These terms govern your use of Ko Villas. They matter most in three places: what Ko is and is not responsible for, what happens when you commit money, and what is not allowed in a house you find through Ko.
We don't host villas. We give you the tools. Ko is software that helps people find where their paths cross and fill a house together. We do not own, rent, inspect, manage or run any property, and we are not a party to your agreement with a host or with the other people in your house. Each host chooses one of three payment models: Ko collects, booking fee or trust mode. The Payment Terms explain each one. Nobody pays anything until a house fills, and once a Ko collects charge is made the room price is not refunded if you change your mind. Living with people you have not met carries risk, and you accept that risk when you book. Illegal conduct, violence and non-consensual behaviour result in immediate removal and, where appropriate, referral to law enforcement.
These Terms of Service form a binding agreement between you and We Sell Things LLC, a Wyoming limited liability company that operates Ko Villas, formerly called Flok ("Ko", "we", "us"). Ko Villas includes ko.villas, flok.global and the Ko Villas mobile applications (the "Platform").
By creating an account you accept these Terms, the Community Standards, the Payment Terms and the Privacy Policy. If you open a house as its host (an "Operator") you also accept the Operator Terms. Together these are the "Agreement".
You must be at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering contracts. You must not be barred from using the Platform under any applicable law, and you must not be subject to sanctions or on any prohibited-parties list.
If you accept on behalf of a company, you warrant that you have authority to bind it.
Ko is a tools provider. We do not host, own or operate villas. We publish houses that hosts list, help people whose travel plans overlap find each other, and give a group the tools to commit to a house together. Depending on the payment model the host chooses, we also coordinate card holds and charges through Stripe. That is the entirety of our role.
When you book a place through Ko, the agreement is between you and the Operator, and in shared-living arrangements also between you and the other residents. Ko is not a party to that agreement, does not sign it, and has no obligations under it. In the booking-fee and trust models, Ko is also not a party to the payment of rent: you pay the host directly.
Ko is not, and does not act as, any of the following:
We do not own, lease, occupy, inspect, maintain, staff, clean, secure or supervise any property listed on the Platform. We do not verify that a property is safe, lawful, habitable, insured, correctly described or fit for any purpose. Listings, photographs, descriptions and house rules are content created by users, and we do not adopt or endorse them.
Operators are independent third parties. They control their own properties, set their own prices and rules, choose who to accept, and are solely responsible for their own conduct, their staff and contractors, and their compliance with law. Nothing on the Platform creates an employment, agency, franchise or partnership relationship between Ko and any Operator.
You must provide accurate information and keep it current. You may hold one account. You are responsible for everything that happens under your account and for keeping your credentials secure.
You must not create an account if you have previously been removed from the Platform, impersonate anyone, use another person's identity or payment method, or create an account on behalf of someone who is barred.
Tell us immediately at [email protected] if you believe your account has been compromised.
Some users complete identity verification with a third-party provider. Operators who use Ko collects complete identity and bank verification with Stripe before they can receive payouts.
Verification confirms that a person's stated identity matches a document and, for Operators, that a payout account exists. It is not a criminal-record check, background check, character assessment, or safety screening of any kind. A verified badge means only that an identity check was completed. It is not a statement by Ko that a person is safe, honest, suitable to live with, or free of any history. You must exercise your own judgement about every person you meet through Ko.
We may, but are not obliged to, screen users, listings or content. Any screening we do choose to perform is limited, discretionary and does not create a duty to perform it in future or to any standard.
A host opens a house for set dates, with rooms, prices, a minimum amount the house has to reach, a deadline, and one of three payment models. Users ask to join, and the host decides whom to approve. Approved users pick a room, which costs nothing. The house fills when the room prices committed to reach the host's minimum before the deadline. Only then does anyone pay, as the Payment Terms describe for that house's model.
If the minimum is not reached by the deadline, the house closes. No card is charged, no fee is taken, and nobody owes anything through Ko. Ko does not issue credit when a house does not fill.
Operators may accept or decline any request at their discretion, provided they do not discriminate on any ground protected by applicable law. Ko does not guarantee that any request will be accepted.
Where a room is shared, you may be allocated a roommate. The price you commit to is fixed when you commit. You will never be charged more through Ko than the price you expressly agreed to.
Payments are governed by the Payment Terms, which form part of this Agreement. The essential points:
You agree that these terms are a fundamental part of how group housing is made possible: other people commit their own money and change their plans in reliance on your commitment.
The Community Standards form part of this Agreement and set out what is prohibited, including illegal activity, controlled substances, violence, threats, weapons, sexual misconduct, harassment, discrimination and unauthorised recording.
Breach of the Community Standards may result in immediate removal from a property, permanent account termination without refund, and referral to law enforcement.
Ko exists to put people who do not know each other into the same home. That is the product, and it carries risk that cannot be removed by software.
You acknowledge and voluntarily assume all risks arising from your use of the Platform, including:
You are responsible for your own safety, your own belongings, your own insurance and your own decisions about whom to live with. If you feel unsafe, leave and contact local emergency services.
If you are a resident of a jurisdiction whose law limits general releases of unknown claims, you waive the benefit of that limitation to the fullest extent permitted.
Nothing in this section limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including liability for death or personal injury caused by our own negligence, for our own fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that applicable law does not permit us to exclude.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Ko and its officers, directors, employees and agents from any claim, liability, loss, damage, penalty, fine, cost or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from or relating to:
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so parts of this section may not apply to you. Where a warranty cannot lawfully be excluded, its duration is limited to the shortest period permitted by law.
These limits apply even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose. Nothing in this section excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.
Consequential loss is specifically excluded. If a booking fails you may receive a refund as the Payment Terms describe. We are not responsible for flights, visas, time off work, alternative accommodation, or any other cost you incurred in reliance on a booking. This is why we ask you not to book travel until an Operator's lease has been verified.
You retain ownership of the photographs, text and other content you submit. You grant Ko a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt, display and distribute that content for the purpose of operating, improving and promoting the Platform.
You warrant that you own or have the rights to everything you submit, that it does not infringe anyone's rights, and that any person identifiable in a photograph has consented to its use.
We may remove content at our discretion. We are not obliged to monitor content, and we are not responsible for content submitted by others.
Ratings you give other users are private and are used only in aggregate. They are your own opinion and must be given in good faith. Do not submit ratings that are dishonest, retaliatory, or intended to extort another user.
Ko does not verify statements made by users about each other and is not responsible for them. Aggregate reputation is informational only and is not a warranty of any person's character or conduct.
Ko uses automated systems, including machine-learning models, to suggest people you may get on with, to explain why a suggestion was made, to rank listings, to detect fraud and abuse, and to help moderate content.
Matching draws on information you provide or generate: your profile, stated interests and work, the cities and date ranges you declare, networks and stays you have been part of, and activity such as events attended and milestones completed. It does not use special-category data unless you have voluntarily published it in your profile.
A match is a suggestion for you to evaluate. It has no legal effect, does not grant or deny access to anything, and does not determine whether an Operator accepts you. Operators make their own decisions. Match explanations are generated automatically and may be incomplete or wrong.
Fraud, safety and abuse detection cannot be turned off, because it protects other users. Where such a system results in restriction of your account, you may request human review.
Ko is built around where people are and where they are going, so location is central to the service. What we collect and who sees it is set out in the Privacy Policy. In summary:
We do not sell location data. We do not track your continuous movement in the background.
You may close your account at any time. Closing your account does not entitle you to a refund and does not release you from obligations already incurred, including a stay you have paid for.
We may suspend or terminate your account, remove content, cancel bookings, or restrict access immediately and without notice if we believe in good faith that you have breached this Agreement or the Community Standards, that you present a risk to any person, that you have provided false information, or that doing so is necessary to comply with law or protect Ko or its users.
Where we terminate for breach of the Community Standards, no refund is due, and we may notify affected Operators and residents that you have been removed.
Disputes about a stay are between you and the Operator or other residents. In a Ko collects house, Ko provides an in-app way to flag a problem and may make a determination that binds funds not yet paid out to the host. That determination is a service we provide, not an adjudication of legal rights, and it does not prevent you pursuing other remedies.
Disputes must be raised through the in-app channel to preserve the evidence record. Moving a dispute to email or messaging apps outside the Platform may prevent us assisting you.
Before starting formal proceedings, contact [email protected] with a description of the dispute and the resolution you want. Most matters are resolved this way. Either party may begin formal proceedings if the dispute is unresolved after 30 days.
Any dispute not resolved informally will be settled by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. Arbitration will take place in the county where you live, or by telephone or video if you prefer. The arbitrator's decision is final and may be entered as a judgment in any court.
Claims under US$10,000 may be brought in small-claims court instead of arbitration, at either party's election. You may opt out of arbitration entirely by writing to [email protected] within 30 days of first accepting these Terms; opting out does not affect any other part of this Agreement.
Disputes will be resolved by the courts of the State of Wyoming, United States, applying Wyoming law — subject always to §19.4.
If you are a consumer resident in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or any other jurisdiction whose law gives you the right to bring proceedings in your local courts and to rely on the consumer protection law of your country, nothing in this section removes those rights. Arbitration and the class waiver in §19.2 do not apply to you where your local law does not permit them.
EEA consumers may also use the European Commission's online dispute resolution platform.
Any claim must be brought within one year of the event giving rise to it, except where a longer period is required by law.
We may change these Terms. If a change is material we will give notice in the app or by email at least 30 days before it takes effect. Changes do not apply retroactively to a booking you have already paid for — the version you accepted at the time of each payment continues to govern that payment.
Every version is archived and identified by version number. Continued use after a change takes effect means you accept the new version.
Governing law. This Agreement is governed by the law of the State of Wyoming, United States of America, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, and subject to any mandatory consumer protections of your country of residence.
Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, it is modified to the minimum extent necessary or severed, and the rest remains in force.
No waiver. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
Assignment. You may not assign this Agreement. We may assign it in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of assets.
Force majeure. Neither party is liable for failure to perform due to events beyond reasonable control, including natural disaster, epidemic, war, civil unrest, government action, or failure of infrastructure or payment networks.
Entire agreement. This Agreement, together with the documents it incorporates, is the entire agreement between you and Ko on its subject matter.
Survival. Sections 8 to 14 and 18 to 21 survive termination.
Notices. We may contact you in the app or at your registered email. You may reach us at [email protected] or 30 N Gould St Ste R, Sheridan, WY 82801, United States.