Palmabook Quality Standards

Our Quality Framework

Palmabook is a curated marketplace for vacation rentals. Our quality standards are designed to protect guests, support responsible hosts, and maintain trust across every booking made through palmabook.com. These standards apply to all listings, hosts, co-hosts, cleaners, property managers, and local representatives who offer accommodations through Palmabook.

Our framework is built on five pillars:

Accuracy

Listings must describe the property truthfully and completely. Photos, amenities, occupancy, bedroom and bathroom counts, and location details must reasonably match the actual guest experience.

Cleanliness

Properties must be delivered in hotel-grade clean condition at each check-in, with linens, bathrooms, kitchens, and high-touch surfaces properly cleaned and prepared.

Communication

Hosts must communicate promptly, professionally, and clearly before, during, and after the stay, including timely responses to inquiries, booking requests, and guest support needs.

Check-in

Guests must be able to access the property reliably and safely using clear instructions and a workable arrival process.

Value

The total booking experience must be consistent with the price paid. Listings should offer a fair balance of quality, condition, amenities, location, and service.

Palmabook may monitor compliance through guest reviews, support tickets, refund claims, host response metrics, booking outcomes, account history, manual audits, and listing reviews. Hosts are responsible for maintaining these standards at all times, including when using third-party cleaners, co-hosts, or property managers.

Listing Accuracy

Hosts must ensure that every listing is complete, current, and materially accurate. A guest should receive what was represented at the time of booking.

Core Accuracy Rules

Each listing must:

• Match the actual property offered for stay
• Accurately identify whether the booking is for an entire place, private room, shared room, or other accommodation type
• State the exact number of bedrooms, beds, and bathrooms available to guests
• Describe amenities that are actually available and functional
• Disclose material limitations, restrictions, or quirks that could affect a guest’s decision to book
• Reflect current furnishings, layout, and condition

Hosts may not use misleading descriptions, materially edited photos that misrepresent the space, or promotional language that creates false expectations.

Photos Must Reflect Current Reality

All photos must truthfully depict the current condition of the property. Hosts must upload authentic photos taken within 90 days before the listing goes live, or within 90 days after any material change to the property, including renovation, damage, major furniture replacement, pool closure, construction impacts, or amenity changes.

Palmabook may request refreshed photos or suspend a listing until updated materials are provided if we believe the listing no longer reflects reality.

Bedroom and Bathroom Counts

Hosts must state bedroom and bathroom counts exactly. A host may not describe a living room sofa as a separate bedroom unless it is a legally usable and clearly enclosed sleeping space that a reasonable guest would understand to be a bedroom.

Bathroom disclosures must accurately state whether bathrooms are private, shared, half-bath, or full-bath.

Amenities Must Be Actually Provided

Hosts may advertise only amenities that are available to guests during the booked stay. If an amenity is seasonal, shared, intermittently unavailable, or subject to restrictions, that must be disclosed clearly in the listing.

Examples include:

• Pool access subject to hours or maintenance
• Shared parking with limited spaces
• Wi-Fi available only in certain areas
• Air conditioning available only in bedrooms
• Hot water limitations
• Kitchen access restrictions

Location Accuracy

The property location must be truthfully represented. While Palmabook may limit exact address visibility before booking for safety reasons, the listing must place the property within 500 meters of the stated neighborhood or area name.

Hosts may not market a listing as being in a more desirable neighborhood, beachfront zone, resort district, or landmark area if it is materially farther away.

Cleanliness

Every property must be cleaned to hotel-grade standards before guest arrival. Cleanliness is one of the most important factors in guest trust, health, and satisfaction.

Minimum Cleanliness Standard

At check-in, the property must be free from:

• Visible dirt, dust, hair, mold, mildew, pests, or strong unpleasant odors
• Used linens or towels from prior occupants
• Food waste, trash, or overflowing bins
• Stained bedding or upholstery presented as clean
• Dirty dishes, cookware, or utensils
• Bathroom residue, soap buildup, or unclean toilets and showers

Five-Step Enhanced Cleaning Protocol

Palmabook requires hosts to follow this five-step protocol between stays:

Ventilate

Open windows and doors where safe and practical, or otherwise air out the space to refresh indoor air before cleaning and guest arrival.

Sanitize High-Touch Surfaces

Clean and sanitize frequently touched surfaces, including door handles, light switches, remotes, appliance handles, countertops, keys, lockboxes, handrails, and bathroom fixtures.

Wash Linens at 60 Degrees

Wash bed linens, pillowcases, bath towels, kitchen towels, and similar washable fabrics at 60 degrees Celsius or the highest manufacturer-permitted setting that achieves effective hygiene without damaging the material.

Restock Consumables

Replace or replenish toilet paper, soap, trash liners, and other required consumables so the guest can begin the stay without immediately needing supplies.

Visual Inspection

Conduct a final walk-through to verify cleanliness, proper staging, functioning essentials, and overall readiness for arrival.

Third-Party Cleaners

Hosts may use professional cleaners, property managers, or third-party cleaning services. However, the host remains fully responsible for the condition of the property, the completeness of turnover, and compliance with these standards.

A host cannot avoid responsibility by blaming a cleaner, co-host, or building staff.

Communication

Prompt and reliable communication is required before booking, before arrival, during the stay, and in connection with any issue or complaint.

Response Time Commitment

Hosts must send a first response to guest messages:

• Within 1 hour during business hours
• Within 8 hours outside business hours

Business hours should be interpreted reasonably based on the property’s local time zone, but hosts must still maintain dependable coverage for urgent matters.

Booking Request Decisions

Hosts must accept or decline booking requests within 24 hours. Failure to respond within that period may result in automatic expiration, lower listing visibility, or account review.

Pre-Stay Instructions

Hosts must send check-in instructions at least 48 hours before arrival. Those instructions must be clear, practical, and sufficient for a guest to access the property without confusion.

Communication Quality

Host communications must be:

• Accurate
• Courteous
• Understandable
• Relevant to the booking
• Free from harassment, discrimination, threats, or coercive conduct

Hosts must promptly notify guests of any issue that may materially affect the stay, such as utility interruptions, maintenance work, access problems, overbooking risks, building construction, or amenity outages.

Check-in Experience

A successful stay starts with a reliable arrival process. Hosts must provide a check-in method that is secure, functional, and understandable.

Acceptable Check-in Methods

Hosts must offer at least one workable check-in method, such as:

• Smart lock
• Lockbox
• In-person meet and greet

If a property relies on concierge access, security desk processing, key handoff, or gated entry, the listing and pre-arrival instructions must explain the process clearly.

Access Instructions

Hosts must provide step-by-step access instructions, including photos where useful. Instructions should cover:

• Building entrance
• Parking access, if applicable
• Unit entry
• Key or code retrieval
• Wi-Fi details, if advertised
• Any timing restrictions or required identification

Local Contact Number

Hosts must provide a local or reachable support number for arrival issues and urgent stay-related concerns. This number must be monitored at check-in time.

Welcome Note

Hosts should provide a welcome note or short orientation message that confirms key property information, house rules, and how to get help. Palmabook may treat repeated failure to provide basic orientation as a quality issue if it contributes to guest confusion or complaints.

Essentials Required

Listings must include core stay essentials reasonably expected for short-term accommodations.

Required Essentials

Unless clearly disclosed otherwise and legally permitted, each property must provide:

• Clean bed linens for each sleeping space
• Clean towels appropriate to occupancy
• Toilet paper
• Hand soap or body soap
• Drinking water or a working water filtration option
• Coffee or tea
• Basic kitchen utensils when a kitchen is advertised
• Wi-Fi if advertised
• Heating or cooling appropriate to the local climate and season

If a kitchen is advertised, it must include the basic tools needed for ordinary use, such as plates, cups, cutlery, cookware, and food preparation items proportionate to occupancy.

If climate control is advertised, it must be functional and adequate for the location. A host may not advertise air conditioning, heating, or fan cooling that is broken, materially insufficient, or unavailable to the guest.

Safety Essentials

Hosts must provide core safety features and emergency information appropriate to the property.

Required Safety Items

Each listing must have:

• A working smoke detector
• A carbon monoxide detector where fuel-burning appliances exist or where otherwise legally required
• A fire extinguisher
• A first-aid kit
• Emergency instructions
• Posted emergency numbers

Hosts are responsible for ensuring that safety devices are installed, functional, maintained, and compliant with local law. Palmabook may request evidence of compliance where safety complaints arise.

Emergency Information

Emergency information should include:

• Local emergency services numbers
• Property address or how to identify location for responders
• Building evacuation guidance where relevant
• Contact instructions for urgent maintenance or safety issues

Hosts must promptly address reports of missing or non-functional safety devices.

Accessibility Disclosures

Palmabook encourages inclusive travel and requires accurate accessibility information.

Accurate Accessibility Claims

If a host advertises accessibility features, those claims must be truthful and specific. Common examples include:

• Step-free entry
• Wide doorways
• Accessible bathroom
• Grab bars

Hosts should describe the actual conditions rather than using vague labels such as “accessible” without detail.

Palmabook Verification

Palmabook does not independently verify structural accessibility features for every listing. However, we may flag, correct, remove, or suspend inaccurate accessibility claims if a host misrepresents a property.

Hosts must promptly update the listing if accessibility conditions change or if prior statements are inaccurate.

Pets and Smoking Policies

Hosts must clearly disclose whether pets are allowed and whether smoking is allowed anywhere on the property.

Pet Policies

If pets are permitted, the listing must clearly state:

• Whether all pets are allowed or only certain types or sizes
• Any pet fees
• Any area restrictions
• Any cleaning or supervision rules

Pet fees are allowed if clearly disclosed before booking.

Smoking Policies

Hosts must clearly state whether smoking, vaping, or cannabis use is prohibited, restricted to designated outdoor areas, or otherwise regulated at the property. Smoking restrictions may be enforced through the guest agreement, house rules, damage recovery process, and applicable law.

Hosts may not impose undisclosed smoking penalties after booking.

Review-Based Quality Signals

Palmabook uses guest feedback and performance metrics to maintain marketplace quality.

Rating Floor

Listings and hosts are expected to maintain an average guest rating of at least 4.2 stars.

Coaching Threshold

Hosts or listings falling below 4.2 stars may be placed into a coaching or performance improvement process. This may include listing review, required corrective steps, temporary visibility reduction, or operational guidance.

Suspension Threshold

Hosts or listings falling below 3.8 stars, or generating repeated serious complaints, may face temporary suspension pending review and remediation.

Appeals Process

Hosts may appeal a quality action by emailing partners@palmabook.com within 30 days of notice. Appeals should include the listing name, booking references where relevant, supporting evidence, and any corrective action already taken.

Palmabook will review appeals in good faith but retains sole discretion over marketplace access, ranking, and reinstatement decisions, subject to applicable law.

Photo Standards

High-quality, truthful photography is required to help guests make informed booking decisions.

Minimum Requirements

Each listing must include:

• At least 8 photos
• Minimum width of 1024 pixels per photo
• Horizontal orientation where practical
• A primary photo showing either the exterior or the main living area

Prohibited Photo Practices

Hosts may not use:

• Stock photos
• AI-generated images that do not depict the actual property
• Photos of a different property
• Watermarks containing third-party brands or confusing promotional overlays
• Excessive filters that materially alter color, size, brightness, view, or condition

Photos should cover bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, living area, exterior, and any major amenities such as pool, terrace, workspace, or beach access where advertised.

Price Accuracy

Pricing must be transparent and not misleading.

Displayed Price Requirements

The displayed booking price must include all mandatory fees other than optional cleaning charges and applicable taxes where those are shown separately in accordance with law and platform design.

Hosts may not introduce hidden mandatory charges at checkout, after booking, or at check-in.

Examples of fees that must be disclosed in advance include:

• Resort or building access fees
• Mandatory utility surcharges
• Required cleaning charges
• Mandatory pet charges
• Required extra-person charges
• Parking charges if parking is necessary to access the stay and not optional

Currency Accuracy

Palmabook will display pricing in the guest’s local or selected currency where possible. Hosts must maintain accurate base pricing and may not use misleading currency descriptions, dual pricing tactics, or offline side payments to circumvent platform transparency.

Consequences of Non-Compliance

Palmabook may take action when a host or listing does not meet these standards, creates guest risk, or damages marketplace trust.

Possible Actions

Depending on severity, frequency, and history, Palmabook may issue:

• Warning
• Mandatory coaching
• Listing edits or content removal
• Temporary listing suspension
• Account suspension
• Account termination

Palmabook may also pause payouts, restrict booking activity, remove search visibility, require updated documents or photos, or impose corrective conditions before reinstatement.

Serious Violations

Serious violations may result in immediate suspension or removal. These may include:

• Material misrepresentation of the property
• Safety hazards
• Repeated cleanliness failures
• Chronic non-responsiveness
• Hidden fees
• Discriminatory conduct
• Fraudulent reviews or manipulation
• False accessibility claims
• Repeated check-in failures
• Attempting to move bookings or payments off-platform in violation of Palmabook rules

Appeals

Hosts may appeal enforcement actions by emailing partners@palmabook.com within 30 days. Palmabook may request documents, photos, invoices, logs, cleaner reports, or other evidence relevant to the review.

Submitting an appeal does not guarantee reinstatement and does not pause emergency actions taken for guest safety, fraud prevention, or legal compliance.

Continuous Improvement

Palmabook views quality as an ongoing obligation, not a one-time checklist.

Host Education

Palmabook plans to provide quarterly host education emails covering guest expectations, safety updates, pricing transparency, review insights, operational best practices, and regulatory changes.

Photography Support

In a future phase of product development, Palmabook expects to launch a free or subsidized photography partnership for selected hosts and markets, beginning with priority destinations where visual consistency and listing quality are strategically important.

Recognition Program

Palmabook also expects to develop a performance recognition program similar to a Superhost-style framework in a future phase. Participation will likely depend on sustained ratings, low cancellation rates, reliable communication, low complaint volume, and strong operational consistency.

These future initiatives do not alter the binding nature of the standards on this page. Every host is expected to meet the required baseline standards regardless of eligibility for any optional program.

Reporting Issues

Guests, hosts, and partners may report quality concerns, listing inaccuracies, safety issues, or repeated standards violations by contacting partners@palmabook.com.

Legal or regulatory notices may be directed to partners@palmabook.com.

Palmabook may update these Quality Standards from time to time to reflect marketplace learnings, legal requirements, safety guidance, product changes, and regional operating needs. Continued use of palmabook.com after an update constitutes acceptance to the extent permitted by applicable law.