Rights and Obligations from the Guest Accommodation Contract DEHOGA – Accommodation Contract:

The contractual rights and obligations resulting from accommodation contracts are often not known. As long as no difficulties arise requiring a legal clarification of the mutual contractual positions, this lack of knowledge may not be perceived as unpleasant.

However, it usually becomes problematic when contracting parties, unaware of the legal situation, attempt to claim rights from the contract that the legal system does not grant them. Such cases usually occur when the guest wishes to cancel a once reserved room.

The DEHOGA has compiled the following rights and obligations arising from the accommodation contract, as confirmed in constant case law.

§ 1 The guest accommodation contract is concluded as soon as the room is ordered and confirmed.

§ 2 Conclusion of the guest accommodation contract obligates the contracting parties to fulfill the contract, regardless of the duration of the contract.

§ 3 The landlord is obligated to pay damages to the guest if the room is not provided.

§ 4 The guest is obliged to pay the agreed or customary price for non-utilization of the contractual services, minus the expenses saved by the landlord.

The savings are according to experience rates:

• for stays in holiday apartments 10%,
• for bed and breakfast 20%,
• for half board 30%,
• for full board 40% of the pension price.

Our Cancellation Policy:

Bookings can be canceled free of charge up to 14 days before arrival.

For cancellations up to 13 days before arrival, 50% of the package price may be charged.

For cancellations up to 7 days before arrival, 70% of the package price may be charged.

For later cancellations or in case of non-arrival (no-show), 80% of the package price may be charged.

The customer is free to provide evidence that the aforementioned claim did not arise or did not arise to the required extent.

Special conditions apply to travel groups of 12 people or more.

Special cancellation conditions agreed separately apply here.

§ 5a The landlord is obliged in good faith to try to rent out unused rooms elsewhere to avoid losses.

§ 5b Until the room is otherwise rented out, the guest must pay the amount calculated according to clause 4 for the duration of the contract.

Explanations on the Guest Accommodation Contract:

The accommodation contract is a so-called mixed contract not particularly regulated in the German Civil Code, except for the regulation of liability for items brought in. It includes rental, service, work contract, and possibly even sales law. However, the inclusion of different areas of law does not preclude the accommodation contract from being treated no differently from any other contract under civil law regarding contractual obligations.

This means that the accommodation contract cannot be unilaterally terminated by one party. The cancellation of a room booked once in a hotel or other accommodation establishment cannot be revoked unless agreed upon with the landlord.

Whether the contract is concluded in writing or orally is not decisive. As a consequence of this legal principle, the timing of when the guest wishes to cancel a booked room is irrelevant, because if there is no unilateral withdrawal from the contract, it cannot matter when the room reservation is canceled.

For the landlord’s claims, it is solely decisive whether the landlord was able to rent out the canceled room to someone else. Only if the landlord succeeds in renting it out otherwise will the guest be exempt from their contractual obligations.

Of course, the landlord must not maliciously refrain from renting it out elsewhere; i.e., they must make an effort to rent it out. On the other hand, the guest should by no means fail to inform the landlord, as otherwise, they deprive themselves of the possibility of being released from their contractual obligations.

In this respect, the question of the earliest possible cancellation can play a decisive role. Regarding the landlord’s claim for payment of the agreed or customary price for the contractual service minus the saved expenses, this is not a claim for damages but a claim that goes towards fulfilling the contract.

This distinction is legally significant for the objections to be raised by the guest. For the performance claim, it is legally irrelevant for what reasons the guest could not make use of the reserved room.

You are on the “safe” side with travel cancellation insurance / hotel cancellation insurance.

Source: DEHOGA (German Hotel and Restaurant Association)

Special Conditions and Event Organizer Liability

1. The contracting party acquires a claim to rooms or premises of this category when booking by categories. Hotel Moselsteig is entitled to provide a higher category. Otherwise, there is no entitlement to provide specific rooms or premises unless explicitly agreed.
2. The hotel can make any order acceptance, reservation, or such services, which are to be provided only after a certain period of time from the underlying contract conclusion, dependent on the partial payment of the amounts due in view of the service provision.
3. The agreed prices include the taxes and local charges applicable at the time of contract conclusion. If there is a change in the statutory value-added tax (VAT) or the introduction, modification, or abolition of local charges on the object of performance after the conclusion of the contract, the prices will be adjusted accordingly if the period between contract conclusion and contract fulfillment exceeds four months.
4. Reserved rooms are available to the contracting party from 3:00 pm on the day of arrival. Unless a later arrival time has been explicitly agreed, the hotel reserves the right to allocate reserved rooms to others after 6:00 pm. On the day of departure, the rooms must be vacated by 11:00 am unless otherwise agreed.
5. An expressly designated non-binding option must be exercised or returned no later than 30 days before the arrival date.
6. Issued options become binding contracts if not exercised or returned within the specified time. The hotel is entitled to assign the reserved service to others without the timely and binding exercise of the option.
7. Invoices are generally payable in cash and without deduction of discount upon receipt. If the invoice amount of multiple individual invoices exceeds €250.00, upon request of the contracting party, a total invoice can be issued. The issuance of a total invoice does not exempt from the obligation to pay the individual invoices within the specified deadline. The contracting party may only set off the counterclaim against the hotel to the extent that its claims are undisputed or legally established.
8. If a customer does not use contractual services that he had previously ordered or reserved, he remains obliged to pay the agreed price in the agreed amount, unless he proves a lesser damage, for example, in the form of any higher saved expenses. In the case of short-term rental of the services not used by the customer at a lower price than the price originally agreed with the customer (e.g., rental of rooms at the last-minute price), the difference between the agreed and the achieved price will be invoiced.
9. In the publicly accessible areas of the hotel, the consumption of brought-in food and drinks is prohibited.
10. If the security of the hotel or its guests is endangered by a contracting party, the hotel may terminate the contract. This also applies in the event of force majeure, if this makes the hotel’s services impossible, unreasonable, or uninteresting for the contracting party. Force majeure refers to unforeseeable, extraordinary circumstances that cannot be averted despite the reasonable care that the hotel cannot avoid, notably including:
    • Operational disruptions
    • Official interventions
    • Energy supply difficulties
    • Strike or lockout
    • Flood and similar natural disasters
11. Liability for damages, theft, and loss – The hotel guest/organizer/client is fully liable to the hotelier for damages caused by himself or his guests. A deviation from the agreement on the use of the rooms and equipment provided to the guest entitles the hotel to terminate the contractual relationship without this reducing the claim for the agreed remuneration. If the hotelier is prevented from fulfilling his services for reasons not attributable to him, no liability for damages can be derived from this, but the hotelier is obliged to make efforts to procure equivalent services elsewhere.
12. In the case of theft, the hotel is liable to the hotel guest according to the provisions of the German Civil Code (BGB) for one hundred times the room rate, up to a maximum of €3,000. The hotel’s liability is excluded if the room and the containers in which the hotel guest leaves the objects remain unlocked. For money and valuables, liability is limited to €750 in accordance with Section 701 of the BGB.
13. Left-behind items will only be resent upon request and at the sender’s expense. The hotel undertakes to keep them for 12 months.
14. We have put together various packages and arrangements for you. Please understand that the hotel Moselsteig assumes no liability for occurring damages or injuries resulting from the use of additional services not provided by the Hotel Moselsteig itself. Use is at your own risk or the liability of the service providers.
15. For merchants, for persons who do not have a general place of jurisdiction in the country, and for persons who move their place of residence abroad after the conclusion of the contract, the Cochem/Mosel District Court is agreed upon as the place of jurisdiction.

Our General Terms and Conditions, the Guest Accommodation Contract, and the Event Organizer Liability are considered agreed upon with every reservation at the hotel.