Terms of Service

The BukNau platform (buknau.com, related apps and services, “BukNau”, “we”, “us”) is operated by BukNau Holdings Limited, a company registered in Hong Kong. These terms are an agreement between you and BukNau Holdings Limited.

You accept these terms when you create an account, reserve a booking, request a quote, or otherwise use BukNau. If you use BukNau on behalf of an organisation, you also confirm you are authorised to bind it, and section 12 applies.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your personal information and forms part of these terms.

BukNau is an online marketplace. Independent tourism businesses (“operators”) list what they offer, with their own prices and availability, and you book with them through the platform.

BukNau is not a travel agent, tour operator, accommodation provider, transport company or payment processor. When you book, your contract for the service is formed directly between you and the operator, at the price shown. We are not a party to that contract, we do not act as agent for either side, and we do not provide, own, manage, inspect or control any listed service.

Some pages list businesses compiled from public sources that have not joined BukNau. Those pages are clearly marked, cannot be booked here, and any contact you make with such a business is outside these terms.

You must be at least 18 to hold an account or make a booking. Keep your details accurate and your sign-in method secure. Anything done from your account is treated as done by you.

Phones are often shared. Sign out when you finish on a device that is not yours. A trip started on a device is cleared when you sign out, and we may clear it after a period of inactivity.

Some services need documents before an operator can confirm them, for example a driver’s licence for self-drive hire or a passport for certain travel. Documents you add are shared only with the operator for that booking. Providing false documents or details is grounds for cancellation and closure of your account.

Every price on BukNau is set by the operator and shown before you reserve, including taxes, deposits and any extras you choose. The total you see on the review screen is the total you are asked to pay.

Prices and availability are live and can change until you reserve. A quote you download or share is a snapshot of prices and availability at the moment it was issued, for the validity period printed on it. A quote holds no dates, is not a price guarantee, and creates no booking; when you go on to book, the current price is shown to you before you reserve. A quote from BukNau does not, by itself, satisfy any procurement rule that requires quotes from several suppliers.

Where a price is shown in a currency other than the operator’s own, the operator’s currency and amount are also shown. The amount you transfer is the amount in the operator’s currency.

When you reserve, the operator’s dates are held for you and a booking reference is issued. Your booking page shows the amount to transfer, the operator’s bank account, your reference, and the time by which payment must be made (the “payment window”). The payment window is shown on the booking page and in the confirmation email; it is not stated here because it is set per booking.

Payment is by bank transfer from you directly to the operator’s account shown on your booking page. BukNau does not receive, hold or process your money and is not a payment processor. Pay only to the account shown on your BukNau booking page, never to details sent by email, chat or phone, and keep your bank’s receipt.

After you transfer, enter your bank’s receipt or transfer reference on the booking page so the operator can find the payment. The booking is confirmed when the operator confirms receipt of the full amount. Until then the booking is reserved, not confirmed, and no contract for the service exists.

If the full amount is not received within the payment window, the hold is released and the dates become available to others. If you paid late or paid a different amount, contact the operator through your booking page; whether to honour the booking is then the operator’s decision.

A deposit shown on a booking is security held by the operator against damage or loss, not part of the price. How and when it is returned is stated on the booking page and is the operator’s responsibility.

Each operator sets its own cancellation policy. The policy that applies to your booking is shown before you pay and on your booking page, including the date until which you can cancel free of charge.

You can cancel a reserved, unpaid booking from your booking page at any time before payment, at no cost. Cancelling a paid booking is governed by the operator’s policy; where a refund is due, it is paid by the operator directly to a bank account you provide, and the booking page records the refund as owed until the operator marks it sent and you confirm receipt.

If you do not arrive for a booking and have not cancelled, the operator may record it as a no-show. A no-show is not refundable unless the operator’s policy says otherwise; any deposit is returned.

If an operator cancels a confirmed booking, the operator must refund everything you paid. BukNau will help you follow up but does not pay refunds on operators’ behalf.

Listings, photos, prices and descriptions are supplied by operators. We carry out basic onboarding checks, such as business details, bank details and taxpayer identification, and we mark reviews that come from confirmed bookings. A listing on BukNau, a “verified” mark or a rating is not an endorsement, inspection or guarantee of any operator or service.

You are responsible for satisfying yourself before you pay and before you travel: research the operator, read what other travellers say, confirm anything important with the operator through your booking page, and check current travel, health, weather and security conditions for your destination. Travel in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands can involve remote areas, limited infrastructure and changing conditions. We strongly recommend travel insurance.

If something goes wrong, contact the operator first through your booking page; most problems are solved there. If the operator does not respond or you cannot agree, contact us at support@buknau.com with your booking reference and we will help both sides work towards a resolution. We can record refunds, cancellations and outcomes against a booking, but we do not decide disputes between you and an operator and we cannot compel an operator to pay.

We work to keep BukNau accurate, secure and available, but the platform is provided “as is”. To the fullest extent permitted by law, BukNau Holdings Limited is not liable for: the acts or omissions of any operator; the quality, safety, legality or availability of any service; injury, loss, damage, delay or expense arising from a service or from travel generally; an operator’s failure to honour, confirm or refund a booking; or errors in content supplied by operators.

Where liability cannot lawfully be excluded, our total liability to you in connection with the platform is limited to the greater of the fees you have paid to BukNau Holdings Limited (not amounts paid to operators) in the 12 months before the claim, or PGK 250.

Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under the consumer protection laws of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands or your home country that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Reviews are invited after confirmed bookings and must be honest and based on your own experience. Messages to operators must be lawful and respectful. By posting content you give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display it on the platform for as long as it is published. We may remove content that is false, unlawful, abusive or unrelated to a booking.

The details you provide for a booking, including guest names and any document a service requires, are shared with the operator for that booking and used by us to run the platform. Operators may use your details only to deliver the booked service. How we collect, use and protect your information is set out in our Privacy Policy.

If your account belongs to a work organisation on BukNau, bookings you make can be arranged for or billed to that organisation according to its settings. The organisation is responsible for bookings made by its members, for paying its invoices, and for any purchase order it submits. Where an operator has agreed credit terms with your organisation, the operator’s invoice and the organisation’s payment are between them; these terms do not make BukNau a party to that credit.

An organisation’s administrators can see the trips its members arrange for work. Personal trips on a work account are not shared with the organisation.

Keep your information accurate, pay what you commit to, and treat operators and their teams with respect. We may suspend or close accounts used fraudulently, abusively, to circumvent operators’ policies, or in breach of these terms or the law.

You can close your account at any time from your account page. Closing your account does not cancel bookings you have already made; operators keep the commercial record the law requires, with your identifying details removed from the platform copy as described in the Privacy Policy.

We may update these terms as the platform develops. Each version carries the date shown above. When a new version applies, we will ask you to accept it the next time you sign in; continuing to use BukNau after that means you accept it. Bookings already made are governed by the terms in force when you reserved.

These terms are governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the courts of Hong Kong have non-exclusive jurisdiction, without limiting any mandatory consumer protection that applies to you in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands or your home country. If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.

BukNau Holdings Limited · support@buknau.com. Questions about these terms, a booking or an operator: write to us and we will help where we can.