Booking terms

How a booking is made

Every booking is a conversation, not a checkout. You write to us on WhatsApp or by email with rough dates and what you have in mind, and we reply with a plan and a rate.

A booking exists only once we have confirmed it to you in writing and the agreed advance has reached us. Until then, dates are not held. Nothing on this website reserves a room by itself.

What a rate includes

Rates are quoted per room per night, for two guests, and include two meals a day, help with luggage, and all taxes.

Extra guests in a room that allows one are charged separately, and we will tell you the amount before you confirm. Packed lunches on trek days, guides, and transfers are arranged on request and quoted separately unless the plan we send you says otherwise.

Paying

By UPI or bank transfer. We take no payment through this website and never ask for card details.

An advance confirms the booking; the balance is settled during or at the end of your stay unless we agree otherwise in writing. We will never ask you to send money to an account other than the one on your confirmation — if you receive a message asking you to, it is not from us. Call us on the number on the contact page and check.

Cancellation

Thirty days or more before arrival — cancel and receive a full refund.

Inside thirty days — no refund, but the stay can be rescheduled once to any dates within ninety days, subject to rooms being free.

Leaving early — nights not stayed are not refunded.

Refunds go back the way the money came, and usually take a few working days once we have started them.

Arriving and leaving

Check-in and check-out are both 12 noon, at The Tāl and at Dea Avnovā.

Roads through the hills rarely run to schedule. Tell us roughly when you expect to arrive and we will work around it where the room allows. If you are going to be very late, a message helps — someone waits up.

The Green Travel Promise

Every guest agrees to the Green Travel Promise before a booking is confirmed. It is one line — I will explore without disturbing or destroying — and it means being respectful to the land and the village, carrying your trash back out, and dressing modestly in what are traditional villages.

If carrying waste back is not practical we will dispose of it for you at the rates listed on the Good to know page. Read it in full there.

House rules

These are shared homes, not hotels. No smoking inside the rooms, main meals in the dining hall at set hours so every plate goes out hot, quiet hours at night, and housekeeping on request. The full list is on the Good to know page.

We reserve the right to end a stay without refund if a guest's behaviour makes the house unsafe or unpleasant for others. We have never had to.

Weather, roads and things we do not control

You are coming to the Himalayas. Landslides close roads, snow shuts passes, monsoon makes trails unsafe, and power and network both come and go.

We will always tell you what we know as early as we know it, and we will help you re-plan. But we cannot be responsible for costs you incur elsewhere — flights, trains, other bookings — when a road closes or the weather turns. If conditions make a stay genuinely impossible, we will discuss a reschedule or refund with you rather than hide behind this paragraph.

Travel insurance that covers mountain travel is worth having.

Treks and time outdoors

Walking in the mountains carries risk, and altitude affects people differently. Guests join treks and walks at their own risk, and are responsible for judging their own fitness honestly.

We will tell you plainly if we think a walk is beyond a group, and we would rather lose the booking than send someone up a hill they should not be on. Guides we arrange are experienced local people. Follow what they say.

Your belongings

Please look after your own things. We cannot accept responsibility for valuables left in rooms or common areas. If you need something kept safe, ask us.

Photographs

We sometimes photograph the stays and the food. If a guest is recognisable in a picture we would like to use publicly, we ask first. Tell us at any point if you would rather not be photographed and that is the end of it.

Photographs and text on this website belong to Burānsh Stays. Please ask before reusing them.

Questions

Write to reservations@buranshstays.com or message the WhatsApp number on the contact page. A person replies, usually the same day between 10 am and 7 pm IST.