We are guaranteeing you a room and in proceeding to pay, you will also be guaranteeing us your payment. We won't sell your room to anyone else and unlike airlines, we never overbook. Swell is a small place and we rely on your payment to us to pay our bills and keep our place operational. If you have to cancel your trip or you arrive after the dates you have booked, regardless of the reason, we will not be able to offer you a refund. It's not wise to travel to a foreign country without medical cover, especially when you are undertaking activities like surfing or wingfoiling/kiteboarding. We explain more about this at the end of these terms.
A travel insurance policy will cover you for all sorts of things regarding your trip, such as having to cancel or change your trip, medical care (just like in the US and Canada, medical care is not free in the Dominican Republic) and much more. If you cannot travel, we will send you a receipt showing what you have paid us and you can use that to claim back your money. There's more info below about how to find a travel insurance policy.
If for any reason (such as flight cancellations) you need to extend your stay at Swell additional charges will apply. We will, of course, provide you with a receipt so that you can make a claim on your travel insurance policy.
Our surf coaches will give you instructions at the beach to keep you safe. If you do not follow their guidance, they may refuse to teach you or allow you to use our equipment. Charges will be applied for reckless use or loss of Swell equipment whilst on loan to you.
Our equipment can cater to people up to 110kg in weight for surf lessons and/or surfboard rentals. If you are heavier, we can still give you lessons of course, but we have to rent a specialist board for you (a SUP) and those extra charges of $175 USD for a week-long rental, will need to be passed on to you.
Important; we will always refrigerate medication for our guests. Other than that, we know our kitchen looks inviting as a lovely open space, but it is for our staff only to use. We located Swell right next to a whole bunch of good places to get lunch and dinners on the nights we don’t cook. If you ask to cook/warm something up, or try to keep a half-eaten takeaway in the fridge, you will be refused by Swell staff. There is plenty of alternative accommodation available in Cabarete if you want to self-cater. You are welcome to bring in alcoholic beverages and use ice from the fridge. We sell beers and sodas at Swell.
We will look after you very well; our staff have the best training available in their fields of expertise, but if you hurt yourself doing an activity (surfing/kiting are EXTREME sports), or your stuff gets stolen, we won’t take responsibility for it; your travel insurance policy needs to cover you.
The surf course is discounted and won't be refunded in part or in full if you are not surfing for any reason; we don't stand down instructors and not pay them when a guest doesn't join a lesson. If you don't want to take a risk, before booking, you can ask us to pay a higher day rate for lessons if you are worried that you won't get along with surfing. That rate is $80 USD per morning, rather than $360 USD for 6 mornings (already included in our learn-to-surf package).
We will not take any responsibility for any loss or damage to your belongings whilst at the camp.
For any additional activities undertaken (canyoning for example); these all carry an element of danger and you undertake these excursions at your own risk.
Why is our cancellation policy so strict? The majority of cancellations come when we do not have enough time to resell the room. It's a common misconception that it doesn't cost us anything if people cancel or move dates, but it is wrong. Refunding loses us vital income and giving you another room for a later date also means that someone else cannot book and pay us for it (effectively, were we to allow date changes, you would end up with two weeks for the price of one). Our costs don't change to any notable degree if you don't make it to Swell: We don't stand down staff because you couldn't come; everybody gets paid, just the same.
How do you find travel or trip insurance? Just Google travel or trip insurance in your region and you will get lots of results, often on comparison sites where you can choose the level of cover required. Usually, these policies cost less than $100 USD. It's worth it, not least because apart from covering you for many risks when travelling, were you to need insurance for treatment in a hospital if you were hurt surfing, foiling, kiting, or undertaking any other activity, your insurance will help you. Just like in the US, healthcare is insurance-based and without it, you won't get treatment. Make sure that you choose a policy that either specifically covers, or has no exclusion, for water sports.
If our terms and conditions don't suit you, please don't proceed to pay
Thank you for reading.
Team Swell
