Rules & Policies

These rules and policies are subject to change at all times as items need to be added or changed.  The rules policies in effect for any guest during their stay are those published on this website on the day of arrival.

OCCUPANCY
Please take note: Brentwood Estate is known for its seclusion and serene grounds. In order to accomplish this private-estate atmosphere, we hold very true to the maximum capacity per house as designated: St. Francis – 14 people, St. Michael – 12 people, St. Anne – 10 people and St. Joachim – 2 people. We may make a small exception to allow small children who are in cribs or pak-n-plays to exceed the maximum capacity, but you must obtain approval through the owners. In those instances were an exception is being made, it will be noted on your confirmation receipt at the time of booking. No exceptions will be allowed unless you receive prior approval.

**Minnesota state law requires resort owners to maintain a registry of all guests. Each guest staying at Brentwood Estate will be required to fill out paperwork to comply with this state law.

CHECK-IN TIME: 4:00PM (FRIDAY ONLY)
In order for Brentwood to be completely prepared to welcome you, please do not check in before 4:00 PM unless special arrangements have been made. If you plan to check in after 6:00 PM, kindly call us at 402-203-2700 to make arrangements for your later arrival.

CHECK-OUT TIME: 10:00AM (FRIDAY ONLY)
In most cases your prompt departure at or before 10:00AM is necessary in order to prepare your home for new guests who will checking-in later that afternoon. Your cooperation in this is appreciated. If you desire a later check-out, please discuss it before hand with management.

EARLY CHECK-INS AND LATE CHECK-OUTS
Often times we receive requests from guests for more time at Brentwood. These requests come from either “anxious arrivers” and those we affectionately call “longer lingerers.” We are not surprised that many of you would like to extend your stay. Because it is necessary that we thoroughly clean each house for our next guests we must have access to each house by 10:00AM. If you arrive in the area early we can recommend all kinds of Alexandria area activities to occupy your time as you wait for your home to be cleaned.

We reserve the right to charge guests who make no arrangements for, but stay over nonetheless, a $100 late check-out fee to their credit cards on file.

DAYS OF SERVICE
Brentwood Estate began operations in May 2014. The Brentwood booking calendar is always current and up to date. We will NOT block out days just to make our occupancy calendar appear more complete. What it says is available is available; what it says is not, is not available. If you desire a particular home for a week that is not available, we encourage you to call and ask to be put on our wait list. Occasionally we will receive cancellations and the wait lists will be called immediately in order of their application.

RESERVATIONS
To guarantee the reservation of your vacation home, enter your Visa, MasterCard, or Discover card at the time of your booking for the deposit payment of 50% of the weekly rental price plus tax. (Please review the page in the section entitled “Payments by Credit Card”.) Online bookings are reviewed for compliance with our Friday Only check-in and check-out policies prior to acceptance and if there is a problem you will receive an email or phone call within 12 hours after you book to correct any errors. If you prefer to pay with a check, your check must arrive within five days of your booking in order to hold the reservation. Thirty days prior to your date of arrival, your credit card will be charged the full balance of your room reservation. Payments by check will also require full payment to be received 30 days prior to your stay.

CANCELLATIONS and REFUNDS
Sometimes cancellations are unavoidable. However, last minute cancellations are often difficult to re-book as most guests reserve their lodging many months in advance. We have set a cut off period for cancellations with full refund of 30 days out. Accordingly, if cancellations occur anytime 30 or more days days prior to your intended arrival, we will be happy to refund your deposit less a $500 cancellation fee for each house that is booked.  If a cancellation is necessary with less than 30 days from your scheduled arrival, we will immediately begin a diligent effort to re-book your vacation home. If we are successful, your deposit will be cheerfully and promptly refunded, less the same cancellation fee of $500 per house. (Occasionally last minute replacement bookings may include an inducement discount, in which case the difference in the rate of your booking and the discounted booking will also be deducted from your refund.)

NONREFUNDABLE PAYMENTS
In the event that your room reservation does not rebook, then all room payments will be considered nonrefundable. Otherwise each guest’s individual emergency collectively would convert to a much larger financial burden for us. In any event, you will, however, have the following remedies for relief where those nonrefundable payments may be used for future bookings.
You may book a weekly stay in the spring or fall months of April, May, October, or November (Memorial Day week excluded).  This offer to rebook will expire one year from the date of your cancellation. In the unlikely event that you rebook with a nonrefundable payment and then for one reason or another decide to cancel a second time with less than 30 days notice, you will forfeit your privilege to rebook. It is our hope that you will find this policy reasonable and we assure you it will be administered fairly.

CREDIT CARD PROCESSING
Merchant processors charge a small fee for every credit card charge. The charges vary as the circumstances and types of cards vary, but our average charge exceeds 3.5%. We gladly accept these costs as part of doing business and it makes for a very efficient and secure means to accept payment.

REFUNDS
Refunds put a big wrinkle in the process. The refund also has a fee, usually one percent less than the charge fee, and then if payment is transferred to another card, this new transaction will cost another 3.5%. So in the case of refunds with a second charge, just the cost of handling of the payment comes to nearly 10%!

So we politely ask you to accept the following considerations:
1. Verify that the card you are giving us is okay to pull the deposit payment from.
2. If you expect the 30 day out payment to come from a different card, it is your responsibility to tell us that before the 30 day out charge is made.
3. If you are making the deposit payment for another party of guests and you expect to be reimbursed for that later, please arrange for them to pay you back rather than ask us to reverse your charges and apply them on the other guest’s credit cards.
4. Reservations with gift cards or certificates should call before booking so your credit card will not be charged with the expectation of a refund later when you present the gift certificate.
5. If refunds still become necessary, we can surely do that, but the charge for issuing a refund will be 6% of the amount being refunded. (Refunds where we have made mistakes, etc. will of course, not incur any fee.)

FAMILY ENVIRONMENT
We hope that many children of all ages have an opportunity to enjoy the Brentwood Property. We also want adults to enjoy the property. Alcohol consumption in common (shared) areas is allowed. It is our sincere hope that guests enjoying the wonderful common amenities that Brentwood has to offer will conduct themselves in a manner that does not make other guests unnece