General Terms and Conditions for Hotel Accommodation Contracts

I. Scope 

1. These general terms and conditions apply to contracts concluded for the rental use of

a) hotel rooms for lodging individual guests and travel groups,

b) conference, banquet and convention rooms of the hotel for the staging of events such as banquets, seminars, conferences, etc. (event customers) and all other related services and goods provided by the hotel for customers (individual guests, travel groups and event customers).

2.

Subletting or further letting

a) of the leased rooms as well as their use for purposes other than lodging for individual guests and travel groups or

b) of the leased rooms, premises or display cabinets and invitations for job interviews, sales events or similar events for event customers require the prior written approval of the hotel, whereby Paragraph 1, Section 1, Sentence 2 of the German Civil Code is waived insofar as the customer is not a consumer in accordance with Paragraph 13 German Civil Code.

3.

General terms and conditions of the customer deviating from these general terms and conditions shall not be applicable, even if the hotel does not explicitly contradict them, unless the hotel expressly acknowledges their being valid in writing.

II. Contract agreement, contracting parties

1.

The customer's booking enquiry is not binding. A binding agreement is only established between the hotel and the customer when the hotel has confirmed the enquiry and the customer signs this booking confirmation and returns it to the hotel (re-confirmation), or when the customer actually uses the services of the hotel. If the customer does not accept the booking confirmation, the hotel can ask for re-confirmation by a certain deadline. If the customer fails to reply within the given deadline, the hotel is no longer bound by the booking confirmation.

2.

The parties to the contract are the hotel and the customer. If a third party has made the booking on the behalf of the customer, the third party will be jointly liable with the customer towards the hotel in respect of all the obligations under the contract if he has accepted these obligations by express and specific confirmation to the hotel.

III. Services, prices, payment and offsetting

1.

The hotel is obligated to keep the rooms or accommodation booked by the customer and confirmed in writing by the hotel available and to provide the agreed services pursuant to these general terms and conditions.

2. The customer is obligated to pay the applicable or agreed hotel prices for rooms or premises provided and for other services used. This shall also apply to services and expenses that the hotel provides to third parties upon request of the customer or within the scope of an event. 

3.

The agreed prices include the applicable value-added tax as required by law. Should the period between the agreement of the contract and its fulfillment exceed 4 months, and should the price calculated by the hotel for these services increase, then the contractually agreed price may also be increased proportionately, but only by a maximum of 5 %.

4.

The hotel is also entitled to change the prices if the customer subsequently requests a change to the number of rooms booked, the size of the provided rooms, the hotel services or the duration of the stay or the event and this is accepted in advance by the hotel

5.

The hotel’s invoices are payable strictly net in cash immediately on receipt. All guest accounts are payable on a weekly basis Invoices without due date forwarded on the basis of previous written credit arrangements are payable within 10 days net. The hotel is entitled to request at any time the immediate settlement of outstanding payments accumulated during the customer's stay by submitting an interim invoice. If payment is overdue, the hotel is entitled to charge the customer with late payment interest at the rate of 5% over the current base rate. In case of business dealings where no consumers are involved, the interest rate will be 8% over the basic rate. The hotel reserves the right to claim further compensation for damage caused by delay. For each reminder forwarded after the occurrence of default, the hotel is entitled to charge dunning costs to the sum of 5.00 EUR.

6.

COLUMBIA (Deutschland) GmbH accepts the following methods of payment:

a) Bank transfer

b) Direct debiting

c) Credit card (credit card information transfer via on-line transmission)

d) Credit card (credit card information transfer by telephone, fax or mail)

e) Cash payment

In the event of payment by bank transfer, the price of the holiday is due 3 days prior to arrival at the latest. The booking amount must be paid into the contracting hotel's account by this point in time. On authorisation of payment via direct debiting, the contracting hotel is entitled to book the price of the holiday from the contracting party's account up to 3 days prior to arrival at the latest.

If payment is received later or incompletely, COLUMBIA (Deutschland) GmbH is entitled to cancel the booked holiday at the expense of the contracting party subject to a charge and to demand the cancellation fees listed in Point IV. as compensation.

7.

The hotel is entitled to demand an appropriate advance payment or security deposit on conclusion of the contract or thereafter. The amount of the advance payment or the security deposit and payment dates may be agreed in writing in an individual contract.

8.

The customer can only offset or reduce the hotel’s payment demands by means of an undisputed or legally-binding claim.

IV. Repudiation/Failure to make use of hotel services/Cancellation of group arrangements/events

1. Individual guests and travel groups up to 15 people (cf. Figure I.1.a))

a) The customer may – subject to other written agreements in force between the hotel and the customer – withdraw from the contract up until the date on which the hotel was due to provide its services. The date of receipt of the cancellation notice by the hotel shall be definitive. It is recommended that the customer confirms his cancellation in writing.

b) If the customer withdraws from the contract, the hotel is entitled to request appropriate compensation on the basis of the agreed rates. When calculating the level of compensation, the expenditure saved and other possible uses of the hotel services will usually be taken into account.

c) The hotel can choose to charge the customer a flat rate cancellation fee instead of calculating the actual loss involved. The flat rate cancellation fee shall amount to 90% of the contractually agreed price for overnight stays, including or excluding breakfast, 70% of the contractually agreed price for overnight stays with half board and 60% of the contractually agreed compensation for overnight stays with full board.

The customer is at liberty to provide evidence that the hotel has suffered no loss or that its losses are lower than those claimed through the flat rate compensation fee.

d) If the hotel calculates its actual losses, the maximum amount of compensation shall equal the contractually agreed compensation of the services to be supplied by the hotel less the value of the expenditure saved by the hotel together with the sum that the hotel acquires through the alternative use of the hotel’s services.

f) The compensation regulations referred to above shall apply if the customer does not makes use of the room or services he has booked.

2. Group arrangements for 15 and more people (compare to Figure I.1).a))

a) Subject to a deviating agreement in writing, the following regulations apply for the cancellation of block reservations for 15 and more people (group arrangements):

Up to 90 days before arrival: 10 % of the price for the booked accommodation nights

Up to 45 days before arrival: 20 % of the price for the booked accommodation nights

Up to 30 days before arrival: 50 % of the price for the booked accommodation nights

Up to 10 days before arrival: 75 % of the price for the booked accommodation nights

From 9 days before arrival: 90 % of the price for the booked accommodation nights

b) If the agreed block reservation comprises more than 200 accommodation nights, each of the before mentioned deadlines shall be extended by 30 days.

c) The customer is at liberty to provide evidence that the hotel has suffered no loss or that its losses are lower than those claimed through the flat rate compensation fee.

3. Event customers (cf. Figure I.1.b))

a) If the organizer withdraws from the contract, the hotel may charge the agreed rental charges insofar as a further letting of the facilities is no longer possible.

Should the organizer withdraw between the 8th and the 4th week before the event, the hotel is entitled to invoice 35% for lost catering revenue in addition to the agreed rental charges, and to invoice for 70% of the lost catering revenue if the organizer withdraws at an even later point.

c) The catering revenue shall be calculated using the formula:

(Menu price ./. Banquet price) x Number of participants.

If no price for the menu had been agreed, then this shall be based upon the most economically priced three-course menu applicable to the quotation for the event.

d) Saved expenses in accordance with b) and c) are discharged therewith. In deviation from the before mentioned flat rate charges, the hotel reserves the right to demand a higher, concrete compensation fee than the charges stated here for the damage caused by withdrawal of the organizer. If this case, the hotel is obligated to accurately calculate and account for the compensation fee demanded under consideration of expenditures saved and a possible other use of hotel services.

c) The customer is at liberty to provide evidence that the hotel has suffered no loss or that its losses are lower than those claimed through the flat rate compensation fee.

V. Cancellation by the hotel/Termination for cause

1.

Inasmuch as the customer is granted by express written agreement the right to withdraw free of charge within a certain period, the hotel is for its part also entitled to withdraw within this period if enquiries for the rooms booked under contract exist from other customers and the customer does not waive his right to withdraw without penalty when contacted by the hotel.

2.

If the customer does not make the advance payment and/or residual payment in accordance with the agreed terms, the hotel is entitled to withdraw from the contract after sending a reminder and setting a deadline for performance, and may charge the customer with the costs of cancellation under the terms of Article IV, Figure 1. c) or Figure 2. a).

3.

The hotel must inform the customer without delay before exercising its right of cancellation.

4.

In case of a justified withdrawal from the contract by the hotel, the customer shall not be entitled to any claims for compensation unless a case of intentional or grossly negligent conduct on part of the hotel is established.

5.

Furthermore, the hotel is entitled to effect extraordinary cancellation of the contract (Paragraph 314 German Civil Code), for example if a room is booked under the provision of misleading or false information regarding essential facts, i.e. with regard to the identity of the customer or the purpose of the booking; the customer causes such a disturbance while using the hotel's services, in spite of a warning of possible cancellation issued by the hotel, that the hotel has justified grounds to believe that the further use of the hotel's services by the customer might jeopardize the smooth operation of the hotel business, its security or public reputation, without this being attributable to the hotel's sphere of control or organization; or there is a breach of Article I, Number 2 (unauthorized subletting or further letting).

VI. Provision, handing over and returning the rooms

1.

The customer has no right to demand that particular rooms are prepared for him.

2.

The booked rooms will be made available to the customer from 3.00 p.m. on the agreed day of arrival, unless a different time has been agreed in writing. The customer has no right to demand that rooms should be prepared earlier. Unless a late arrival has been explicitly agreed on, the Hotel reserves the right to dispose of reserved rooms after 6.00 p.m.

3.

Rooms must be vacated and made available to the hotel no later than 12:00 noon on the agreed departure date. If the room is vacated later, the hotel may charge for the additional occupation of the room between 12.00 p. m and 6.00 p.m, at 50 % of the accommodation rate (list price); for the additional use of the room after 6.00 p.m., the hotel may charge 100% of the accommodation rate (list price). The customer is a liberty to prove that the hotel has suffered no or a considerably lesser damage.

Version dated 23.02.2010

COLUMBIA (Deutschland) GmbH

COLUMBIA Hotels & Resorts

Kaiserallee 2

D-23570 Lübeck-Travemünde

Fon +49 (4502) 8864-200

Fax +49 (4502) 8864-222

E-mail: info@columbia-hotels.de

Company: COLUMBIA (Deutschland) GmbH, represented by Carsten Sommerhage, Große Elbstraße 275, D-22767 Hamburg

Business Register: Hamburg County Court, HRB 43757

VAT no.: DE 118520359