Karlshamn tourist office