Terms of Service

1. A booking is a request until we confirm it

Submitting the booking form on /rooms creates a booking request, not a guaranteed reservation. We check the rooms are genuinely free for your dates before confirming — most of our inventory comes from a limited number of physical rooms, and three of our five room types have only one unit each, so a request can occasionally be declined if another guest's payment landed first. If that happens, any deposit you've already sent is refunded in full.

2. Deposit and payment

A 50% deposit secures your booking; the remaining balance is settled in person when you check in. Prices are quoted in US dollars and vary by season — the rate you're quoted at the time of booking is the rate you pay, but a rate you merely viewed and did not book is not held and can change.

We accept the deposit by bank transfer, and by cryptocurrency when that option is switched on — see /payment-options for current details. We do not take card payments online. Once you've sent a transfer, upload your receipt from your booking page so we can match it to your stay without waiting for the funds to clear internationally.

3. Cancellations and amendments

Your 50% deposit is non-refundable once it confirms your booking. This is what lets us offer our best rate to guests who book directly with us, rather than pricing in the flexibility a fully refundable rate needs. This applies from the moment your deposit is received, at any time before arrival, including for a shortened stay or a no-show.

This is separate from — and does not affect — the promise above: if we are unable to honour your dates, your deposit is refunded in full. That is a booking we failed to deliver, not a cancellation you made.

If your plans change, message us on WhatsApp or by email, quoting your booking reference — we're glad to talk through amending your dates where we can, even though the deposit itself does not carry forward automatically.

4. Your stay

Check-in is from 2:00 pm and check-out by 11:00 am; please bring photo ID (passport, or NIC for Sri Lankan guests). The full list of house rules — quiet hours, pool safety, smoking — is published on the guest information page and applies to every stay.

5. How we hand off your booking and enquiries

When you press "Send on WhatsApp" or "Send by email" — on the contact page or from your booking page — your own device opens WhatsApp or your mail app with the message already written, and you send it. Nothing is transmitted to WhatsApp, Google, or any mail provider by our servers on your behalf; the booking itself is written to our database the moment you submit the form, independently of whether you go on to send that message.

6. Accounts

Signing in with Google is currently used by our staff to manage the site, not required to make or view a booking. Your own booking is found again by its reference and the email you booked with — see /bookings/find — not by an account.

7. Changes to these terms

We may update this page as the booking process changes. The version in effect is the one published here when you make your booking request.

8. Contact

Questions about a booking or these terms: teyabeachreception@gmail.com or +94 72 787 2771. See also our Privacy Policy.