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Booking & Cancellation Terms

Last updated: 12 August 2026

These Booking & Cancellation Terms apply to retreats booked with The Writer’s Keep (“we”, “us” or “our”). By making a booking and paying a deposit or other amount towards a retreat, you agree to these terms.

1. Making a Booking

A place on a retreat is only secured once:

  • you have selected your room or retreat place;

  • we have received the required deposit or full payment; and

  • you have received a booking confirmation from us.

Availability is limited and rooms are allocated on a first-booked, first-served basis.

Unless otherwise stated on the relevant retreat page, a £200 deposit per place is required to secure a booking.

Your deposit forms part of the total price of your retreat and is not an additional charge.

2. Retreat Prices

The total price applicable to your booking will be clearly displayed before you make payment.

Your booking confirmation will show:

  • the retreat booked;

  • the retreat dates;

  • the room or accommodation selected;

  • the total price;

  • the amount already paid; and

  • any remaining balance.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, guests are responsible for their own travel to and from The Writer’s Keep and for any personal expenses incurred during their stay.

3. Paying the Balance

Unless a different payment date is stated when booking, the remaining balance must be paid no later than 8 weeks before the retreat begins.

We will contact you with details of how to pay your outstanding balance.

If you make a booking less than 8 weeks before the retreat begins, the outstanding balance will be due immediately, or by the date stated in your booking confirmation.

If payment is not received by the due date, we will contact you before cancelling your booking. If payment remains outstanding after reasonable notice, we may treat the booking as cancelled by you and the cancellation terms below will apply.

4. If You Need to Cancel

We understand that plans can change.

If you wish to cancel your booking, please contact us in writing by email as soon as possible. Your cancellation takes effect from the date we receive your written notice.

Our standard cancellation charges are:

More than 8 weeks before the retreat:
Your £200 deposit may be retained. Any other amounts you have paid will be refunded.

Between 4 and 8 weeks before the retreat:
Up to 50% of the total retreat price may be retained.

Less than 4 weeks before the retreat:
Up to 100% of the total retreat price may be retained.

Non-attendance or cancellation after the retreat has begun:
No refund will normally be payable.

These amounts are intended to reflect the losses and costs that may arise when a place is cancelled at short notice.

We will always take reasonable steps to reduce our loss, including attempting to re-sell your place where reasonably possible.

If we successfully re-sell your cancelled place, we will take this into account when calculating the cancellation charge and may refund some or all of the amount that would otherwise have been retained, less any reasonable costs resulting from the cancellation.

We will not retain more than is reasonably necessary to cover the loss caused by your cancellation.

5. Transferring Your Place

If you are unable to attend, we may allow you to transfer your booking to another suitable person rather than cancel, provided that:

  • you contact us before the retreat;

  • the replacement guest agrees to these Booking & Cancellation Terms;

  • any required information is provided to us in advance; and

  • there is no practical reason why the transfer cannot be accepted.

Please contact us as early as possible if you would like to request a transfer.

Transfers are subject to our agreement and cannot be guaranteed.

6. Moving to Another Retreat

Where circumstances allow, we may offer you the option of transferring some or all of your payment to another Writer’s Keep retreat instead of cancelling.

Any such transfer is at our discretion and will depend on availability, notice given and any costs already incurred in relation to your original booking.

Any difference in retreat price will also be payable.

7. Cancellation by The Writer’s Keep

In the unlikely event that we cancel the retreat and cannot provide the retreat you booked, you will be offered either:

  • a transfer to another suitable Writer’s Keep retreat; or

  • a refund of the amounts you have paid to us for the cancelled retreat.

If we make a significant change to the retreat before it begins and you reasonably do not wish to accept the change, we will discuss the available alternatives with you.

We strongly recommend that guests do not make non-refundable travel arrangements without appropriate travel insurance.

Except where required by law, we cannot reimburse costs that you have separately incurred with third parties, such as rail tickets, flights, taxis, hotels or other travel arrangements.

Nothing in these terms limits any rights you have under applicable consumer law.

8. Events Outside Our Reasonable Control

Occasionally circumstances outside our reasonable control may affect a retreat. These could include severe weather, transport disruption, utility failure, government restrictions or other serious events that make running the retreat impossible or unsafe.

If this happens, we will contact affected guests as soon as reasonably possible and will aim to provide an appropriate alternative, postponement or refund depending on the circumstances and the services we are able to provide.

Nothing in this section affects your statutory consumer rights.

9. Changes Made by You

Requests to change:

  • guest names;

  • room selections;

  • occupancy;

  • dietary requirements; or

  • other booking details

should be made as early as possible.

We will do our best to accommodate reasonable requests, but changes are subject to availability and cannot always be guaranteed.

If the change results in an additional cost, we will tell you before confirming it.

10. Dietary, Accessibility and Other Requirements

Guests should tell us about any dietary requirements, allergies, accessibility requirements or other relevant needs as early as possible.

We will make reasonable efforts to accommodate requirements that we have agreed to in advance, but guests should contact us before booking if a particular requirement is essential to their ability to attend.

11. Writing Questionnaire

Following your booking, we may ask you to complete a short pre-retreat questionnaire about your writing project, goals and the areas you would most like to work on during the retreat.

This information helps us prepare the retreat and workshops for our guests.

Failure to complete the questionnaire does not normally cancel your booking, although it may limit our ability to tailor the experience to your individual writing goals.

12. Guest Conduct

The Writer’s Keep is intended to provide a welcoming, respectful and productive environment.

Guests are expected to behave reasonably towards other guests, hosts, staff and the property.

We reserve the right to require a guest to leave where their behaviour is seriously disruptive, threatening, abusive, unlawful or creates a significant risk to other guests or the property.

Any action taken under this section will be proportionate to the circumstances and does not affect either party's legal rights.

13. Damage to the Property

Guests are responsible for taking reasonable care of the property and its contents during their stay.

Please tell us promptly about any accidental damage.

Where damage results from deliberate or negligent behaviour, we may seek reimbursement of the reasonable cost of repairing or replacing the damaged item.

Normal wear and tear will not be charged.

14. Insurance

We strongly recommend taking out suitable travel insurance when booking your retreat.

You may wish to choose insurance covering circumstances such as illness, family emergencies, travel disruption and other events that could prevent you from attending.

The availability and scope of insurance cover will depend on the policy you purchase.

15. Your Statutory Rights

Because our retreats involve accommodation and leisure services provided on specified dates, the statutory 14-day cancellation right that applies to many online purchases may not apply to your retreat booking.

Your rights under general UK consumer law are not affected by these terms.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

16. Contacting Us

For booking changes, cancellations or questions about these terms, please contact:

The Writer’s Keep
Conwy, North Wales
Email: bookings@thewriterskeep.co.uk
Website: thewriterskeep.co.uk

Please include your full name and retreat dates when contacting us about an existing booking.

17. Agreement to These Terms

Before completing your booking, you will be asked to confirm that you have read and agree to these Booking & Cancellation Terms.

Your booking becomes binding when payment has been accepted and we have issued your booking confirmation.