Terms & Conditions
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Preamble The firm Vacation Villas International (VVI) maintains a holiday rental directory (directory) for vacation homes and apartments (properties) worldwide under the Internet addresses www.vacationvillas.net and www.fewo-direkt.de. Vacation home and apartment owners (advertisers) are able to publicize their properties in the directory so that its users (holiday makers) can inquire directly about the properties offered. |
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1. Contents of the Contract The contract regulates the use of advertising services through the Vacation Villas International directory (dependant on the services booked at www.vacationvillas.net and/or www.fewo-direkt.de), so that holiday makers interested in renting the properties can inquire about the advertisers' services and book with them directly. |
| 1.1 VVI fulfills its contractual obligation by publishing the properties in the VVI directory at the advertiser's request. The publication of each property is standardized according to Paragraph 2 regarding the appropriate structure and required information for the advertisement. VVI does not act as an intermediary. Thus, the acceptance of holiday makers takes place at the sole discretion and exclusively by the advertiser. Should the advertiser also offer package deals, then he/she will be considered a travel agent according to § 651 German Civil Code and is thus bound to the legal conditions which arise from this designation (i.e. securing the holiday maker's money). VVI may use its discretion in how it chooses to advertise its services, including the use of partner web-pages. VVI is not required to link its web-site with partner web-sites. |
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1.2 Only one rental unit may be listed for each property
listing. It is not permitted to refer to multiple properties
available when only one order is placed. The advertisement of more
than one property from a single location (i.e. in an apartment complex)
can only be done by placing separate property orders. |
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2. Data Collection |
| 2.2 The minimum requirements regarding data quality and content can be understood from the structure of the online registration form as well as through the "VVI Requirements for Free Text," which the advertisers can access and print at any time from the advertiser's area. The entry of references to other web-sites (links), e-mail addresses, any HTML formatting, as well as poor translations in other languages will not be accepted. VVI can refuse problematic text or change them according to the "VVI Requirements for Free Text"; however, VVI may not change the basic content. |
| 2.3 VVI must not adhere to any special requirements regarding the data quality or content provided by the advertiser. VVI may change the format or further develop the directory. This refers specifically to the GBS (Geographical Breakdown System). The information supplied by the advertiser must, however, remain public in its complete form. |
| 2.4 VVI reserves the right to place external advertisements on any of its pages. |
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2.5 Photographs must be sent to VVI with good color quality, either
in digital form as a JPG-file (in square/rectangular form, min. 450 pixels,
no picture collages) or in hard copy form (no color copies, color print-outs
or slides). Photographs will be archived by VVI after processing.
VVI reserves the right to reject the publication of listings with poor picture quality. |
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3. Payment 3.1 Payment is due upon submission of the contract information and is not refundable. Advertisers with their invoice address in a EU country - except Germany - are debtors of VAT and are obliged to pay VAT on the invoice amount in their country respective to the national VAT law. |
| 3.2 When paying from abroad, the advertiser is obligated to cover any additional costs relating to the money transfer. Should the payment received by VVI be incomplete or not be received at all, VVI is permitted to remove the property from the directory without notice until the complete payment is received; the agreed upon contractual period continues unabated. |
| 3.3 In the event of payment default, VVI is permitted to include a flat fee of 5 EUR on the bill (for a second offense) and collect interest in the amount of 5% above the base interest rate set by the European Central Bank. Proof of minor damages is permitted. |
| 3.4 The advertiser grants the right for VVI to debit his/her bank account (option only for banks within Germany) or credit card on the payment due date. Should the advertiser's account not have sufficient funds, his/her bank is not obligated to redeem payment. Partial payment in such cases will thus not occur. Fees for unsuccessful bank transfer orders, where the advertiser is at fault, will be added to the advertiser's bill. Payments by check are not permitted. |
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3.5 VVI is obligated to place the listing on the Internet within
two business days after receiving the complete order (complete and correct
information, pictures) and payment. |
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4. Legal and Content Guarantees/Exemption 4.1 The advertiser confirms that the property offered can be rented out. The property will be advertised based on the submission of the required information. The advertiser is obligated to provide information which, to the best of his/her knowledge, is correct; he/she furthermore agrees not to place misleading offers in the directory. This is particularly in regards to price and vacancy information. Each intentional disregard of this condition will result in a contractual penalty of 300 EUR. |
| 4.2 The advertiser is solely responsible for the accuracy and content of the property. Guest book entries must come from genuine holiday makers and must be truthful. Upon request, the advertiser must provide the e-mail address of the quoted holiday maker. |
| 4.3 VVI cannot be held responsible for incorrect/misleading listings or for unfulfilled contractual obligations on the part of the advertiser. VVI cannot be held responsible for damage resulting from formatting changes to the directory, the positioning of properties within the directory or changes to photograph or data templates carried out by the advertiser. |
| 4.4 The advertiser hereby assures VVI that the photographic material used by him/her does not violate copyright laws or the rights of third parties. The advertiser also exempts VVI from all third party legal claims resulting from reproduced symbols, drawings, artwork, patents, copyrights and other immaterial goods laws and other general offenses of travel or other law. Any costs resulting from legal proceedings, including attorney and legal fees, will be ascribed to the advertiser. |
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4.5 The advertiser also exempts VVI from all third party claims
arising from incomplete and/or misstated data or information regarding
the travel service/property offered. Any legal costs for VVI relating to
such offenses brought by a third party are the legal obligation of the
advertiser. |
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5. Guarantee 5.1 VVI guarantees that it will reproduce the data provided by the advertiser using a common technological standard in order to provide the best possible representation of the services offered by the advertiser. The advertiser hereby acknowledges that varying technical standards and data transfer rates/technologies cannot guarantee that the display of information will be completely free of errors or other problems at all times. The following circumstances are instances that do not represent grounds for error: - the application of an incompatible display software and/or hardware (i.e. browser), or - disruptions stemming from the telecom service provider, or - computer failure of a third party, or - criminal manipulation of a third party ("hacker"), or - incomplete and/or out-of-date offers from proxies, or - through failure of the server, which lasts no longer than 24 hours (consecutive or added). |
| 5.2 VVI is permitted to make its services temporarily unavailable for 48 hours per year for maintenance. |
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5.3 With the reproduction of color pictures on the Internet,
occasional color distortions can occur. VVI stresses that the quality
of pictures displayed on the Internet can only be as good as the picture
template provided. VVI does not in any way alter the pictures submitted.
VVI does not give any price reductions if the pictures submitted are of
poor quality.
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6. Liability VVI is liable for criminal intent and gross negligence relating to the legal conditions described herein. VVI is not liable for unforeseeable damages or their direct/indirect consequences, including revenue or asset loss, which are not addressed in the contract. |
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7. Data Protection This service is provided under the auspices of the valid data protection laws. The advertiser is hereby instructed, according to § 33 par. 1 of the German Data Protection Law, that his/her data is saved by VVI in machine-readable form and is computer processed for contract purposes. VVI is permitted to pass on such information to third parties as long as such information is necessary for VVI to carry out its services. |
| 8. Copyright and Links |
| 8.1 With the submission of his/her property data, the advertiser permits VVI, under the Data Protection Law, to publish such information in other forms of media as they see fit. |
| 8.2 The advertiser hereby grants VVI the right to use the photographic material submitted by him/her for marketing purposes. VVI reserves the right to copy and distribute all available electronic graphic representations for advertising purposes. |
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8.3 VVI reserves the right to refer to other web-sites from the
page where the property is listed. VVI reserves the right, in regards to the design, to change the page format or alter its layout in order to improve it. VVI is not required to accept every property submission. References to other web-sites containing information about a property found on the VVI web-site are free of charge. However, VVI reserves the right to (a) refuse links to external web-pages when such pages contain advertisements or other properties not marketed by VVI; (b) refuse and/or remove without reason any reference to an external site as VVI sees fit. VVI is not required to notify the advertisers when such refusals/deletions take place. |
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9. Forwarding of Inquiries 9.1 The forwarding of inquiries for a property by e-mail is free of charge. |
| 9.2 The advertiser is responsible for the accuracy and functionality of the forwarding information (especially the e-mail address for property inquiries). It is the advertiser's obligation to check his/her e-mails regularly. |
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9.3 Should an error message occur upon an attempted e-mail
forwarding, VVI is permitted to deactivate the forward without prior
notification and to take the property out of the directory until the
problem is resolved. This does not impact the contract's time to
expiration. |
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10. Changing the Data 10.1 The advertiser can change all submitted data at any time through the advertiser's area. It is the duty of the advertiser to assure that all data is complete, correct and current in each language listed (currently German and English). This refers especially to price quotes, contact information and vacancies. |
| 10.2 Changes to the services offered, prices and contact information are made immediately available online. Changes to free text require the approval of VVI. VVI reserves the right to change or alter, without notice, free text which does not comply with VVI's rules and regulations. Text changes will normally be approved within 2 days. Changes which occur through the advertiser's area are free of charge. The advertiser can also request that VVI makes changes by signing up for the Premium Service. |
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10.3 The advertiser is not permitted to maintain his/her
information automatically with the assistance of a computer program.
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11. Contractual Period and Premature Cancellation The contract period is specified on the order form. A listing refers to a particular property, which receives its own property number, through which potential holiday makers can simply and easily locate it as soon as it is online. An existing listing cannot be written over with information from another property. The contractual time period may not be interrupted. When a property is deactivated, the contract's expiration becomes effective immediately. A reimbursement or replacement by another property is not possible. The contract ends automatically upon expiration as long as not otherwise specified. VVI will contact the advertiser one time prior to the contract expiration date by e-mail. Should the contractual period not be extended, the listing will be automatically removed from the directory upon contract expiration. VVI reserves the right, in the event that the advertiser does not maintain truthful information about his/her property, to remove the property from the directory. The same applies in the case that an advertiser double books his property. In the case that these guidelines are violated, the advertiser is given 5 days to correct or make necessary changes to the information before the listing is deleted. |
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12. Legal Place of Business The legal place of business and jurisdiction is Kassel (Germany). |
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13. Closing Conditions 13.1 The above conditions are valid for all contracts for advertising services between VVI and the advertiser. This is also valid in the case that the terms and conditions apply, and that these conditions conflict or differ with the conditions contained in this agreement. Differing conditions are only considered valid upon prior written approval from VVI. |
| 13.2 In the event that one or more clauses of this contract or of the terms and conditions are deemed completely or partially invalid, loses its legal validity or contains a loophole, the validity of the remaining conditions will remain intact. In place of such invalid conditions or loopholes, another legally acceptable condition which is applicable and similar in meaning to that which the contractual partners intended may replace it. |
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13.3
The valid law is German law. The UN purchasing right is particularly excluded. Status: 27.08.2003 |
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