Terms of Service

1. Definitions

• "Seatly", "we", "us", "our" refers to Seatly (Pty) Ltd, a company registered in South Africa.
• "Platform" means the Seatly website (seatly.co.za), venue portal (portal.seatly.co.za), WhatsApp booking assistant, and all related APIs and services.
• "Venue" means a restaurant, bar, or hospitality business that has registered an account on the Seatly venue portal.
• "Guest" means any individual who interacts with the Seatly booking assistant via WhatsApp or other supported messaging channels to make, modify, or cancel a reservation.
• "User" means any Venue or Guest who accesses or uses the Platform.

2. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, you must not use the Platform. For Venues, acceptance occurs upon registration. For Guests, acceptance occurs upon sending a message to the Seatly WhatsApp booking assistant.

3. Description of Service

Seatly provides an AI-powered restaurant reservation platform. The service includes:

• A WhatsApp-based booking assistant that allows Guests to make, modify, and cancel restaurant reservations through natural conversation.
• A venue management portal for Venues to manage tables, bookings, opening hours, menus, and settings.
• Automated booking confirmations, reminders, and payment processing where configured by the Venue.

Seatly acts as an intermediary between Guests and Venues. We facilitate the booking process but do not operate, manage, or control the Venues themselves.

4. Venue Accounts

• Venues must provide accurate business information during registration.
• Venue account holders are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their login credentials.
• Venues are responsible for keeping their availability, opening hours, table configurations, and menu information up to date on the Platform.
• Seatly reserves the right to suspend or terminate a Venue account that violates these Terms or engages in fraudulent activity.

5. Guest Use

• Guests interact with the Platform via WhatsApp. No separate account registration is required.
• Guests must provide accurate personal information (name, phone number) when making a reservation.
• Guests agree not to misuse the Platform, including making fraudulent bookings, providing false information, or harassing venue staff through the booking assistant.

6. Payments and Deposits

• Certain Venues may require an upfront deposit or pre-payment to secure a booking. This is configured by the Venue and clearly communicated to the Guest during the booking process.
• Payments are processed via third-party payment providers (currently Yoco). Seatly does not store credit card details.
• Deposits are paid directly to the Venue's payment account. Seatly does not hold, escrow, or intermediate these funds.
• Refund policies are determined by each Venue. Guests should contact the Venue directly for refund requests.

7. Venue Billing

• Venues are billed according to their selected plan (Starter, Growth, or Pro) as described on the Pricing page.
• Seatly reserves the right to modify pricing with 30 days' written notice (delivered by email to the Venue's registered contact address and/or via a notice in the Venue Portal). Continued use of the Platform after the notice period takes effect constitutes binding acceptance of the new pricing. Venues who do not accept the new pricing may cancel their subscription at any time before the new pricing takes effect with no further obligation beyond fees already accrued; no early-termination penalty applies.
• Without limiting the above, Seatly may pass through, at any time and with 30 days' written notice, any material increase in third-party costs that affect the Platform — including but not limited to AI inference costs charged by underlying language-model providers, WhatsApp Business messaging fees, payment-processor fees, hosting costs, and adverse movements in the ZAR/USD exchange rate that materially affect the cost of providing the Service.
• Where a Venue is on a time-bound promotional or discount plan (for example, a discount code that fixes pricing for a defined number of months), the agreed pricing for the promotional period will be honoured for the remainder of that period and any price modification under this section will only take effect on or after the promotional period ends.
• Unpaid invoices may result in suspension of the Venue's account and associated booking services.

8. AI-Generated Responses

The Seatly booking assistant uses artificial intelligence (powered by Anthropic's Claude) to facilitate conversations with Guests. While we strive for accuracy:

• AI-generated responses may occasionally contain errors or misunderstand a Guest's request.
• Bookings are only confirmed when processed through our booking system — conversational statements by the AI do not constitute a binding reservation.
• Seatly is not liable for any losses arising from AI misinterpretation, incorrect availability information, or communication errors during the booking process.

9. WhatsApp and Third-Party Services

The Platform operates via WhatsApp, provided by Meta Platforms, Inc. By using the Seatly booking assistant:

• You acknowledge that your messages are transmitted through WhatsApp's infrastructure and are subject to WhatsApp's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
• Seatly is not responsible for WhatsApp service availability, outages, or changes to WhatsApp's platform or policies.
• We may use additional third-party services (payment processors, hosting providers, email services) as described in our Privacy Policy.

10. Intellectual Property

• All content, software, designs, and trademarks on the Platform are the property of Seatly (Pty) Ltd unless otherwise stated.
• Venues retain ownership of their business information, menus, and branding uploaded to the Platform.
• Users may not copy, modify, distribute, or reverse-engineer any part of the Platform without prior written consent.

11. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the Platform for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable laws.
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the Platform or its underlying systems.
• Transmit spam, malware, or any harmful content through the Platform.
• Interfere with or disrupt the operation of the Platform or the experience of other Users.
• Scrape, crawl, or harvest data from the Platform without prior written consent.

12. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by South African law:

• Seatly provides the Platform on an "as is" and "as available" basis without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. Use of the Platform is at the User's sole risk.
• Seatly does not guarantee uninterrupted, error-free, or continuous availability of the Platform. Downtime may occur due to maintenance, third-party service failures, or circumstances beyond our control. Seatly is not liable for any losses arising from unavailability of the Platform.
• Seatly is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of or inability to use the Platform.
• Without limiting the above, Seatly is expressly not liable for any loss of revenue, loss of income, loss of bookings, loss of profits, or loss of business opportunity — whether arising from Platform downtime, system errors, AI failures, missed or incorrect bookings, or any other cause, even if Seatly has been advised of the possibility of such loss.
• Seatly is not liable for any disputes between Guests and Venues, including but not limited to no-shows, cancellations, service quality, or refund disputes.

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Seatly (Pty) Ltd, its directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including legal fees) arising from your use of the Platform, your violation of these Terms, or your infringement of any third-party rights.

14. Termination

• Venues may terminate their account at any time by contacting us at support@seatly.co.za. Outstanding fees remain payable.
• Guests may stop using the Platform at any time by ceasing to send messages to the booking assistant. Guest data deletion requests can be made via privacy@seatly.co.za as described in our Privacy Policy.
• Seatly may suspend or terminate access to the Platform at any time, with or without cause, upon reasonable notice where practicable.

15. Modifications to Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated to Venues via email. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates the most recent revision. Continued use of the Platform after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

16. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

• These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa.
• Any disputes arising from these Terms shall first be submitted to mediation. If mediation fails, the dispute shall be submitted to the jurisdiction of the courts of the Republic of South Africa.

17. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

18. Contact

For questions about these Terms, contact us at:

• Email: support@seatly.co.za
• Information Officer: Ken Walton — privacy@seatly.co.za