Terms & Conditions of art&friends GmbH & Co.KG (hereafter ‘artistravel’)
§ 1 Contractual partners
Contractual partners in the context of the general terms and conditions are the art & friends GmbH & Co.KG; Kulturwerk Lothringen, Lothringer Straße 36 in 44805 Bochum (hereafter referred to as "artistravel") and the customer.
art&friends GmbH & Co.KG is represented by its managing director art & friends GmbH. CEO of art&friends GmbH is Sebastian Grütz.
§ 2 Definitions
1. "Customer" means the person who books a course or journey.
2. The term "individual service" is used to indicate a course or similar to describe it in distinction to a journey.
3. We speak of a "journey" when the customer books two equally ordered, substantial travel services, such as accommodation and a course, together ("as a package").
§ 3 Conclusion of the contract
(1) With their registration, the customer offers artistravel the conclusion of a binding contract. The registration can be made verbally, in writing by telephone or electronically (e-mail, internet). He/she can also carry out the registration for all participants listed in the registration, for whose contractual obligation the customer is responsible as well as for their own contractual obligations, provided that he/she has accepted a corresponding separate obligation through explicit declaration.
(2) The contract is concluded with the acceptance by artistravel. Acceptance is confirmed by a written confirmation / invoice. At the same time you will receive your secured payment certificate in accordance with § 651 k Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (German Civil Code – BGB), which protects your payments. If the content of the written confirmation / invoice of artistravel deviates from the content of the application, then this written confirmation counts as a new offer to which artistravel is bound for a period of 10 days. If you expressly or conclusively declare acceptance within this period, the contract is concluded on the basis of this new offer; otherwise the new offer of artistravel will count as rejected.
(3) Additional agreements, which do not correspond to the content of the registration or the service descriptions, as well as contract changes, require an explicit written confirmation on behalf of artistravel.
(4) The number of participants in the courses is limited. This also applies to hotel rooms, especially in high season. Registrations are considered in the order of their arrival.
§ 4 Maturity and payment
(1) All payments are subject to the current Euro price. Any additional fees that may be incurred in connection with currency conversions are the responsibility of the customer.
(2) Your payments are secured in accordance with § 651 k BGB, because you have received the secured payment certificate with the travel confirmation. We therefore ask you to please transfer a deposit of 20% of the travel price on receipt of the confirmation / invoice. The final payment is due no later than four weeks prior to departure (determination of the payment at artistravel) without repeated request by artistravel, provided that the secured payment certificate is handed over and the trip cannot be cancelled for the reason stated in § 9. In your invoice you will find all the relevant travel documents that you receive after your booking.
(3) Cancellation and rebooking fees are due immediately.
(4) If you do not make the payment in accordance with the agreed payment terms, artistravel is entitled, after a reminder with a deadline, to withdraw from the contract and to charge you with cancellation fees in accordance with § 8 (3).
§ 5 Performance and pricing
Nature and scope of the contractual service are based on the service descriptions that you will find in the respective catalog, the homepage, details in the booking confirmation / invoice and the documents provided by artistravel. The price depends on the current price list at the time of registration. This can be inquired in advance by telephone and is also listed in the booking confirmation. In all other respects the details of artistravel are binding. artistravel expressly reserves the right to declare a change in the tender details for objectively justified, substantial and unforeseeable reasons prior to the conclusion of the contract, which of course you will be informed of prior to booking.
§ 6 Performance deviations and alterations
(1) Alterations or deviations of individual travel services from the agreed content of the journey that become necessary after the conclusion of contract and are not caused by the travel operator against good faith are reasonable for the contractual partner as far as the alterations or deviations are not so grave as that they do not affect the overall arrangement of the booked journey.
(2) Should there be any performance deviations or alterations, artistravel will immediately inform the contractual partner and if necessary artistravel will offer free re-booking or withdrawal from the contract at no additional costs.
(3) The absence of a tutor e.g. due to disease does not represent a justified cause to qualify for free withdrawal from the contract, as long as the substitute tutor is similarly qualified and the content of the course remains largely the same.
§ 7 Changes in booking
(1) After the conclusion of the contract, you are not entitled to any changes with regard to the date, the accommodation or the meals in relation to an individual service. If a reservation is changed at your request, artistravel can charge a rebooking fee per customer. When rebooking travel up to 50 days before the start of travel or when rebooking an individual service up to 50 days before their use, this amounts to € 30,-.
(2) Rebooking requests that occur after the deadlines can, if their implementation is possible, only be implemented after withdrawing from the contract in accordance with the conditions stated in § 8 and simultaneous re-registration. This does not apply to rebooking requests that only cause minor costs.
(3) Until the individual service has been claimed / the travel begins you can demand that a third party takes over the rights and obligations that arise from the contract in your stead. For processing this rebooking we charge € 30,-.
§ 8 Withdrawal by the customer
(1) You can withdraw at any time without giving any reason before claiming the individual service or starting the journey. The withdrawal must be declared in written form to artistravel at the business address (Bochum) indicated at the end of these General Terms and Conditions. We also accept a withdrawal via email to info@artistravel-international.com. If a trip has been booked through a travel agency, the withdrawal can also be indicated to the travel agency. Receipt of the declaration of withdrawal by artistravel or the travel agency is decisive. If the individual service is not claimed / the journey is not started, this is always considered a withdrawal.
(2) If you withdraw from the contract or do not claim an individual service / begin the journey, artistravel can demand compensation for its expenses and the arrangements made. When calculating the compensation, artistravel will usually take into account expenses saved and possible other uses of the services already performed. You reserve the right to prove to artistravel that only a small amount of damage has occurred.
(3) If the withdrawal takes place no later than 90 calendar days before the start of the course or the journey, a withdrawal is free of charge, except for a processing fee of € 39, -. Following is the cancellation fee per person:
- from 89 to 50 days prior to course start / departure: 20%
- from 49 to 30 days prior to course start / departure: 50%
- from 29 to 15 days prior to course start / departure: 80%
- from the 14th day prior to course start / departure: 90%
of the agreed total price, if hotel and course were booked. From the 7th day prior to course start / departure: 100% of the pure course price and 90% of the rest of the travel price.
(4) A change of course instructor does not entitle you to withdraw.
§ 9 Withdrawal and termination by artistravel
(1) If the execution of the journey is made considerably more difficult, endangered or impaired as a result of unforeseeable force majeure upon conclusion of the contract, artistravel may terminate the contract in writing without complying with any deadline.
(2) Within a period of four weeks before the start of a course, artistravel may withdraw from the contract for failure to reach the minimum number of participants advertised in the course documents. artistravel will always inform you of non-execution of the course immediately after the condition has been fulfilled and will send you the declaration of withdrawal. The paid price will be returned immediately. artistravel is not responsible for compensating any applicable cancellation fees that you may have to pay for services you have booked yourself.
You may request to take part in an at least equivalent other trip if artistravel is able to offer such a trip at no additional cost.
(3) The termination must be in writing. If the termination is bound to certain deadlines, the date of the arrival of the letter of termination at the recipient is valid and not the date on which the notice of termination is sent.
(4) artistravel can terminate the travel contract at any time for good cause without observing a notice period. Tour guides or local representatives of artistravel are authorized to declare the termination. Good cause may be given, in particular, if the customer does not meet the previously announced special course requirements or if his behaviour disturbs or jeopardizes the course of the journey and cannot be remedied even after a warning has been given. In the event of this termination, artistravel shall in principle retain the claim to the travel price, but must be credited the value of the saved expenses as well as those benefits that are result from utilisation by others, including the amounts paid by the service providers. Further mutual claims are excluded.
§ 10 Liability of the customer for damage
Participation in the courses, as well as the use of tools and aids provided, lie in the responsibility of the student. A personal accident or liability insurance is recommended, if not already available. artistravel as the organizer is not liable for accidents, thefts or damages of any kind that occur during and outside the course or the respective creative journey. You are required to treat the tools, aids and facilities including inventory provided to you during the course with care. Damage caused by improper treatment shall be borne by the perpetrator.
§ 11 Liability of artistravel
artistravel is liable with the diligence of a proper merchant for its obligation. Your claims for damages are excluded, as far as permitted by law.
§ 12 Limitation of liability
(1) The contractual liability of artistravel for damages that are not physical damages is limited to three times the travel price,
a) as far as damage to the customer is caused neither deliberately nor by gross negligence or
b) as far as artistravel is responsible for damages to the customer solely because of a fault of a service provider.
(2) The liability of artistravel is excluded or limited, as far as international conventions or legal regulations based on such that are to be applied to the services to be provided by a service provider also exclude or limit said service providers liability.
(3) artistravel is not liable for mediated third party services (excursions, rental cars, etc.) that artistravel has expressly designated as such. This also applies if the travel course management participates in such a service.
§ 13 Unused services
If the customer does not use individual travel services which were duly offered to him for reasons attributable to him (e.g., due to premature return or for other compelling reasons) and if no third party enters into the contract, he is not entitled to a pro rata refund of the travel price.
§ 14 Warranty
(1) Remedy
When the journey has not been provided according to contract, the contractual partner can demand remedy. artistravel can find a remedy by providing the same or upgraded performance as reasonable compensation. artistravel can also refuse the remedy, when this requires disproportionate costs.
(2) Mitigation of the travel price
For the durability of a non-compliant performance of artistravel, the contractual partner can ask for mitigation of the travel price (reduction). The entitlement to reduction is not applicable when the contractual partner culpably omits to notify artistravel of the deficiency. There is no obligation for you to report the defect without delay if the notification is clearly futile or unreasonable for other reasons.
(3) Termination of the contract
If travel is considerably affected due to a deficiency or if the continuation is not reasonable for the contractual partner due to good cause, the contractual partner is entitled to terminate the travel contract according to legal requirements.
The determination of a deadline for the remedy is only necessary if remedy is impossible or is refused by artistravel or if the immediate termination of the contract is justified by a special interest recognizable by artistravel. In this case, you owe artistravel the price for the part of the realized trip, provided these services were not worthless for you.
(4) Indemnity
Irrespective of the reduction or termination, you may claim damages for non-performance, unless the deficiency of your journey is due to a circumstance that artistravel is not responsible for.
§ 15 Obligations of the customer
(1) You must notify artistravel immediately if you have not received the required travel documents within the time period indicated by artistravel.
(2) In the event of disruptions to performance, you are obliged to do everything reasonable to remedy the fault and to minimize any damage that may have occurred. If you unexpectedly have reason to complain, you must immediately notify artistravel. If you do not comply with these obligations, you are not entitled to any claims in this respect. The obligation on your part for the immediate notification of the defect does not exist if the notification is clearly futile or unreasonable for other reasons.
(3) Notification of defects must be made directly to artistravel at the address (Bochum) indicated at the end of these General Terms and Conditions.
§ 16 Exclusion of claims
Claims for non-contractual provision of the journey must be asserted in written form to artistravel within one month of the contractually agreed end of journey. To comply with the deadline, access to artistravel at the business address indicated at the end of these Terms and Conditions (Bochum) is decisive. After expiry of the deadline, claims can only be asserted if you were prevented from adhering to the deadline through no fault of your own.
§ 17 Travel insurance
There is no travel cancellation insurance fee included in the travel price. artistravel recommends that each travel participant arranges sufficient insurance for the journey.
§ 18 Pricing
All prices include the relevant value added tax (VAT).
§ 19 General terms
Details of our travel brochure are correct as of the date of printing, errors are excepte. artistravel is not liable for printing and calculation errors.
§ 20 Ineffectiveness of general terms
The invalidity of individual provisions does not result in the ineffectiveness of the entire Terms and Conditions.
§ 21 Jurisdiction
Place of jurisdiction for registered traders, for persons who do not have a general place of jurisdiction in Germany as well as for persons who have moved their domicile or habitual residence abroad after conclusion of the contract, or whose domicile or habitual residence is not known at the time the complaint is filed, is the seat of the tour operator (Bochum).
Status: March 2020
