General terms and conditions

These General Terms & Conditions apply in the version valid on the day of ordering to all contracts concluded through the online shop operated by Region Villach Tourismus GmbH (hereinafter abbreviated to “RVT”), including room booking. These terms become a part of the contract when the customer accepts their applicability by clicking on the corresponding field and sends the order to RVT. Contracts are concluded exclusively on the basis of these terms and conditions, which can be viewed electronically, stored and printed by the customer. Deviating agreements must be in writing.

RVT only makes the virtual marketplace available on which the participants conclude purchase contracts for (especially touristic) services after successful registration and purchase vouchers for such services, as well as being able to conclude accommodation contracts. RVT itself does not become a contract partner in this, but as a service provider only supplies the platform for concluding the purchase contracts.

The service providers (natural and legal persons) authorised by RVT can participate in the online shop and the marketplace for room bookings as sellers.

On the buyer side, only contractually capable natural persons can register as participants on the website www.shop.visitvillach.at, who are of legal age and therefore at least 18 years old (hereinafter “customer” in short), namely independently of whether this person is the owner of an RVT guest card. There is no legal entitlement to participation for the seller nor the buyer.

Each customer is obliged to make truthful statements when registering. A personal access code is transmitted electronically to the customer. The customer is responsible themselves for the safety of the password and access code. Passing on to third parties is prohibited. RVT us entitled to check all data for correctness or have them checked. Incorrect statements lead to exclusion from the marketplace.

5.    Contract conclusion and procedure/applicable terms and conditions for room booking

In addition to the registration, the customer must enter their payment details (credit card, direct transfer) to conclude a purchase contract. The contract becomes legally binding when the customer sends the order to RVT, after accepting the applicability of these terms and conditions by clicking on the indicated field. For room bookings, the terms and conditions stated online by the accommodation provider apply in principle, especially the included cancellation regulations. If the accommodation provider has not placed any own terms and conditions online, the GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE HOTEL INDUSTRY 2006 (AGBH 2006) set out by the Austrian Hotel Association apply to the accommodation contract.

For the payment handling, RVT uses the payment service provider of the company VIVEUM Zahlungssysteme GmbH, Riemergasse 14/30, A-1010 Vienna. The agreed payment for orders in the online shop is debited directly by the payment service provider of RVT and then settled with the respective service provider. The customer is sent an order confirmation immediately by e-mail by RVT and – insofar as possible – the ticket/voucher for the use of the service. If sending by e-mail is not possible, it is sent instead immediately by post to the address registered by the customer. A deposit is debited for room bookings and the balance is debited up to 7 days before arrival.

RVT is entitled to check the stated credit card details and creditworthiness for correctness or to have them checked by the payment service provider. The checking takes place in real time. If this check is negative, the order procedure cannot be concluded. Incorrect details also lead to exclusion from the marketplace.

RVT and its providers do not store any payment data. After entering the necessary data, RVT and the provider merely receive a transaction ID for the credit card details stored at Viveum, which is stored by RVT and the provider together with the customer data and customer password for carrying out the transaction. This data is used by RVT exclusively for processing the concluded purchase contract. The passing on to the respective service provider takes place if and insofar as it is necessary for processing the contract. There is no use of this data for any purpose beyond this, nor is it passed on to persons other than the service provider. This data is only used for informing the customer about the services of RVT if the customer has explicitly agreed to this beforehand. In this case, the data stored by RVT is not passed on to third parties either. When visiting the website even without registration, certain data (e.g. IP address, browser) is gathered for statistical purposes. This data is evaluated anonymously, especially or the improvement of the website use.

b) Objection and information right, as well as right to correction or deletion according to the Data Protection Law (DSG) 2000:

- the customer can object at any time to the use of data – insofar as not legally prescribed – at RVT due to infringement of superordinate confidentiality interests worth protecting (³ 28 DSG 2000).

- the customer can request from RVT at any time in writing, under proof of identity, information free of charge (see § 26 DSF 2000) about the data processed by RVT (§ 27 DSG 2000).

RVT exclusively provides the online shop including room booking as a virtual marketplace and beyond this does not enter into any legal relationship with the customer and the seller. The contract therefore comes into effect exclusively between the customer as a buyer/guest on the one hand and the respective service provider as a seller/accommodation provider on the other. Accordingly, any customer claims especially due to non-fulfilment or poor fulfilment of the contract, as well as all other claims arising from and in connection with the concluded contract, are exclusively against the respective service/accommodation provider as contract partner and vice versa claims by the seller/accommodation provider relating to the contract are exclusively towards the customer and therefore not towards RVT. Nor is RVT obliged to mediate in case of dispute between the contract partners.

The ticket/voucher issued to the customer provides entitlement to the use of the purchased service. Transferral/passing on to third parties is permissible if the service is not personalized explicitly to the customer.

The payment procedure is either by means of credit card or direct transfer. Other types of payment (cash on delivery, payment on invoice) are not available at the online shop. For payment processing for room booking, we refer to Clause 5 of these terms and conditions.

10. Withdrawal

In this online shop, in principle exclusively – especially touristic – services are offered for which the customer, as a consumer in accordance with Consumer Protection Law (KSchG) according to § 5f KSchG, has no right of withdrawal. In a contrary case, the respective service provider is obliged to provide the customer with the information according to § 5c KSchG duly in the online offer before issuing the contract declaration and to inform the customer about the existence of a withdrawal right according to § 5e KSchG. Contract withdrawal (cancellation) for accommodation contracts is according to the agreement made between the guest and the accommodation provider, otherwise according to AGBH 2006 (see clause 5 of these terms and conditions regarding the applicable regulations for accommodation contracts).

11. Liability of RVT:

RVT does not assume liability for the constant availability of this marketplace. In addition, RVT does not assume responsibility for the completeness and correctness of the specifications by the seller/accommodation provider about the offered service. The seller/accommodation provider declares that the texts, images and other data supplied to RVT do not infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties and is obliged to fully indemnify RVT in a contrary case. In any case, the liability of RVT following the contravention of contractual obligations towards the customer for material damage due to slight negligence is excluded. In case of gross negligence and intent, as well as personal damage, this liability is unlimited.

12. Applicable law/place of jurisdiction:

For the legal relationship between RVT and the customer, Austrian material and formal law applies, under exclusion of the UN CISG. The respective responsible court for the head office of RVT in 9500 Villach is agreed as the exclusive place of jurisdiction.

This choice of law and place of jurisdiction agreement also applies to the legal relationship between the customer and the seller, insofar as they have not made a deviating agreement and it is legally permissible. For accommodation contracts, the agreements made between the accommodation provider and the guest apply, with the AGBH 2006 as subsidiary.