General Business Conditions

Rental Policies

Alison Dritelar and Lisa Heinrich are operators of the Internet sites http://www.holidaysintuscany.de and http://www.lisaheinrich.de and as owners of  „Toscana Experience....“ we place particular emphasis on cultivating good relationships with you as well as with our partners, your landlords.

We act as intermediaries for the holiday accommodation due to a bond of solidarity with the resorts in Tuscany and also with pleasure, that we can give our knowledge of the area, history and traditions to others who are interested in these things.  That is our self conception!

We particularly wish to have a harmonious relationship with you as our guests and also with our friends, your hosts and landlords.  The holiday homes and flats that we offer you, are generally old farm houses that have been elaborately restored, and that we well know so that we can describe them minutely on the website.  Most of the holiday homes and flats are maintained by the owners.  They will always endeavour to resolve any justified deficiencies/defects.  Some of them actually live in the houses for a couple of weeks before or after the season, so that they can see what needs to be repaired or remedied.  Your hosts, our friends, are all really nice friendly people that are proud of their wonderful habitat, culture and history – and it is a pleasure for them to make your holiday as pleasant and as carefree as possible! Therefore they make an effort for you at their own highly developed responsibility. Nevertheless, even though all landlords endeavour to be good hosts in a Tuscan way, there can always be misunderstandings due to the different expectations on both sides.

In the event of any problems occurring, we shall endeavour to solve them together with you courteously and promptly. For these reasons, it is important that we have clear terms of contract for both sides – with rights and obligations.  Please read the following General Business Conditions.

 

§1

Conditions and Services of Alison Dritelar and Lisa Heinrich

 

1.1.          These business conditions are effective agreements and part of the rental agreement that comes into existence between us as mediators and you as a guest.

 

1.2.    We offer you only one service, the mediation of a third party service, namely the completion of a Rental Agreement/contract with landlords of holiday domiciles (hotels, guest houses, farm houses, holiday flats and homes).

 

1.3.          We make a mediating contract with you.  We are not promoters, we are solely mediators between you as a guest and the chosen landlord. Your host is the landlord of the holiday domicile and he gives his services to you at his own responsibility.  The mediating contract with us is not a Travel Contract in the sense of Travel Contract Law.   Our rights and obligations result from these Business Conditions, and complementary contractual agreements, alternatively from the regulations of §§ 675,631 ff. BGB (German Law)

 

1.4.          It should be pointed out, that the rental contract with the respective landlords may have their own general rental policies.

 

§2

Conclusion of Contract

 

2.1.          You communicate your interest in a booking to us, either per Email or telephone, that means, you make an enquiry.  This does not yet constitute a binding contract offer with the chosen landlord and has no grounds for legal entitlement to the conclusion of a rental agreement.

 

2.2.          Instead, we make you an offer corresponding to your booking requirements, in the name of and with the authority of the respective landlord, for the conclusion of a rental contract.  The basis of this contractual proposition are the details in the offer.

 

2.3.          The rental contract becomes legally binding as soon as you have sent us an Email with your booking requirements.  As a rule we will send you the booking acknowledgement per Email.

 

2.4.          The rental contract between you and the landlord becomes binding when the declaration of acceptance arrives in answer to the offer of completion of a rental contract, (see 2.2.) and does not depend on the arrival of the booking agreement from us.

 

 

 

§3

Prices and Object Descriptions on the Internet Site

 

3.1.          The rental price includes, when not otherwise signalised, the costs for gas, water and electricity.  Bed linen, final cleaning, heating, costs for pets if applicable, other costs such as fire wood, sauna etc. will all be calculated separately and paid for in cash on arrival.

 

3.2.          The rental price is, if not otherwise stated, for one week.  Most of the houses will only be let out from Saturday to Saturday, at least in the summer months; a few have Sunday as change over day.  Some can also be rented in the summer, on separate agreement, on a daily basis.

 

3.3.          Changes in the rental price are possible up to the time that the booking form is sent, especially in the case of mistakes or printing errors. The guest can in such a case back down from the booking with no charges. We ensure you, however, that we will try to find an equitable solution.

 

3.4.          The object descriptions on the internet site are personal experience reports. The actuality cannot always be guaranteed.  The descriptions constitute no guarantee or warranty. In particular, the following is to be regarded:

 

3.4.1.     The houses are privately owned and individually furnished and fitted out according to the taste of each owner.  Furnishings, kitchen equipment and bed quality cannot always fulfil your quality requirements. The same price does not always mean the same quality or facilities.

 

3.4.2       The given distances are usually measured exactly in kilometres, only in a few cases are they estimated.

 

3.4.3        The driveways to some houses can be in a desolate state.

 

3.4.4       Electricity and water deficiencies can occur in the summer months. As these, and similar situations, are a typical phenomenon in southern countries, reclamation is not possible.

 

3.4.5.      Many grounds are in their natural state. Please note that trees and shrubs could be in the way of any view that has been described on the internet site.

 

3.4.6.      Garden furniture is not always available in the number of the maximum occupancy.  Usually there is a table and a sufficient number of chairs available. The number of deckchairs may be reduced to the number of expected adults.

 

3.4.7.      Because of the natural state of some objects, insects such as mosquitoes, gnats, flies, spiders, ants etc. can occur.  Spiders’ webs can appear overnight.  The grass is not always freshly mown and can sometimes be quite high. Near houses which are surrounded by fields or gardens, one must expect agricultural machines to be operating at certain times of the year. Animals running free can enter the grounds.

 

3.4.8.      Even if a TV is available, it is not always possible to receive programmes in other languages than Italian.  This is warranted if a SAT TV is mentioned in the description.

 

3.4.9.      If hot water is supplied by a boiler, then the length of time for a shower is dependant on the size of the boiler.

 

3.4.10.   The heating is, by Italian Law, only allowed to be on between 1st. November and March.  One cannot presume that it is possible to use the heating in the other months. Because of the country’s typical winter climate the houses and flats can be damp.

 

3.4.11.   The coastal waters along the “Costa degli Etruschi” have been awarded the international ecological “Blue Flag” “Bandiera blu” für many years, this refers to the assessment of the sea water.  Should the water quality change, this is out of our influence.

 

§4

Payment Terms

 

4.1.          All payments to the landlord, such as down payments, balance or cancellation payments, must be paid by bank transfer to the bank account stated on the booking form, unless a cash payment on arrival has been arranged.  All bank charges are to be paid by the guest.  Payment per credit card is not usually possible.

 

4.2.          With conclusion of a contract up to14 days before occupancy (receipt of your acceptance of the booking) there is a down payment due.  This down payment must be transferred to the account on the booking form within 7 days of receipt of the booking form.  The amount of the down payment can be up to 30% of the total rental price.

 

4.3.          The balance to be paid to the landlord of the holiday domicile must be either paid by bank transfer to the given account on the booking form by up to 45 days before occupancy or in cash on arrival depending on the agreement made with the landlord.  Further terms of payment can be seen on the booking form.

 

4.4.          For a short term booking of less than 14 days before arrival, the total costs can be arranged to be paid in cash on arrival.

 

§5

Booking Procedure

 

After your down payment has been booked, or in case of a short notice booking, you will receive all travel documents such as travelogue and other information plus the contact details of your landlord per email.

 

§6

Change of Booking

 

A booking change with a change of dates up to 92 days before the original arrival date is possible. The request for a change of dates must be received here by email.  If at all possible we will send you immediate confirmation of the booking change by email or post. There will be a charge of 35 euros.  This amount must be paid immediately into the account on the booking form.

 

§7

Entry Requirements

 

It is your liability to inform yourself of any entry requirements necessary for travel to Italy or by transit through other countries.

 

§8

Exclusion of Liability

 

8.1.          Our contractual liability, as mediators of a mediated contract, is restricted to the value of the mediated service (total rental price) for all damages that are not injuries to body or health, as long as the damage has not been brought about by us in a premeditated or grossly negligent manner.

 

8.2.          Should non utilisation of a holiday domicile occur, we will be of assistance as soon as we are informed, particularly in the provision of suitable substitute accommodation.  The substitute service can only be refused by us on important objective recognisable grounds.

 

8.3.          We will not compensate for costs due to late arrival.

 

§9

Statute of Limitations for Claims on the Mediation Contract

 

9.1.          All claims against us referring to the mediation contract, irrespective of the legal basis, must be alleged within a month after the last day of the contractual occupancy.  By default the claims will only then not lapse if the default was unindebted.

 

9.2.          Your claims on the mediated contract with us, that involve injuries to body or health, including contractual claims for compensation for personal suffering, that are due to our gross neglect of duty, lapse after two years.  This also applies for claims for compensation for other damages due to a gross negligence of duty or to a premeditated or gross negligence of duty by a legal representative or a vicarious agent.

 

9.3.          All other claims on the mediation contract lapse after one year.

 

§10

Miscellanea

 

10.1.          We would like to point out that there is no insurance for the holiday domiciles.

 

§11

Choice of Law and Jurisdiction

 

11.1.          Solely German Law can be applied in the legal relationship between you and us.

 

11.2.          You can only institute proceedings against us in our place of residence (Gelsenkirchen).

 

11.3.          Your place of residence is decisive for proceedings against you.  Should you, as contractual partner, be a merchant, legal entity of public or private bodies,  or a person with residence or habitual residence in another country or your residence at the time of the claim is unknown, then the place of jurisdiction will be our place of residence, Gelsenkirchen.

 

§12

Salvatorius Clause

 

The ineffectiveness of individual provisions in this contract does not make the other provisions ineffective.