Terms and Conditions of Amber House Limited trading as:
AMBER HOUSE - at the centre!™
Bed and Breakfast Guest House (B&B) in Nelson city centre, New Zealand

1. NO SMOKING! Because of young children, smoking is *not* allowed inside or outside of Amber House. If you flout this policy and do smoke within the curtilage of Amber House, then you will be charged appropriate cleaning and loss of income charges together with liquidate damages if an explosion (either of Liquid Petroleum Gas [LPG] or the children's parents) results.
2. All Guests may help themselves freely to Anzac BISCUITS, breads, cakes, (and other baked products depending on what Carolina has been cooking), coffee, tea (perhaps organic Castlereigh, Darjeeling, Camomile, Lemon & Ginger, cranberry, raspberry & elderflower or caffeine-free herbal), fruit juice (typically orange and apple but sometimes pineapple or boysenberry), spring water, Milo, milk, at any time
   and (except for those who have only paid the "Overflow" tariff) from breakfast items (a choice of six to fill your bowl from cereals like ricepops, cornflakes, Weetbix, etc and two different mueslis), honeys, Rose's Lime Marmalade, Rose's English Breakfast Marmalade, Rose's Sweet Orange Marmalade, Rose's Ginger Marmalade, butters (dairy and peanut), chutneys, Marmite and Vegemite in Amber House's guest dining room between 04:00hrs and 10:00hrs.
   All guests should eat and drink their own food and beverages there in Amber House's guest dining room any time (but very quietly after 21:30hrs and before 07:30hrs).
   Seifried wines are available to purchase.
   Balcony Suite, Gold, Blue and Rose Room guests may also help themselves to FRUIT (depending on season we may have spray-free apples, oranges, pears, plums, cherries, grapes, strawberries, kiwi fruit and bananas), walnuts (we've the oldest English Walnut tree in the South Island) any time.
   Please do not take our stuff away to your car or eat in your bedroom. We can provide packed lunches, picnic hampers, evening meals, etc, on request.
3. If you'd like a FREE COOKED BREAKFAST having paid the Balcony Suite, Blue, Gold or Rose Room tariffs at Amber House, please tell Carolina or Annemiek exactly what you wish to eat and how you'd like it cooked the afternoon before and also agree the time between 07:58hrs and 09:20hrs that it be served. Guests who have not paid the Balcony Suite or Gold, Rose and Blue Room tariffs may avail of a separate cooked breakfast and fruit upon payment of an additional $15 per breakfast.
   Carolina knows Irish, Italian, Vizayan, Fukien and a little Spanish and Swiss cuisine but is eager and interested to learn new dishes. Annemiek knows some Italian, Dutch and Southland dishes
4. CHECK-IN is only by prior arrangement - usually between 14:00 to 21:30hrs on the day of arrival and check-OUT time should typically be before 10:30hrs on the day of departure - other times by prior agreement.
   B&B's in New Zealand do not have desk clerks on duty round-the-clock to await your arrival, so it is vital that the family knows what time to expect you. We have daily family affairs to attend to, but will have re-arranged our schedule to accommodate your mutually agreed check-in time — so your arrival time is extremely important! If this time changes either way by 30 minutes, please notify us as soon as you are aware of the change. Otherwise, we probably won't be here to greet you.
   If your arrival time is very unpredictable we can arrange to have your keys left in a digital key safe to the right of Amber House's front door.
   It's really important that you now send us the phone number of the mobile phone you will be carrying on the day you arrive (and keep it switched on) so we can update each other with any last minute developments. (You usually won't pay any international roaming charges to RECEIVE text/SMS messages in New Zealand even if your cell phone is registered overseas...)
5. We very much prefer you to pay us in cash in full for your reservation when you arrive and we complete the register. There is also a fully refundable, cash deposit of $20 per set of room/house keys and this is refunded in cash when you return them. [VISA or MasterCard details are required to confirm a booking, but Amber House Limited (as distinct from any agent chosen by the guest) does not debit cards prior to the agreed guest arrival date. We ourselves will obtain pre-authorisation or merely hold card details pending guest arrival and with the cardholder's explicit agreement that the quoted card details used to confirm the booking will be passed to our agents to be debited to settle the account if there are any outstanding unpaid charges after the originally booked guest departure date. In this event, and if no other form of payment is forthcoming, a card surcharge of 10% together with any administrative and collection costs will apply.]
6. BICYCLES may be hired from Amber House Limited for $20 per day upon a deposit of $200 depending on availability. You may request that your own bicycle, tandem, motorcycle, or kayak be put into our garage (at your own risk) depending on space available. There are young children about so please observe the 7 km/h (4 mph) speed limit for motorised vehicles at Amber House!
7. If a CANCELLATION or change of date is required there will be no charge levied by Amber House Limited (as distinct from your Agent) if 14 days or more notice is given to Amber House Limited *OR* we can replace the reservation with another booking.
   If we can not replace the reservation:-
   30% of the original agreed payment will still be required if only 6 to 13 days notice is given;
   50% payment if 3 to 5 days notice is given;
   70% payment if 1 to 2 days notice is given;
   85% payment if less than 24 hours notice is given.
   110% payment is contractually required if you simply don't show up within 2 hours of your advised arrival time without any prior notice to us at all
   (and without reasonable excuse - since we will be worried you've had an accident and may be phoning the police and hospitals and postponing our usual bed-time!)
   We strongly recommend guests take out travel insurance to protect themselves against any unexpected changes to their travel plans and we trust you will understand that, as a small business, we are unable to carry losses on behalf of guests.
8. Visitors are permitted at the Amber family's discretion. The person making the booking is responsible for the behaviour of all the guest members of their party and visitors while they are at Amber House. No visitors are allowed in guest bedrooms between 22:00hrs and 08:00hrs. There is a guest dining room where we very much prefer that you eat and drink and entertain any visitors.
9. A 10 year old girl and a 9 year old boy usually live at Amber House but there are no other pets (except for a well-behaved Australian Terrier called "Waddles" between 22 May and 15 November 2010 inclusive)
   CHILDREN are charged the same as adults by Amber House Limited if booking directly except as below:-
   BALCONY SUITE and BLUE ROOM: No minors less than 18 years of age allowed (2 balconies);
   GREEN, ROSE and GOLD ROOMS: Children aged less than 13 sharing their guardian's room are $32 per night
   (Your Agent's policies may differ).
10. We will STORE your BAGGAGE FREE (but at your risk, not ours) until you return to spend at least one more night with us (if you are visiting the Abel Tasman National Park or touring the South Island, perhaps).
11. Payment Policy: We prefer you to pay either before, or immediately upon arrival for the whole length of your reserved stay. Overdue and recovery charges will be made if your account is not paid on time. All prices quoted by Amber House Limited are for immediate cash settlement and include all applicable taxes, levies and service charges. Tipping is not common practice in New Zealand, "Thank you" is all that is expected - even for exceptional service. The overwhelming majority of our guests sensibly reserve their stay by giving us MasterCard or VISA details and then avoid the card surcharge of 10% levied by Amber House Limited by paying in cash when they arrive.
12. DAMAGE will be charged - plus the costs associated with inappropriate behaviour or deliberate or reckless acts or omissions.
13. We reserve the right to dishonour reservations made by third parties (persons natural or legal that are not actually staying at Amber House and not a member of the Amber family or an employee of Amber House Limited) if we subsequently discover that the actual guest(s) staying at Amber House is unaware of our policies, terms and conditions (as outlined on this website) because of the negligence of that third party. In this event we will continue to hold the original third party that reserved the accommodation responsible for all charges incurred, together with the recovery of costs associated with the inappropriate behaviour or deliberate or reckless acts or omissions of the guest(s) that the third party reserved accommodation for.
    We also reserve the right to dishonour reservations where we have not received satisfactory answers to pertinent questions (eg: statement address of card holder, time and method of arrival, mobile number, etc) within a reasonable timescale.
14. AMBER HOUSE - at the centre!™ is a trademark and is used under licence by Amber House Limited (and other licensees during each winter). Amber House Limited is a small family business and is not registered for GST and does not charge GST.
15. E&OE: this summary of our policies, terms and conditions must be read with the proviso that any errors and omissions are to be excepted and that the version current and published at
         http://www.amberhouse.co.nz/policies.html
                                                                         supercedes and replaces any older and/or differing version.