Frequently asked questions
Conscious and curious? You’re our kinda people. If you’re eager to know more about GoKinda, here’s where we answer our community’s most commonly asked questions.
If you have any niggling queries that we haven’t covered below, please shoot us an email at [email protected]
Your BOOKING
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You should receive your confirmation via email within 24 hours of making a booking. You can also create a personal profile here and view your booking/s, wherever you roam.
If you are having trouble logging in to your account and/or you haven’t received your confirmation within 24 hours, chat us or drop us a note at [email protected] (please check those sneaky folders that it may have landed in first).
You don’t need a hardcopy of your confirmation however it’s always good to have a record of your booking. We recommend creating a personal profile here and you can view your booking/s wherever you roam.
Nope, those days are gone. If there is any change to your booking we’ll be the ones to contact you.
Please make a note of your request in the booking. We also suggest that you email the hotel directly. It’s important to note that requests are not guaranteed and are up to the hotel’s discretion.
Let us know. While special requests can rarely be guaranteed, we’re always happy to do what we can. You can also email the hotel directly with you requests, whatever you prefer.
A twin room is typically two single beds whereas a double room is one double or queen bed.
Reach out to us via chat or email at [email protected] and we’ll do our best to find it for you.
Breakfast (and any other meals) are only included in your booking if noted under ‘inclusions’.
If you require transfers provided by the hotel, email us at [email protected] and we’ll do our best to help. We currently don’t offer transfers that are not provided by the hotel itself.
We’d love to say yes, but this is up to each hotels discretion.
PRICING and PAYMENTS
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GoKinda is proudly fee free – no fees to book, change or cancel. However, hotels may charge fees for certain things so it’s important to check the specifics of your hotel when you book.
We accept most credit cards and debit cards.
Most of the bookings on our website will be charged by the hotel directly when you are in destination. These details are clearly noted when making your booking.
By you paying the hotel directly we’re able to keep our costs down and remain fee-free for you.
Your card will be charged based on the payment terms of your particular booking and are communicated throughout the booking process. Most bookings will be charged when you check-in or check-out. Some hotels might test your credit card with an authorisation before the payment date indicated, resulting in frozen funds for a short period of time. Hotels have also been known to charge cards sooner than they advise, which we get can be super frustrating. If you are having any difficulties with a particular hotel you can email us and we’ll try to help out.
Hotels outside of Australia provide their prices in their local currency. We provide a conversion to AUD to make it easier for you to compare hotel options, however it’s important to understand that the conversion is subject to change.
Your card will be charged the amount communicated in either the hotel’s local currency or an otherwise indicated currency. It’s important to know that this could be more or less than the AUD conversion provided at the time of booking. For domestic bookings, charges will almost always be in AUD.
Your hotel may charge a credit card fee. For international bookings, foreign exchange fees may also apply to your payment and they can be nasty, particularly if you’re not expecting them. These fees depend entirely on your banking provider and are not fees charged by your hotel or GoKinda.
Most hotels will be happy to accept alternative forms of payment when you arrive, just remember to tell them your preference when you check-in before any payment is processed. You can also talk to your bank about the best/cheapest way to make an international transaction as there are a bunch of ways to reduce these fees. If you’re super organised (go you!), you might consider a travel money card that typically has lower fees than traditional credit or debit cards – you just need to get this sorted before you leave the country.
Your payment details are taken at the time of booking to secure your room and the payment terms and conditions.
To keep things secure we recommend contacting the hotel directly.
We get that price is an important part of choosing where you book your travel which is why our website searches multiple channels to source rates and pricing that makes sure we’re always competitive.
If you find a price that’s a decent amount cheaper and you’d still like to book with us, send us an email at [email protected] and we’ll see if there is anything we can do. And big thanks for wanting to book with us!
Our hotels pay us a commission for sending our travel-loving, eco-conscious and style-savvy community their way. You don’t pay more to use our service.
CHANGES and CANCELLATIONS
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You can either cancel your booking and make a new one (note any cancellation fees that may apply), or you can email us at [email protected] and we’ll do our best to help you out.
Non-refundable bookings are normally also non-changeable. If you email us at [email protected] we’ll try to help in any way we can however the hotel will make the final call.
You can cancel your booking by visiting ‘My account‘ on our website. Be sure to note any cancellation fees that may apply before processing your cancellation as any cancellations are final. You will receive an email from us confirming your cancellation. If you don’t receive this email please contact us at [email protected]
You can check the details of your booking by visiting ‘My account‘ on our website. It’s important to note that every hotel and booking will have different cancellation and refund policies.
If you cancel a non-refundable booking you will be charged a penalty as communicated throughout the booking process, even if your card is yet to be charged.
If you cancel a refundable booking before the date and time communicated throughout the booking process, you will not be charged any fees. If any payment was made prior to the cancellation, the payment will be refunded by the hotel.
When you cancel a booking we will notify the hotel and they will process any refund to your original form of payment.
As your refund is processed by the hotel directly we don’t communicate a specific time frame for refunds. If you haven’t received your refund within 14 days, send us a message via chat or at [email protected] and we’ll do what we can to help it along.
ABOUT GoKinda
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We’re all about putting the feel-good factor back into travel. That’s why we handpick hotels for both style and sustainability, so you can rest easy knowing you’re travelling kinder.
When you choose your hotels through GoKinda you’re not only calling for hotels to do better, you’re also protecting 5 trees per booking.
Yep, we’re proudly Australian-owned and operated. We’re also completely independent and female-founded.
We’re an Australian-based business, operating on Gadigal land, Sydney. You can learn more about us here.
Yes, every booking protects 5 trees through our partnership with One Tribe Global.
We choose to partner with One Tree Global to protect trees instead of plant trees. You can learn more here
As a GSTC member, we receive up to date information on the certification status of hotels all over the world. You will find certified hotels on our website with an additional ‘certified’ tag.
You can learn more about the GSTC here
To ensure our hotels are operating consciously we source information from hotels directly, from our own travel experiences, as well as external sources to ensure – to the best of our knowledge – our hotels are kinder to people and the planet. As our community grows we look forward to drawing on your experiences too. If you’d like to know more about how we handpick our hotels, head over to our ‘How we’re kinder’ page.
This one is kinda hard to quantify, but let’s just say it’s a vibe. Our team’s extensive experience in the travel industry brings an expert eye to our selection process, handpicking only hotels that they would stay at themselves. Learn more about what drives our selection process here.
It’s a work in progress. The travel industry is known for outdated technology and has a long way to go to become a leading force in sustainability. As a small and purpose-driven business, our intention is to change this, at the very least for our immediate supply chain. Specifically, we intend to build technology that allows us to work directly with hotels around the globe, keeping more money in their pockets to invest in people and the planet. While this is our intention, we think it’s important to be transparent and honest that we’re not there yet. The support we receive from our GoKinda community will be influential in us achieving these goals.
Kinda, yes. While not yet certified carbon neutral, we operate with a light footprint and anything we can’t reduce we more than offset through our partnership with One Tribe Global.
CONTACT us
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If your hotel experience was anything less than top-notch, please contact us directly – we’re all about keeping our hotels honest and transparent. Of course we also love to hear about the good stuff and any suggestions you might have. Please email [email protected]
We’d love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected]
We’re all about supporting hotels that are doing good things.
If your hotel’s team is actively working toward creating a kinder experience for people and the planet, we want to hear about it.
Complete the form on our ‘Partner with us’ page to get in touch.
We welcome any opportunities to play with like-minded individuals and brands. You can reach us at [email protected]
