Terms and Conditions

Version 1.5. Last updated: 23 October 2026.

These terms apply to everyone who uses explor.co.za (“Explor”, “we”, “us”). Part A applies to all visitors. Part B also applies to anyone who creates an account or lists a property (“you”, “the property”). By using the site, or ticking “I accept the Terms and Conditions” when you sign up, you agree to these terms. Please also read our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle personal information.

Who we are

Explor is a South African accommodation directory operated by J.D. Smith, trading as Explor South Africa. Our invoices and emails use the trading name Explor South Africa.

Legal status: sole proprietor (a natural person trading under a business name)
Physical address for legal notices: 770 Douglas Crescent, Sundowner, Randburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Email: info@explor.co.za
Telephone: 082 619 7456
Website: explor.co.za
VAT: Explor is not registered for VAT, so no VAT is charged on our fees.

Part A: Everyone using Explor

1. What Explor is

Explor lists accommodation and related places in South Africa so that guests can find them and contact them directly. Explor does not take bookings or payments for stays, is not a party to any booking, and is not a travel agent. Any booking, payment, cancellation or dispute about a stay is between the guest and the property.

2. Information on the site

Each property supplies and is responsible for its own listing: descriptions, photos, rooms, rates, availability, amenities, contact details and links. We check some details (for example that links work and that a property is not listed twice), but we do not inspect properties and cannot guarantee that every listing is complete, current or accurate. Please confirm anything important, such as rates, facilities and access, with the property before you book. Articles and guides on the site are general information only.

3. Enquiries

When you send an enquiry through a listing, the details you enter are passed to that property so it can reply to you. The property then handles your information under its own responsibilities, as described in our Privacy Policy.

4. Reviews

Only guests who enquired about a property through Explor can review it. After the stay we email the guest a personal link that works once, for one review per enquiry. Nobody else can post a review.
Reviews must be honest, about the guest’s own stay, and free of abuse, personal information about others and web links. We may hold, edit for formatting, or remove a review that breaks these rules, but we do not remove a review only because it is negative.
Published reviews show the reviewer’s name as entered and the month of the stay, marked as a verified Explor guest.
Properties, their staff and anyone acting for them may not review their own property or a competitor, and may not offer guests anything in return for a review. The property may post one reply to each review.

5. Links to other sites

Listings and articles link to other websites, such as a property’s own booking page or social media. We are not responsible for the content, availability or practices of those sites.

6. Using the site properly

You may not misuse Explor, including by: sending spam or fake enquiries; copying listings, photos or content in bulk (including by automated scraping); trying to break into accounts or the site; uploading anything unlawful, defamatory, misleading or that you do not have the right to use; or pretending to be someone else. We may block access or remove content to stop misuse.

7. Our content

The Explor name, logo, site design and our own articles belong to us. Listing content belongs to the property that supplied it. You may share links to Explor pages, but you may not copy or republish our content without our written permission.

8. Liability

Explor is provided “as is”. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for any loss arising from your use of the site, from information supplied by a property, from a stay or booking, or from the site being unavailable.

Limit: to the extent the law allows, our total liability to anyone for all claims connected with Explor together is limited to the fees that person paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose, or R1,000 if they have not paid us anything. We are never liable for indirect or consequential losses, such as lost bookings, income, profit or data.

Nothing in these terms limits a right you have that cannot be limited by law, for example under the Consumer Protection Act, or our liability for loss caused by our gross negligence or wilful misconduct.

Part B: Accounts and listing a property

9. Your account

You must be at least 18 and authorised to act for the property you list.
Give accurate details and keep them up to date. We confirm your email address before you can add a listing, and invoices and enquiries go to that address. You log in with your email address.
Keep your password private. You are responsible for what happens under your account. Tell us straight away if you think someone else has used it.
Hotel accounts use the Explor hotel dashboard. They do not have access to the site’s back end.

10. One listing per property, and who owns it

Owner. The account that creates a listing is its owner. The owner controls billing, the team and ownership of the listing.
Managers and reception. The owner can add team members. Managers can edit the listing, rooms, availability and listing settings, but cannot see or change billing, the team or ownership. Reception staff have more limited access.
No duplicates. Each property may be listed once. If your property is already on Explor, ask its owner to add you to the team. We may hold, merge or remove a duplicate listing, and a duplicate is never invoiced.
Ownership requests. A manager already on a listing can ask to become its owner (for example when the original owner has left the business). The current owner is emailed straight away and has 14 days to stop the transfer with one click. If nobody stops it, ownership moves to the manager and the previous owner stays on as a manager.
Disputes. If there is a disagreement about who controls a listing, we may ask for reasonable proof, such as a letter on the business’s letterhead, and may change the owner ourselves. Our decision on who manages a listing on Explor is final, but it does not decide who owns the property or business.

11. Your listing content

You are responsible for everything in your listing. It must be true, current and lawful, and must not mislead guests, for example about rates, facilities, location, grading or awards.
You confirm that you own, or have permission to use, every photo, text and logo you upload.
You give Explor a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to show, resize and format your listing content on Explor and to use it to promote Explor and your property (for example in newsletters and on our social media) while your listing is on Explor, and for a reasonable time afterwards to remove it from marketing already published.
We may edit listing content for format, length or clarity, reject content that breaks these terms, and remove or suspend a listing that is misleading, unlawful or harmful.
Choose the property type and the tags (up to 5) that genuinely describe your property.
Links you add (website, social media, your Book Direct booking page) must go to pages that belong to your property. We check links automatically and may remove ones that do not work.
When you mark an enquiry as “Booked” or “Didn’t book”, that is used for your dashboard figures and to decide whether the guest is invited to review.

12. Fees: one flat yearly fee, no commission

Listing on Explor costs one flat yearly fee, based on the size of your property. We do not charge commission on bookings or enquiries.
Sizes are based on your total rooms or units: Boutique (1 to 30), Full-Service (31 to 99) and Landmark (100 or more). The current prices are shown when you are invoiced and on request.
Every listing year also includes complimentary nights for Explor: 1 for Boutique, 2 for Full-Service and 3 for Landmark properties (see clause 17).
The optional Featured placement is charged per month (see clause 16).
All prices are in South African Rand. No VAT is charged while Explor is not VAT registered.

13. Invoices and payment

When you submit a new listing we email you an invoice. Your listing goes live as soon as payment reflects in our account.
Each listing invoice states what your listing year includes, including the Explor stays in clause 17. Paying an invoice confirms that you accept these terms.
Payment is by EFT into the account on the invoice. Use the invoice number exactly as the payment reference. Without it we cannot match your payment automatically, and going live may be delayed.
Invoices are payable within 14 days. An unpaid invoice for a new listing expires after 30 days. Your listing details stay saved and you can request a new invoice at any time.
If you upload proof of payment, we may show your listing for a few business days while the payment clears. If the payment does not arrive, the listing goes offline again until it does.
Each listing year runs for 12 months from the day your listing first goes live. We send the renewal invoice about 30 days before the year ends, payable by the end of the year.
If a renewal or other invoice is more than 14 days overdue, we may take the listing offline until it is paid. Nothing is deleted when this happens, and the listing goes back live automatically once payment reflects. We may remove a listing that stays unpaid for more than 6 months.
Fees are not refundable once your listing year has started, except as set out in clause 19 or where the law requires.

14. Size changes

Choose the size that matches your real number of rooms or units. The room types you add on your dashboard are checked against it.
If the rooms you enter add up to a larger size, we show you the new size and its cost before anything is saved. If you confirm, the listing moves up to that size and you are invoiced the difference for the days left in your current listing year (pro rata). The new price applies from then on.
If you made a mistake, correct your rooms within 7 days and before paying that invoice: the size change and its invoice are then cancelled automatically.
If we find that a property knowingly chose a smaller size than its real room count, we may also invoice the difference for the time it was listed at the smaller size.
Moving down to a smaller size applies from your next renewal. Fees already paid are not refunded.

15. Price changes

We may change our prices. Invoices already issued keep the price on them, and a listing year you have already paid for is never re-priced. We will email live listings at least 30 days before a price increase applies to them, and a new price applies from your next renewal that starts on or after the change date. If you do not accept a new price, you may choose not to renew.

16. Featured placement

Featured placement shows your listing more prominently, with a limited number of places per province. You can request it from your dashboard. We decide whether to approve requests, for example based on availability in your province.
It is billed per month in advance. It switches on when the invoice is paid and ends if the next month’s invoice is not paid. Your normal listing is not affected.

17. Explor stays: complimentary nights each year

Each listing year includes complimentary accommodation at your property for Explor, based on your size:

Boutique (1 to 30 rooms or units): 1 night a year
Full-Service (31 to 99): 2 nights a year
Landmark (100 or more): 3 nights a year

If your size changes during a listing year, the nights for your new size apply from then on. We use these nights to create content about your property (articles, photos, video and social media), for promotions such as competitions that feature your property, and for quality checks of listings.

What is included. One standard room for two people, on the basis that room is normally sold (for example room only or bed and breakfast). The nights can be used in one stay or split across stays. Meals, drinks, activities and other extras not normally included in the room are paid for by the guest, unless you choose to offer them.
Who stays. Explor, or a person we appoint, such as a writer, photographer or the winner of an Explor competition that promotes your property. We tell you who will be staying before they arrive. The nights are never sold.
Booking. We request dates at least 14 days in advance, subject to availability. You may decline dates in your peak periods (such as school and public holidays), but you must then offer reasonable alternative dates within the following 3 months.
Lapse. Nights not used in a listing year do not carry over to the next year and have no cash value. They lapse if your listing ends.
Honest content. A complimentary stay does not buy a positive review or a particular result. What we publish is our honest view, and we state in published content when a stay was complimentary.
Quality checks. A quality check confirms that your listing matches the property (rooms, facilities and photos). It is Explor’s own check, not an official star grading, and we may ask you to correct a listing that does not match.
Repeatedly refusing reasonable requests for a stay is a breach of these terms.

18. No guarantee of results

We work to bring guests to Explor, but we do not guarantee any number of views, enquiries or bookings, a particular position in search results or on the map, or that the site will always be available without interruption.

19. Cancelling and closing your listing

Change of mind. If you cancel within 7 days of paying your first invoice, we refund that payment in full and remove the listing.
Not renewing. You can choose not to renew under Settings on your dashboard. The listing stays live until the end of the year you paid for, then comes off Explor and your account closes.
Closing early. You can close your listing and account at any time under Settings on your dashboard, or by emailing billing@explor.co.za. We keep a closed account for 12 months so it can be reopened, then delete it, except invoices and payment records, which we keep for 5 years as tax law requires. If the Consumer Protection Act applies to you (generally if you are a natural person, or a small business below the Act’s thresholds), you may cancel your listing year on 20 business days’ notice, and we refund the unused part of your fee less a reasonable cancellation charge as the Act allows. Otherwise, fees for the current year are not refunded.
Our right to end a listing. We may suspend or remove a listing that breaks these terms, is misleading, receives repeated well-founded complaints, or is for a property that is no longer trading, without a refund. If we stop offering listings on Explor altogether, we will give at least 30 days’ notice and refund the unused part of any fees paid.

20. Personal information

We handle personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), as explained in our Privacy Policy. Guest enquiries we pass to you contain personal information. You may use them only to reply to that guest and handle their stay, must keep them secure, and must not add guests to marketing lists without their consent.

21. Your responsibility to us

You indemnify Explor against claims by third parties (including guests and owners of photos or trade marks) that arise from your listing content, your property, your dealings with guests, or your breach of these terms.

22. Limit on our liability to properties

The limit in clause 8 applies to properties too: to the extent the law allows, our total liability to a property for all claims connected with Explor together is the fees that property paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose. We are not liable for indirect losses such as lost bookings, enquiries, income or profit, or for anything a guest does or fails to do.

Part C: General

23. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. The date at the top shows the latest version. For changes that materially affect listed properties, we will email account holders at least 30 days before they take effect. Continuing to use Explor after that means you accept the updated terms.

24. Notices

We send notices to the email address on your account, and they count as received when sent. Send notices to us at billing@explor.co.za, or for formal legal notices to the physical address above.

25. Disputes

If something goes wrong, please contact us first at billing@explor.co.za, with the details, and give us 14 days to try to resolve it before taking any other step. Any claim is subject to the limits in clauses 8 and 22. These terms are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa, and South African courts have jurisdiction.

26. Other

If any part of these terms is found to be invalid, the rest still applies. If we do not enforce a right straight away, we have not given it up. These terms, together with our Privacy Policy and the invoices we issue, are the whole agreement between you and Explor about using the site.