Complaints and Grievances

Summary

This summary is here to help you. It does not replace the full text below.

• One free process covers everyone: guests, hotels, hotel staff, and anyone else affected by Stayantra.
• Complain by email to info@stayantra.com, or by post to our grievance officer. Problems during a stay can also be raised in the in-stay chat.
• We acknowledge your complaint and give you a reference number within 1 business day, and never later than 48 hours.
• You get a written, reasoned decision within 15 days.
• If your complaint is about a hotel, we pass it to the hotel, track it, and still reply to you within 15 days.
• If you are not satisfied, you can go to a regulator, an ombudsman or dispute body, or a court. Using this process never takes away those rights.
• We never penalise anyone for complaining.

1. Who this process is for

This process is for anyone with a complaint about Stayantra, including:

• guests using the marketplace, the Stayantra Go app, a hotel website built on Stayantra, or Stayantra Rewards;
• hotels and their staff using the Stayantra dashboard or the Stayantra Connect app;
• anyone affected by content on Stayantra, such as a review or a listing, or by one of our moderation decisions;
• anyone with a concern about how we handle personal data.

It meets the grievance duties in Nepal's E-Commerce Act 2081 (2025), section 33, and Consumer Protection Act 2075; India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 and consumer e-commerce rules; the UK and EU rules on complaint handling for online platforms (including the EU Digital Services Act and the rules protecting business users of online platforms); and data protection law. Where those laws differ, we follow the strictest timeline for everyone.

2. How to complain

You can complain in whichever way suits you:

• Email: info@stayantra.com. This is the fastest way.
• Post: Grievance Officer, [Pending: Grievance officer postal address].
• Phone: [Pending: Customer phone number]. We will record your complaint and confirm it in writing.
• During a stay: if something is wrong with your room or the hotel's service, tell the in-stay chat in the marketplace or the Stayantra Go app. It is logged as a complaint and goes straight to the hotel. If you want our formal written decision as well, also email info@stayantra.com.

You do not need to use any special form or words, and complaining is free. You can complain in English or Nepali. You can ask someone else to complain for you; we may ask for your confirmation that they act for you.

3. What to include

To help us deal with your complaint quickly, please include:

• your name and the email address or phone number linked to your account;
• your booking reference, hotel name or account name, if the complaint is about a booking or a hotel account;
• what happened, when and where (for example marketplace, app, dashboard, a chat with Exubee);
• screenshots, photos, receipts or messages that support your complaint, if you have them;
• what you would like us to do to put it right.

If something is missing we will ask you for it, but we will not delay acknowledging your complaint.

4. What happens next

1. Acknowledgement — within 1 business day. We register every complaint, however you send it, and a member of our team acknowledges it and gives you a reference number within 1 business day of receiving it, and never later than 48 hours. Quote your reference in any follow-up.
2. Review. A person reviews your complaint. If it involves a hotel, a payment provider or another party, we contact them and ask for their side.
3. Written decision — within 15 days. Within 15 days of receiving your complaint, we send you a written decision. It explains what we found, what we will do, and why. If we do not uphold your complaint, we explain the reasons and tell you where you can take it next.
4. Putting it right. If we uphold your complaint, we tell you what we will do and by when, and then do it.

The 15-day deadline comes from section 33 of Nepal's E-Commerce Act, and we apply it to every user worldwide. It is shorter than the usual timescales elsewhere, such as the one-month resolution period in India. If a complaint genuinely needs more investigation, we will still send you a written decision within 15 days on what we have found so far, explain what remains open and why, and give you a date for the final answer.

5. Complaints about a hotel or a stay

The hotel, not Stayantra, provides your accommodation, and your contract for the stay is with the hotel. Stayantra is an online platform that connects you with the hotel. Even so, we do not leave you to deal with the hotel alone:

• we pass your complaint to the hotel and ask it to respond;
• we track the complaint until it is resolved;
• we still send you our written decision within 15 days, including the hotel's response or, if the hotel has not responded, what we have done about it.

Where the hotel cannot provide the stay you booked, or the stay was materially not as described, you may be entitled to a full refund, including tax. Refunds are decided and sent by the hotel's manager or owner. If you paid with "Pay with Stayantra" and the hotel does not send a refund it owes by the refund date while we still hold your payment, we refund you ourselves and deduct it from what we pay the hotel. See our Payments, Cancellations and Refunds policy and the cancellation and refund rules shown for your booking.

6. Complaints about content and moderation decisions

If we remove or restrict content you posted (for example a review), suspend or close your account, restrict a hotel listing, or decide not to act on content you reported, you can ask us to look at that decision again. You can do this for 6 months after we tell you about the decision.

We will review it with a person who was not involved in the original decision where possible, and not by automated means alone. If we find our decision was wrong, we reverse it without undue delay. This follows the internal complaint-handling rules in the EU Digital Services Act. If you are in the EU, you can also use a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body.

7. Complaints from hotels

Hotels and other business users can use the same process for any issue with Stayantra, including billing, account restrictions, ranking and technical problems. Business complaints get the same timings: an acknowledgement and reference number within 1 business day (never later than 48 hours), and a written, reasoned decision within 15 days.

If a complaint is not resolved through this process, we will offer mediation with an independent mediator before either side starts arbitration or court proceedings. Mediation is voluntary and does not stop either side from later using the dispute process in the Hotel Subscription and Partner Agreement. This reflects the UK and EU rules on fairness for business users of online platforms.

8. Our grievance officer

Our grievance officer is responsible for making sure complaints are handled properly and on time.

For data protection complaints you can also write to our privacy team at info@stayantra.com.

9. If you are not satisfied

You can take your complaint further at any time. Where the law of your country requires you to use our process first, please do so; otherwise you do not have to wait for our decision. The options depend on where you live.

Nepal

• Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection, for consumer complaints.
• The competent courts of Nepal, including consumer courts where available.

United Kingdom

• For data protection matters: the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
• For consumer matters: the Citizens Advice consumer service (or Consumer Advice Scotland), which can give advice and pass information to Trading Standards.
• The courts, including the small claims track for lower-value claims.

European Union and EEA

• Your national consumer protection authority, or a certified alternative dispute resolution body in your country.
• Your national data protection authority, for data protection matters.
• For content moderation decisions, a certified out-of-court dispute settlement body under the Digital Services Act.
• The courts of your country.

India

• For consumer matters: the Consumer Commission at district, state or national level (you can file online through the national e-Daakhil service).
• For personal data matters: the Data Protection Board of India, after you have used our process as the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 requires.

Anywhere else

• Your local consumer protection or data protection authority, and your local courts where the law allows.

Where our contracts give a court or arbitration forum for disputes, consumers keep the right to bring a claim in the courts of their home country where that law allows. See our Terms of Service.

10. No penalty for complaining

We will never close your account, lower a hotel's ranking, remove a genuine review, withhold a refund, or treat you less favourably in any other way because you made a complaint in good faith, or because you went to a regulator or court.

11. Records

We keep complaint records for 2 years after a complaint is closed, so we can deal with follow-ups and improve our service, unless the law requires us to keep them longer. See our Privacy Policy.

12. Changes to this page

We may update this process. The date at the top shows the current version. Complaints already open are handled under the version in force when you made them, unless a newer version is better for you.