Terms of Use
These terms cover the xTrekka website, the guide portal, and the client portal. xTrekka is operated from Kuleshwor, Kathmandu, Nepal, by TheTravellersNepal. Questions go to info@xtrekka.com. The privacy notice explains what we hold about you.
1. xTrekka is a directory
xTrekka lists trekking guides whose licence and citizenship documents an operator has reviewed, and lets a trekker send that guide an enquiry. We introduce the two of you. We are not a trekking agency, we do not employ the guides, and we are not a party to the trek you agree with a guide.
2. A trek you arrange with a guide
An enquiry from a guide's profile reaches that guide's inbox and email. They reply to you directly. The itinerary, the dates, the price, the deposit and the cancellation terms are agreed between you and the guide, and you pay the guide. xTrekka takes no cut of that payment.
Ask the guide for those terms in writing before you send any money. Refunds, changes and disputes about money you paid a guide are between you and the guide. We do not hold that money, we do not refund it, and we do not decide the dispute. If you write to us we can pass a message on. That is not a ruling.
3. A trek you pay for on xTrekka
Some treks can still be booked and paid through xTrekka checkout. That is a different arrangement. The amount, including a platform fee of 15% of the trek subtotal, is shown in the checkout breakdown before you pay. xTrekka collects that payment. A cancellation of that booking is a request you make from the client portal; whether it is refunded is our decision, and a trek already underway is not self-service. A booking already paid runs through to completion.
4. What “verified” means
Before a guide is listed, an operator reviews the trekking licence and citizenship documents they uploaded. The verified badge means those documents were accepted. It does not mean we have checked insurance, fitness, references, or how the trek will go, and it is not a promise that the trek is safe. Verification is free on every plan and is never for sale. We can refuse or remove a listing.
5. Plans, placement, and what a plan does not promise
Guides may pay for a plan that buys visibility. A paid plan can give a bounded lift in the directory order, and a small number of places in a band labelled Featured. Featured is always labelled. The lift is capped, so a strong free guide can still rank above a paying one. A plan that lapses leaves the guide listed and verified. The prices and the limits a plan actually enforces are on the plans page.
A plan does not promise a number of enquiries, a number of treks, or an income. Reply rate is part of the ranking: a guide who does not answer is not propped up by what they pay.
6. Reviews
A review starts unpublished. An operator decides whether it appears. What is published is the rating of the guide, the comment about the guide, and the reviewer's first name with a last initial. Comments about xTrekka itself stay internal. A review tied to an enquiry is written from a single-use link we email after the guide marks that enquiry complete. We can refuse or hide a review.
7. Check-ins and SOS
Trail check-ins and the emergency SOS exist only for a trek booked and paid through xTrekka, because they hang off that booking. A trek you arrange through an enquiry has neither. Where an SOS is sent, it is recorded and emailed to our operations team, and texted to an on-call number when that number is configured. A person then coordinates. We do not dispatch a helicopter, and we are not a rescue service. Travel insurance that covers high-altitude evacuation is yours to arrange.
8. Accounts
Sending an enquiry creates a client account in your name, or links the enquiry to the account that email already has, so you can see it later. There is no password. Sign-in is a one-time link we email you. Guide accounts are created when a guide applies to be listed. You are responsible for the email address you give us.
9. Using the site
You agree not to:
- send enquiries you do not mean, or impersonate someone else;
- upload documents that are not yours;
- scrape the directory or interfere with the service;
- use the site for anything unlawful.
We can suspend an account or remove a listing that breaks these terms.
10. Liability
Trekking in the mountains is inherently dangerous. To the extent the law allows, xTrekka is not liable for a guide's conduct, for the trek itself, for weather, permits, or delays, or for money you paid a guide directly. Nothing here limits liability that the law of Nepal does not allow us to limit, including liability for death or personal injury caused by our own negligence.
11. Changes
We can update these terms. The effective date at the top changes with them, and the page you are reading is the current version. Continuing to use the site after that date is acceptance of the update.
12. Law
These terms are governed by the law of Nepal. The courts of Kathmandu have jurisdiction.