Inclusion and accessibility policy

Everywhere Venues is all about helping people find the venues and spaces they need to do what they love to do and be who they want to be.

Whether it’s playing sport with your children, planning your wedding, hosting an important meeting or running your business - we want you to be your best self and achieve your dreams. At our core, we believe that the perfect space can make all the difference.

We’ve developed our business and the Everywhere Venues platform to be as inclusive, accessible and flexible as possible. From our user interface design to our business practices, we are committed to helping visitors from all walks of life to find and book the perfect space. We are also committed to providing Venue Managers with powerful, valuable and intuitive tools to get the greatest value out of their assets.

We want everyone to feel welcome on the Everywhere Venues platform no matter who they are, where they come from, how they worship, or whom they love… and we want them to find our platform easy, helpful and a pleasure to use.

It is everyone’s responsibility to be fair, polite, courteous and professional when dealing with others on our platform. Where possible, we ask you to be compassionate, understanding, patient and generous to ensure that you and everyone you deal with has a great experience.

We are committed to preventing all forms of unlawful bias, discrimination, and intolerance on our platform. You can help us to achieve this by reading, agreeing and acting in accordance with this policy.

Everywhere Venues recognises that some jurisdictions permit, or require, distinctions among individuals based on national origin, gender, marital status or sexual orientation. We do not require Venue Managers to violate local laws or take actions that may subject them to legal liability or personal risk when there is a conflict between local laws and customs and this policy. Everywhere Venues will attempt to provide information on the requirements of other jurisdictions, however, it is always the responsibility of the Everywhere Venues member to be aware of and comply with local laws.

Race, Color, Ethnicity, National Origin, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, or Marital Status

  • Venue Managers may not
    • Decline a visitor based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.
    • Impose any different terms or conditions based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.
    • Post any Venue Profile or make any statement that discourages or indicates a preference for or against any visitor on account of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.

Gender

  • Venue Managers may not
    • Decline a booking or request to book based on gender unless the Venue has existing gender-based rules - such as a Venue in a women’s only gym or school.
    • Impose any different terms or conditions based on gender.
    • Post any Venue Profile or make any statement that discourages or indicates a preference for or against any visitor on account of gender, unless the Venue has existing gender-based rules - such as a Venue in a women’s only gym or school.
  • Venue Managers may
    • Make a space available to visitors of the Venue Manager’s gender and not the other, where the Venue Manager shares the Venue with the visitor.

Disability

  • Everywhere Venues Venue Managers may not:
    • Decline a visitor based on any actual or perceived disability.
    • Impose any different terms or conditions based on the fact that the visitor has a disability.
    • Substitute their own judgment about whether a Venue meets the needs of a visitor with a disability for that of the prospective visitor.
    • Inquire about the existence or severity of a visitor’s disability, or the means used to accommodate any disability. If, however, a potential visitor raises his or her disability, a Venue Manager may, and should, discuss with the potential visitor whether the Venue meets the potential Visitor’s needs.
    • Prohibit or limit the use of mobility devices.
    • Charge more in rent or other fees for visitors with disabilities.
    • Post any Venue Profile or make any statement that discourages or indicates a preference for or against any visitor on account of the fact that the visitor has a disability.
    • Refuse to communicate with visitors through accessible means that are available, including relay operators (for people with hearing impairments) and email (for people with vision impairments using screen readers).
    • Refuse to provide reasonable allowances, including flexibility when visitors with disabilities request modest changes in Venue rules, such as bringing an assistance animal that is necessary because of the disability, or using an available parking space near the Venue. When a visitor requests such an allowances, the Venue Manager and the visitor should discuss mutually agreeable ways to ensure the Venue meets the visitor’s needs.
  • Everywhere Venues Venue Managers may:
    • Provide truthful information about the Venue’s accessibility features (or lack of them), allowing for visitors to assess for themselves whether the Venue is appropriate to their individual needs.

Personal Preferences

  • Everywhere Venues Venue Managers may
    • Except as noted above, Everywhere Venues Venue Managers may decline a booking based on factors that are not prohibited by law. For example, except where prohibited by law, Venue Managers may decline to accept bookings from visitors with pets, with children, or visitors who smoke.
    • Require visitors to respect restrictions on food or alcohol provided to a Venue (eg. Visitors must not bing in food to catered venues or alcohol to licensed venues).
    • Nothing in this policy prevents a Venue Manager from turning down a visitor on the basis of a characteristic that is not protected under the civil rights laws or closely associated with a protected class. For example, a Venue Manager may turn down a visitor who wants to smoke in a venue, use a venue for a prohibited purpose, or place limits on the number of visitors in a venue.

When bookings and booking requested are declined.

Venue Managers should keep in mind that Visitors may be disappointed if their request to book is declined. While a Venue Manager may have, and explain, lawful and legitimate reasons for declining a potential visitor, it may cause the Visitor to feel disappointed or excluded. Venue Managers should strive to welcome visitors of all backgrounds. Venue Managers who demonstrate a pattern of declining visitors from a protected class may have restrictions applied to their account or be suspended from the platform.

Specific Guidance for Venue Managers Outside Australia, the United States and European Union

Outside of Australia, the United States and the European Union, some countries or communities may allow or even require people to make accommodation distinctions based on, for example, marital status, national origin, gender or sexual orientation, in violation of our general nondiscrimination philosophy. In these cases, we do not require Venue Managers to violate local laws, nor to accept visitors that could expose the Venue Managers to a real and demonstrable risk of arrest, or physical harm to their persons or property. Venue Managers who operate venues in such areas should explain any such restriction in their Venue profile, so that prospective visitors are informed of the issue and Everywhere Venues can confirm the need for such an action. In communicating any such restrictions, Venue Managers must use clear, factual and polite language.

What happens when a Venue Manager does not comply with our policies in this area?

If a Venue profile contains language contrary to this policy, the Venue Manager will be asked to remove the language and affirm his or her understanding and intent to comply with this policy and its underlying principles. Everywhere Venues may also, in its discretion, take steps up to and including suspending the Venue Manager from the Everywhere Venues platform.

If the Venue Manager improperly rejects visitors on the basis of protected class, or uses language demonstrating that his or her actions were motivated by factors prohibited by this policy, Everywhere Venues will take steps to enforce this policy, up to and including suspending the Venue Manager from the platform.