Terms and conditions
Terms of Business and General Booking Conditions
I. Scope of application
B&B HOTELS GmbH (hereinafter, “B&B”) lets out the agreed hotel room plus agreed facilities (hereinafter “hotel room”) to the guest (hereinafter “guest”) for the agreed period of the stay. These General Terms of Business and Booking Conditions (hereinafter “Terms”) apply in addition to the provisions of the accommodation agreement.
II. Conclusion of contract
1. By reserving a hotel room the guest makes an offer to B&B to conclude an accommodation agreement. If there is availability the guest will receive a reservation or booking number from B&B. B&B does not send out any written reservation or booking confirmations. The accommodation agreement between B&B and the guest comes into effect when the guest receives the reservation or booking number, when the guest makes payment or by not later than when the access code is handed over or provided to the guest.
2. The guest is advised that reservations numbers that the guest receives from third parties (e.g. through internet portals or travel companies) are not identical to B&B’s reservation or booking numbers. The guest may ask for the B&B reservation or booking number at the hotel.
3. B&B’s offers to conclude an accommodation agreement are made without obligation and are not binding. B&B shall have the right, at its own discretion, to refuse to conclude an accommodation agreement with a guest.
4. The guest does not have any right to the use of a particular hotel room. He/she is only entitled to the use of a hotel room in the room category booked by him/her.
III. Cancellations and no-shows
1. The difference between the following terms “simple reservation” and “guaranteed reservation” is that with a simple reservation the guest is just ordering a room, whereas in the case of a guaranteed reservation payment is also guaranteed by the provision of a credit card number. The following term “cancellation” means that the guest has rescinded the accommodation agreement. The term “no-show” means that the guest has simply not appeared on the date of arrival without cancelling the accommodation agreement either verbally or in writing.
2. A simple reservation lapses automatically (i.e. without notification to the guest) at 19.00 hours on the date of arrival if the guest has not already arrived or if the reservation has not been guaranteed by the provision of a credit card number. See too clause IV.2.
3. The guest may cancel a guaranteed reservation free of charges up to 19.00 hours on the date of arrival. The special conditions set out in clause XVIII shall apply to dates of trade fairs and special events. The cancellation of guaranteed reservations after 19.00 hours on the date of arrival shall not be permitted and shall not lead to termination of the accommodation agreement. In such cases the guest shall still be obliged to pay the overnight rate for a one-night stay with B&B less 10% of for saved expenses. The same applies if the guest does not appear on the date of arrival without cancelling the reservation.
IV. Arrival and departure
1. B&B shall provide the guest with a hotel room of the agreed room category/with the agreed facilities on the date of arrival according to availability, generally from 12.00 hours onwards but in any event by no later than 15.00 hours. On arrival at the hotel the guest shall enquire as to the room number of his/her hotel room and the access code to the hotel and his/her hotel room at reception or, if it should be closed, using the automatic check-in devices provided for that purpose.
2. In the case of a simple reservation the guest must arrive by no later than 19.00 hours on the date of arrival. Otherwise B&B shall have the right to let out the hotel room reserved for the guest to somebody else without the guest having any claim on B&B as a result thereof.
3. The guest shall return the hotel room to B&B duly vacated and undamaged by not later than 12.00 hours on the departure date.
If, in breach of contract, the guest should not vacate his/her hotel room until after 12.00 hours on the date of departure he/she shall owe B&B flat-rate compensation as a result thereof amounting to 100% of the overnight rate for a one-night stay in the hotel room. The guest shall be permitted to adduce evidence to show that B&B has not incurred any loss at all as a result of the hotel room being vacated late or has incurred only a loss that is considerably lower than the aforementioned flat-rate compensation.
V. Pets
The consent of B&B shall be required in order for pets to be brought with guests. The guest shall be obliged to give prior notice of any intention to bring one or more pets. If B&B should agree to pets being brought this shall be with the proviso that the pets are constantly supervised by the guest and are in good health and that they do not constitute any other risk to hotel personnel or other hotel guests. A charge shall be made per pet per night, the amount of which shall be notified to the guest by B&B on request and in any event by not later than the date on which the accommodation agreement is concluded.
VI. Terms of use
1. Only the persons identified in the accommodation agreement shall be entitled to use the hotel room.
2. The guest shall treat the hotel room carefully and considerately.
3. He/she shall treat the other hotel guests with consideration and comply with the hotel rules posted up in the hotel, if any, which shall also form part of the accommodation agreement.
4. The guest is not permitted to cook food brought in, either in the hotel room or in any other part of the hotel premises.
5. Children under 14 years of age are to be supervised by an adult guest at all times whilst staying in the hotel.
6. The guest is strongly recommended not to keep or leave unattended any cash, jewellery, valuables or other valuable items in the hotel room or in motor vehicles parked at B&B. If the guest should nevertheless do so, B&B does not accept any liability if the cash, jewellery, valuables or other valuable items should be stolen from the guest or lost by the guest in any other way.
VII. Access to the hotel room by B&B
B&B and staff of B&B shall have the right to enter the hotel room whilst the guest is staying there in order to carry out cleaning, repair work and the like.
VIII. Overnight rates and other prices
1. The overnight rate payable by the guest constitutes the counter-consideration for provision of the hotel room by B&B within the period between arrival and departure stated in clause IV. The full overnight rate shall be charged per night – irrespective of whether the guest actually makes use of the room or spends the night there.
2. The rates applicable shall be the agreed prices or the prices stated on B&B’s price list valid on the date of conclusion of the contract. B&B shall have the right to increase or reduce overnight rates if a period of more than four months should elapse between the date of reservation by the guest and the date of arrival or if any taxes, visitors’ levies or other charges should be amended or introduced.
3. The rates and amounts stated in these Terms and in the accommodation agreement are all quoted inclusive of value added tax unless expressly stated otherwise.
IX. Terms of payment
1. Overnight rates and prices for additional services shall be due and payable in advance by not later than the date on which the guest arrives at the hotel, irrespective of the date of invoicing. If the length of the guest’s stay should be unspecified the overnight rate and prices for additional services for each night shall be due and payable in advance by 12.00 hours. If payment should not be made on time the accommodation agreement shall come to an end and the guest shall be obliged to vacate the room; see too clause IV.3.
2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, B&B shall have the right to require payment of overnight charges to be made in advance, that is to say on reservation, in an amount covering the expected total invoice, or else to require reasonable security from the guest in the form of provision of a credit card number.
3. Charges for additional services within the meaning of paragraph 1 shall be, e.g. car park charges, breakfast prices, charges for bringing pets and any other charges that are not expressly stated in the accommodation agreement as forming part of the overnight rate.
4. B&B accepts payment in euros, transfers, EC and Maestro cards and the following credit cards: Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Other modes of payment shall only be permissible in exceptional cases with the consent of B&B.
5. The guest may only exert rights of set-off or retention if the underlying counterclaims are either not denied or are established by way of a final court order.
X. Claims for material defects
1. The warranty for B&B’s services shall be governed by legislation unless provided below to the contrary.
2. The guest’s claims under warranty shall become statute-barred 12 months after the service is performed; the guest’s claims in damages are excluded herefrom.
3. The guest shall be obliged to inspect the hotel room immediately upon arrival. Defects established on such inspection shall be verbally reported to hotel reception by the guest at once, with any other defects being reported immediately they are discovered. The guest shall initially only have the right to demand supplementary performance from B&B. B&B may choose as supplementary performance either to remedy the defect or to make available another hotel room of at least the same standard. If supplementary performance by B&B should fail, the statutory rules shall apply. The right to supplementary performance is excluded in the case of immaterial defects.
4. In the event of a breach of performance obligations on the part of B&B, which do not consist of a defect in
performance itself, the guest shall only be entitled to rescind the accommodation agreement if B&B should be responsible for the breach of performance obligations.
XI. Liability on the part of B&B
1. The contractual and statutory liability of B&B shall be limited as follows:
- B&B’s liability shall be limited in quantum to the amount of loss typically foreseeable on the conclusion of the contract as a result of the careless breach of significant obligations under the accommodation agreement.
- B&B shall not be liable for the careless breach of insignificant obligations under the accommodation agreement or for any other carelessness.
Significant obligations under the accommodation agreement in the above sense shall be obligations towards the guest that B&B is obliged to fulfil according to the content and objective of the accommodation agreement, the fulfilment of which is only achieved by the due implementation of the accommodation agreement and on compliance with which the guest properly relies and is entitled to so rely.
The above limitation on liability shall not apply to cases of strict statutory liability, particularly liability under the Product Liability Act, in the event of culpably incurred death, personal injury or injury to health, or in the event of loss, destruction or damage of/to items brought with the hirer. B&B’s liability in such cases shall be governed by statute.
2. B&B’s liability for defects on the conclusion of the contract irrespective of fault is excluded.
3. Even in the case of guaranteed reservations B&B shall not be responsible for delays in making the hotel room available due to acts of God or events that make it impossible or more difficult, to an extent that is more than temporary, for B&B to make the hotel room available – these shall include, in particular, strikes, lockouts and official decrees. These shall entitle B&B
to postpone making the hotel room available by the length of the impediment plus a reasonable start-up period. If the delay on the date of arrival should continue beyond 19.00 hours the guest shall be entitled to rescind the accommodation agreement. Claims in damages by the customer shall be excluded in such a case.
XII. Duty of notification
In the event of the theft of, or damage to, property or in the event of a fire, water damage or other damage to the hotel room, the guest shall immediately inform the hotel staff and do everything to assist the resolution of the theft or the remedying of the damage.
XIII. Quantum of damages
1. B&B shall only be liable for damage due to the conduct of a member of staff or agent if such persons were acting in the performance of their duties.
2. In the case of risks insured by B&B B&B’s liability shall be limited per claim to the liability figure stated in the insurance policy concluded by B&B.
3. Unless provided to the contrary by mandatory legislation, B&B shall not incur any other liability. B&B shall not be liable, in particular, for breaches of ancillary obligations, lack of commercial success, loss of profit, indirect losses, consequential loss or losses caused by third-party claims brought against the guest.
XIV. Ending of the accommodation agreement
1. B&B shall have the right to rescind the accommodation agreement if the guest should not, in full and on time, pay the amount owed in advance by him/her and/or provide the security required of him/her.
2. The guest may give notice to terminate the accommodation agreement during his/her stay at any time up to 19.00 hours, to take effect from 12.00 hours on the following day.
3. Either contracting party may summarily terminate the accommodation agreement for good cause. B&B shall have the right to summarily terminate the accommodation agreement for good cause, in particular, if, whilst staying in the hotel, the guest should be under the influence of drugs, use the hotel room for prostitution, act offensively towards hotel staff or other hotel guests, disturb the peace of other hotel guests, or, in the past, should have made bogus reservations and/or maliciously damaged or destroyed hotel property or facilities.
XV. Data protection
1. The guest is informed that his/her personal data will be stored and processed by B&B and made available to companies associated with B&B and selected third-party service providers in accordance with the Federal Data Protection Act for the purposes of performance of the contract, customer service and for its own advertising campaigns. B&B has the right to use associated companies and selected third-party service providers to carry out data processing to the requisite extent and also has the right to forward such personal data under this section to those companies and to allow them to store and process it.
2. The guest has the right to object at any time to the use of personal data for advertising purposes. Furthermore, the guest’s right to receive information from B&B as to personal data stored by B&B and to correct, block or delete the same shall not be affected.
3. Unless provided by legislation to the contrary, the guest’s personal data shall be deleted when the accommodation agreement has come to an end and the statutory retention periods have expired.
4. Full details of B&B’s data protection policy can be obtained from B&B HOTELS GmbH, Otto-von-Guericke-Ring 7, 65205 Wiesbaden. Kindly also direct other queries on data protection to B&B at the above address.
XVI. General provisions
1. In the event of any conflict between the accommodation agreement and these Terms the provisions of the accommodation agreement shall prevail.
2. The accommodation agreement and these Terms contain all the conditions agreed by the parties regarding this matter. No oral agreements have been reached alongside the accommodation agreement. Amendments or additions must be made in written form.
3. All notices and declarations made under the accommodation agreement and these Terms must be made in written form unless expressly provided to the contrary.
4. B&B shall have the right to assign all rights and claims under the accommodation agreement to a third party. The assignment of rights or claims under the accommodation agreement by the guest shall require the prior written consent of B&B.
5. B&B shall have the right to have a third party perform its obligations under and in connection with the accommodation agreement.
6. The invalidity of one or more of the above provisions shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The invalid provision shall be replaced by such valid provision as is closest to the commercial and legal intentions of the parties.
7. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany, with the exception of the CISG, shall apply to the accommodation agreement.
8. If the guest should be a businessman/woman and if the accommodation agreement should fall within the scope of his/her business B&B shall have the right to sue that guest in the courts having jurisdiction over B&B’s registered office or in any other courts having jurisdiction. B&B itself may only be sued by the guest in the courts having jurisdiction over B&B’s registered office. The agreement on forum shall also apply to guests who carry on comparable commercial activities abroad.
XVII. Special terms applicable to group travel
1. The following term “travel group” shall mean a group of 15 guests who travel together. The following shall apply to travel groups notwithstanding, or in addition to, the above provisions:
2. The travel group shall nominate a spokesman to B&B (“leader”).
3. A list containing the names of all of the party shall be submitted to B&B before the travel group arrives.
4. On making a reservation the leader will receive a reservation/booking confirmation from B&B containing the material details of the reservation/booking undertaken together with data regarding check-in and the provision of security and any other terms of payment. Group reservations are always automatically guaranteed reservations within the meaning of clause III.1.
5. The travel group shall pay the whole amount of the overnight charges by bank transfer to the B&B bank account stated in the reservation/booking confirmation or notified by B&B to the leader on the conclusion of the reservation. The travel group shall reimburse B&B any charges made for foreign transfers in full by not later than on arrival at the hotel.
6. The travel group’s overnight charges, including charges for additional services within the meaning of clause IX.3, shall be payable in advance not later than four weeks prior to the arrival date, or immediately if the reservation is made later than four weeks prior to the arrival date – in either case irrespective of the date of invoicing. If the travel group or an individual guest should not have paid the overnight charges within four weeks of the arrival date B&B reserves the right, where a credit card number has been given, to debit the credit card with the whole of the overnight charges owed. If no payment should have been made four weeks prior to arrival and if the card provided should not be chargeable B&B shall have the right to let out to someone else the hotel room reserved for the travel group or the individual guest without prior notice to the customer and without the guest having any right to make any claims on B&B as a result thereof.
7. The travel group may cancel or change its reservation free of charges up to four weeks prior to the arrival date. Later cancellations and changes shall only be permissible in exceptional cases with the consent of B&B and, generally speaking, only on payment of a cancellation charge.
8. B&B shall make hotel rooms of the agreed room category or with the agreed facilities available to the travel group on the arrival date according to availability, generally speaking from 12.00 hours onwards, but in any event by not later than 17.00 hours.
9. B&B shall have the right to demand a deposit from the leader of € 500 per travel group on the arrival of the travel group at the hotel.
10. The travel group shall receive group invoices from B&B, which shall be handed to the leader.
XVIII. Special terms applicable to dates of trade fairs and special events
1. B&B shall inform the guest as to the dates of trade fairs and special events at any time on request and in any event by not later than the booking or reservation date. The following shall apply to dates of trade fairs and special events notwithstanding, or in addition to, the above provisions:
2. Guaranteed reservations only shall be permissible for overnight accommodation. Simple reservations shall not be permitted.
3. The terms of payment in clause XVII.6 shall apply mutatis mutandis. Clause XVII.7 shall apply mutatis mutandis to cancellations and changes to the length of stays, room categories or the number of rooms.
