Booking terms

Who you are booking with

The cabin is at 22 Steenbok Street, Van Dyks Bay, Kleinbaai, 7220, Western Cape, South Africa. Your hosts are Martin and Nathali.

You can reach us at hello@magicalcabininthewoods.co.za or on +27 74 969 2549. We answer messages ourselves — there is no call centre.

Requesting and confirming a booking

Sending a request through this website does not book the cabin. It asks us to hold the dates while we check them.

We list on several platforms whose calendars only update every few hours, so we confirm every booking by hand. This is deliberate: it means you will never arrive to find the cabin double-booked.

Your booking exists once we send you a written confirmation. We aim to answer within 24 hours and usually much sooner. Until then nothing is charged and you owe us nothing.

If the dates have gone in the meantime, we will tell you and suggest alternatives. Nothing is owed either way.

Rates and what is included

Rates are quoted per night in South African Rand and include VAT where applicable. The price you are quoted when you request is the price you pay, even if our rates change afterwards.

The nightly rate covers two guests. Additional guests are charged per person per night, and a cleaning and linen fee applies once per stay. Everything is itemised before you submit, with no fees added later.

Some rates are age-related. Where one applies, you confirm on the booking form that at least one guest meets the age, and we may ask to see that guest’s ID when you arrive. You do not send us a copy of anything, and we do not keep one — we record only that you made the confirmation, and the age it was made against. If nobody in the party meets it, the stay is charged at our standard rate.

Included: all bedding and towels, electricity and water, WiFi, two bags of firewood, and a starter set of coffee, tea, milk, salt, oil and firelighters.

Not included: additional firewood at R60 a bag, and anything you buy in town.

Payment

A deposit of 50% of the total confirms your booking and holds the dates. We send a payment link once we have confirmed.

The balance is due 14 days before you arrive. If you book within 14 days of arrival, the full amount is payable to confirm.

We will hold dates for 48 hours from confirmation while you pay the deposit. After that we may release them, though we will always message you first rather than simply letting them go.

If you need to cancel

You may cancel at any time. Tell us as early as you can — the more notice we have, the better the chance of re-letting the nights, and the less this costs you.

Cancel more than 14 days before arrival and we refund your deposit in full.

Cancel 14 days or less before arrival and the 50% deposit is forfeited. If you have already paid the balance, the balance is refunded.

If we manage to re-let the nights you cancelled, we refund 90% of what we recover for them. We keep 10% to cover the administration and the payment fees. We would rather do this than keep money for nights we sold twice.

If you cannot come because of the death or hospitalisation of a member of your party, there is no cancellation charge at all and we refund everything you have paid. This is your right under section 17(5) of the Consumer Protection Act and we apply it without argument or paperwork.

All refunds are paid within 15 business days, into the account the payment came from.

Changing your dates

Ask us. If the new dates are free and of equal value we will simply move you, at no charge.

If the new dates cost more, the difference is payable. If they cost less, we refund the difference. A move requested 14 days or less before arrival is treated as a cancellation and a new booking, so the cancellation terms above apply.

Why our cancellation terms are firmer than the platforms’

It is a fair question, and the answer is straightforward: booking direct is cheaper because we are not paying commission, and firmer terms are the other side of that trade.

When you book through a platform, the platform absorbs a good deal of the risk. They hold the money, they carry the guarantees, and they have thousands of properties to spread a cancellation across. We have one cabin. A cancelled week in season is a week we probably cannot refill, and there is nobody standing behind us if it happens.

So the deal we can offer you is: pay less, and commit a little more firmly. We think that is the honest way round.

If flexibility matters more to you than price — plans that might change, a trip you are not certain of yet — then book us on LekkeSlaap instead. It costs more, because their commission is built into the rate, but their cancellation terms are more forgiving than ours and you are covered by their protections rather than relying on us.

We genuinely do not mind which way you book. We would rather you came on terms that suit you than not came at all.

If we have to cancel

This is rare and we will do everything we can to avoid it. If we cancel for any reason within our control, we refund everything you have paid in full, and we will help you find somewhere else.

If circumstances outside anyone’s control make the cabin unusable — fire, flood, storm damage, a prolonged failure of water or electricity, or a legal restriction on travel — we refund in full for the nights you cannot use. We are not able to cover your travel costs or other losses in that situation.

Arrival and departure

Check in from 15:00 and until 23:00. Check out by 10:00.

Arriving later than 23:00 is usually fine, but tell us in your booking request so we can make a plan. Turning up unannounced late at night may mean nobody is there to let you in.

The last stretch into Van Dyks Bay is a sand road. It is fine for an ordinary car driven sensibly.

Who may stay

The cabin sleeps five. Only the guests named in your booking may stay overnight, and the number must match what you booked — we cannot make up beds at short notice.

Day visitors are welcome, but please let us know first.

The booking is for a holiday stay. It is not a party venue, and it may not be used for events, filming or commercial purposes without our written agreement.

Pets

Dogs are welcome by prior arrangement, with a fee of R150 per pet per stay. Tell us when you book — arriving with an unannounced animal is not a nice surprise for anyone.

The grounds are fully enclosed, so dogs can be off the lead. You remain responsible for your animal, for cleaning up after it, and for any damage or additional cleaning it causes.

The hot tub, the firepit and the braai

These are the best things about the cabin and they need respecting. Use of all three is entirely at your own risk.

The hot tub is electrically heated and takes several hours to warm. Never leave children in or near it unsupervised, do not use it if you have been drinking heavily, and please do not add bath salts, oils or bubble bath — they destroy the pump and filter.

Fires belong in the braais and the firepit, and nowhere else. Never leave a fire unattended, and make sure it is properly out before you go to bed or leave. The forest around the cabin is dry for much of the year.

The milkwoods are a protected species. Please do not cut, break or burn anything living.

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for injury, illness or death arising from your use of the hot tub, the firepit, the braai or the grounds, except where it is caused by our own gross negligence. You use these facilities knowing that, and you accept responsibility for everyone in your party, including children.

Children

Children of all ages are welcome, and the enclosed grounds make it an easy place to bring them.

The loft is reached by a steep timber staircase and has an open balustrade. There is a hot tub, a firepit and an indoor fireplace. Children remain your responsibility at all times, and we ask you to look at the place through their eyes when you arrive.

A cot, a high chair and a changing station are available on request — ask when you book.

Damage, breakages and lost keys

Accidents happen and we do not fuss about a chipped mug. Please just tell us.

You are responsible for the cost of repairing or replacing anything damaged or missing beyond fair wear and tear during your stay, and for any cleaning needed beyond the normal changeover. We will send you an itemised invoice with photographs rather than an unexplained charge.

Set charges: a lost key is R100 and a lost alarm remote is R400.

We do not normally take a damage deposit. For larger groups or longer stays we may ask for a refundable one, and if so we will say so before you pay anything.

Please do not adjust the geyser settings or move the furniture.

Smoking, noise and the neighbours

No smoking indoors. The deck and the firepit are yours, and there are ashtrays.

Please keep noise down after 22:00. The forest carries sound much further than you would think and the houses nearby are close.

No illegal substances.

We may ask you to leave, without a refund, if the cabin or the neighbours are being seriously disrespected. We have never had to.

Load-shedding, water and services

The Gansbaai grid takes a knock in winter storms, and load-shedding happens. The WiFi and the alarm run off a backup supply, the gas hob lights with a match, and there are rechargeable and paraffin lamps in the cupboard under the stairs.

Interruptions to electricity, water or internet that are outside our control are not grounds for a refund. If something in the cabin itself fails, call us — day or night — and we will fix it.

Our liability

Nothing in these terms limits any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act, and nothing here excludes liability for death or injury caused by our gross negligence, or for fraud.

Subject to that, our total liability arising from your booking is limited to the amount you paid us for the stay.

We are not liable for indirect losses — travel costs, missed connections, or the cost of alternative accommodation — beyond that amount.

Your belongings and your vehicle

Parking is free and on the property, behind a gate. The grounds are enclosed and alarmed, and armed response is handled by a local company.

Even so, you bring your belongings and your vehicle at your own risk, and we recommend you insure anything valuable. We are not liable for loss or damage to them except where we caused it.

The security gates are slam-lock. Keep your keys on you when you step out.

Anything left behind we will keep for 30 days and post to you at your cost if you ask.

Cameras

There is a video doorbell at the front and one camera at the back. We switch both off for the whole of your stay, so you can relax completely.

There are no cameras inside the cabin, and never will be. If you would prefer the outside ones left on while you are there — some guests do — just say and we will enable them.

Complaints

Tell us while you are still here. Almost anything can be sorted out on the spot, and almost nothing can be sorted out after you have gone home and left a review.

If we cannot resolve something between us, you may approach the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud or the National Consumer Commission.

Privacy

We collect only what we need to handle your booking, we do not sell it, and we do not send marketing you did not ask for. Our privacy notice sets out the detail, including your rights under POPIA.

Governing law

These terms are governed by South African law. Any dispute may be heard in the Magistrate’s Court with jurisdiction, even where the amount would otherwise entitle us to go to the High Court.

If any part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, the rest still applies.