About
A booking system built in Whitby.
One person, on the North Yorkshire coast, building the booking system the places around here were paying an agency fifteen per cent for.
Coble is run by one person on the North Yorkshire coast. It exists because the places around here — cottages, rooms over pubs, a hall people hire for birthdays — hand fifteen to eighteen per cent of every booking to a website that has never been to Whitby.
A coble is the boat this coast has used for a thousand years: flat-bottomed so it can be launched straight off the beach where there is no harbour. It seemed the right thing to name it after. Small, local, and built for the conditions rather than bought in from somewhere else.
When you book through here, the money goes to the property's own account. It does not pass through Coble on the way and Coble could not hold it if it wanted to.
What this will not do
- Sell your details
- Guest details belong to the property you booked with. They are not sold, not shared with advertisers, and not used to build a profile of you.
- Add a fee at the last step
- The price on the calendar is the price on the card. Any charge a property makes — a cleaning fee, a dog — is in the total before you reach the payment page.
- Hold your money
- Payments go directly to the property through Stripe. Coble is not in the middle of the transaction and never has your money.
- Keep your details forever
- Guest records are cleared automatically once a stay is long past. You can ask a property for a copy of what it holds about you, or to delete it.
Who you are dealing with
- How a place gets onto the list
- An owner cannot put themselves here. Each place is looked at by a person at Coble before it is switched on, and can be taken off again. Every owner gives their own name and address, which are on their page before you pay.
- Who takes your money
- The owner, through Stripe, into their own account. Stripe checks who an owner is and where their bank account is before it will pay them anything.
- What Coble does not do
- It does not inspect the places, and it is not a party to your booking: that is between you and the owner. The reviews are from guests who booked and stayed, and an owner cannot remove one.
- If something goes wrong
- Speak to the owner first: they are the one who can put it right, and their details are on their page and in your confirmation. If an owner cancels, you are owed your money back in full. If you cannot settle it with them, write to us: we will help you reach them, and we can take a place off the list. And because you paid by card, your card provider can be asked to recover a payment for something you did not get.
Getting in touch
- About a place, or your booking
- Ask the people who own it. Their name, address and telephone number are on the place’s own page and in your confirmation email, and every place is listed here. Your booking is with them, so they are the ones who can change it.
- About Coble
- The address to write to is on the legal page.
If you let somewhere
Coble is the booking system behind every property listed here. It costs from £15 a month and takes no commission.