Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the NoteWander platform, operated by NoteWander LLC, 7305 Pioneer Hwy, Stanwood, WA 98292, USA ("NoteWander", "we", "us"), including our website, mobile apps and related services (the "Platform"). By creating an account, or by accessing or using the Platform, you agree to these Terms and to the policies they refer to (Cancellation Policy, Refund Policy, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy). If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.

You must be at least 16 years old to use NoteWander and at least 18 to make bookings or purchase services. You may not use NoteWander if you are on a US, EU, UK or UN sanctions list or located in a country or territory under comprehensive sanctions.

You can browse public content without an account. To do this we create a temporary, anonymous session on your device that carries no name or email address. These Terms apply to that use. You need an account to post, comment, like, message, join, save content or book. Features available without an account, such as the AI trip planner in the app, are covered by AI Features below.

NoteWander is a technology platform. We do not operate, manage, control, supervise or endorse any services offered by guides. Experiences are provided by guides directly to you.

Guides are independent providers, not employees, agents or representatives of NoteWander. NoteWander is not a party to any agreement between you and a guide and, to the maximum extent permitted by law, is not responsible for the acts, errors, omissions, representations, negligence or misconduct of any user or guide.

NoteWander collects your payment as the guide's limited payment collection agent: your payment to NoteWander counts as payment to the guide. If a guide lets you down, the Problems With Your Guide section of the Refund Policy says what you can claim and how.

Who you contract with. Each experience is offered by the guide, not by NoteWander. Guides may be businesses or private individuals. Where a guide is not acting as a business (a "trader"), EU and UK consumer-protection rules for contracts with businesses may not apply to your contract with them, although these Terms and our Cancellation and Refund Policies still do. NoteWander is responsible for the Platform, payment collection and its refund commitments; the guide is responsible for the experience.

Ranking. How results are ordered is explained in How Listings Are Ordered and Labelled.

Withdrawal. Under EU and UK law the 14-day right of withdrawal does not apply to leisure services booked for a specific date or period. Your cancellation rights are those in our Cancellation Policy.

Your rights. Nothing in these Terms removes rights you have under the mandatory consumer law of the country where you live.

Some guides complete identity verification through an independent provider (Persona or Stripe Identity). A Verified badge means the guide's identity was confirmed and, if NoteWander ran a background check, the result was clear. Guides without the badge do not currently hold it: they have not completed verification, their verification is pending, or a background check did not come back clear. See the Guide Verification Policy.

Verification is not an endorsement, and not a guarantee of anyone's conduct, qualifications, or the quality or safety of their services. Use your own judgement: communicate and pay through NoteWander, read reviews, share your plans with someone you trust, and treat guides and fellow travellers with respect.

You agree to provide accurate information, keep your account secure, and use NoteWander lawfully and respectfully. You must not: post illegal, infringing, hateful, harassing, sexually explicit or violent content; impersonate anyone; send spam or scams; arrange or pay for a booking outside NoteWander for a service found here; write fake or paid reviews; scrape, copy or overload the Platform; or try to get around our security, limits or moderation.

Bookings are paid through Stripe when you confirm a booking; for bookings that need the guide's approval, your card is only authorised until the guide approves. The amount shown at checkout is the full amount you pay; NoteWander's service fee is charged to the guide, not to you. Cancellations, refunds and rescheduling are governed by our Cancellation Policy and Refund Policy, which form part of these Terms and are shown before you pay. Refunds go back to the original payment method.

Guides set their prices in US dollars and every booking is charged in US dollars. A price shown in another currency is an estimate, converted with exchange rates published daily by a third-party rate service, and is not the amount charged. Your bank or card issuer may convert the charge at its own rate and may add a foreign-transaction fee; NoteWander receives no part of it. Refunds are made in US dollars, so the amount that reaches you in your currency may differ from the original charge.

Only a traveller who completed a booking can review that guide, once per booking. You can edit your review for 5 days. Reviews must reflect your own experience. NoteWander does not pay for reviews or edit what they say, but may remove a review that breaks these Terms or the law, and will tell the author why. Guides may not offer anything in return for a review.

You keep ownership of the photos, videos, text and other content you post. So that NoteWander can operate, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, resize, translate, display and share that content on the Platform and in the places you choose to share it (for example a link to your post), for as long as it remains on NoteWander and for a reasonable time afterwards in backups. You are responsible for having the rights to what you post. Documents in your Travel Wallet are private to you and are not covered by this licence.

Rules. Content must follow these Terms, including User Responsibilities and Prohibited Conduct. We may remove content, limit who can see it, or restrict accounts that break them.

Automated tools. When you publish a post, reel or community post, it is checked automatically by an AI moderation service (currently from OpenAI) for content such as sexual content, violence, hate, harassment or self-harm, and by an AI check of whether it relates to travel. Content flagged as harmful is hidden from others until a person reviews it; you can still see it. Content flagged as off-topic is sent to a person for review. People at NoteWander review flagged content; they do not read your messages otherwise, except to handle a report you or someone else makes, or where the law requires.

Review. If we remove or restrict your content or account, you can ask for a review through the Appeals page; a person will look at it.

Reporting. You can report content or accounts from the app or website, or by emailing support@notewander.com. To report content you believe is illegal under EU law, include where it is, why you believe it is illegal, your name and email (not required for reports of child sexual abuse material), and a statement that your report is accurate. We will confirm receipt and tell you our decision.

Points of contact. For users and for authorities in the EU, our point of contact is legal@notewander.com (in English).

NoteWander may automatically translate content written by other users (such as posts, comments, reviews, profiles and listings) into your language, using automated and AI translation services, including services provided by third parties. Translations can be inaccurate or incomplete. Use "Show original" where available; the original text controls. Before relying on translated booking details, such as a meeting point, time or what is included, confirm them with your guide.

Some features use artificial intelligence, including the AI trip planner and the support assistant. AI-generated itineraries are suggestions, not bookings or guarantees: places, opening hours, prices, travel times, entry rules and safety conditions can be wrong or out of date, and you should confirm them before you travel. NoteWander does not book or guarantee any place or service in an AI itinerary unless you book it through NoteWander. The support assistant is an AI system; it can make mistakes, and you can ask for a person at any time. AI features have usage limits that we may change. Do not include sensitive personal information in AI requests.

Search and browse results are ordered mainly by relevance to your destination and location (the city or country of your next trip, and where you live), reviews and ratings (weighted by how many there are), how quickly the guide responds to requests, whether the guide is verified, how well the price fits what you usually book, matching interests, and availability (a guide in vacation mode ranks lower). Guides cannot pay to rank higher. Promotions are shown with a label. The Verified badge is explained in the Guide Verification Policy; a badge does not mean NoteWander has inspected or endorses a guide.

Every account has a personal invite link and code. If someone signs up through your link, or enters your code within 14 days of signing up and before their first booking, they receive a US$10 welcome reward, and you receive a US$10 reward once their first completed guide booking of US$30 or more has passed 3 days without a reported problem.

Rewards are paid as a refund of up to US$10 to the card used for a completed guide booking of US$30 or more (the amount actually paid, after any promotion), 3 days after it ends, provided no problem was reported and the booking was not otherwise refunded. Rewards expire 12 months after they are issued, have no cash value, cannot be transferred or combined on one booking, and are limited to one welcome reward per person and per payment card and 20 invite rewards per account per year.

If the link belongs to a guide, the traveller's bookings with that guide carry no platform fee for the guide, and the traveller's welcome reward can be used only on a booking with a different guide. NoteWander may withhold, cancel or reclaim rewards obtained through fake or duplicate accounts, self-referral or other abuse, and may change or end the programme at any time; rewards already earned remain valid until they expire.

NoteWander Perks lists independent local businesses that offer a discount to travellers who show a valid NoteWander pass. Each offer is made by the business itself, not by NoteWander. NoteWander does not sell, guarantee or pay for these offers, is not a party to your purchase, and is not responsible for the business's products, services or conduct. Businesses may change or end an offer at any time. Whoever submits a business confirms that the business agreed to the listed offer and to being listed. NoteWander reviews submissions before publishing them and may edit, pause or remove any listing.

Some offers in NoteWander, such as eSIMs, travel insurance, hotels, flights and transfers, link to third-party partners. NoteWander may earn a commission when you buy through these links, at no extra cost to you. Purchases are made directly with the partner under the partner's terms and privacy policy, and the partner, not NoteWander, is responsible for its products and services.

Travel, outdoor and experiential activities involve inherent risks, including injury, illness, property damage or death. To the extent permitted by law, you voluntarily accept the risks inherent in the activities you choose. This does not cover harm caused by someone's negligence where the law does not allow such risks to be accepted in advance. The booking price does not include insurance; we recommend travel and medical insurance that covers the activities you book.

NoteWander is provided "as is" and "as available". To the extent permitted by law, we make no warranties, express or implied, about the safety, quality, legality or suitability of services, the conduct of users or guides, or the availability or reliability of the Platform. Some jurisdictions do not allow these exclusions, so they may not apply to you.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, NoteWander is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or loss of profits, data or business opportunities, and NoteWander's total liability to you is limited to the greater of the amounts you paid through NoteWander in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or US$100.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for gross negligence, wilful misconduct or fraud, or any other liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law, including your rights as a consumer under mandatory law.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless NoteWander, its owners, employees, contractors and affiliates from claims, damages, losses, liabilities and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your breach of these Terms, your violation of law or of someone else's rights, or your content. This does not apply to consumers in the EU or UK except to the extent their law allows.

You can delete your account at any time from Settings. We may suspend or terminate your account, or restrict features, for breach of these Terms, for safety, fraud or legal reasons, or if required by law. We will tell you the reason unless the law or a safety concern prevents it, and you can appeal through the Appeals page.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. If you are a consumer living in the EU, the UK or another country whose law gives you that right, you keep the protection of the mandatory law of your country and may bring proceedings in your local courts.

Before starting a claim, please contact us at legal@notewander.com so we can try to resolve it; both sides will negotiate in good faith for 30 days.

Otherwise, disputes will be resolved exclusively in the courts located in Washington State.

NoteWander is operated by NoteWander LLC, 7305 Pioneer Hwy, Stanwood, WA 98292, USA. Legal notices: legal@notewander.com.

We may update these Terms. For material changes we will give at least 15 days' notice by email or in the app before they take effect, unless a change is needed sooner for legal or safety reasons. If you do not agree, you can stop using NoteWander and delete your account. Continuing to use NoteWander after a change takes effect means you accept it. Changes never apply to bookings already paid.