Terms and Conditions

for booking vacation apartments/houses

Dear guests,

We are delighted that you have found your way to us! “We” refers to Ostseetraum Ferienwohnungen GmbH. Below, we explain the terms and conditions that apply when booking a vacation rental. By “vacation rental,” we mean any type of accommodation, from a single room to an entire vacation home. Please read these terms and conditions carefully and feel free to contact us at any time if you have any questions. We will be happy to advise you!

Sincerely, Your team at
Ostseetraum Ferienwohnungen GmbH

1. Conclusion of contract:

1. These General Terms and Conditions apply whenever you book a vacation rental through us. You can do this, for example, via our Website www.ostseetraum-ferienwohnungen.de However, these General Terms and Conditions also apply if you book through us by other means, e.g. verbally, in writing, by telephone, by fax, or by email, provided that we have pointed out the validity of our General Terms and Conditions. By making a booking, you declare your agreement with our General Terms and Conditions and accept them as binding.
2. You can choose from a wide range of vacation rentals advertised by their owners on our website. We try to ensure that all information about the vacation rentals is complete and up to date. Ultimately, however, the responsibility for this lies with the respective owner. We therefore cannot accept any liability and are not liable if an error should occur.
3. We only act as an agent for the vacation rentals. Your rental agreement is always concluded directly with the respective owner (landlord). Your booking request is decisive in this regard: it represents your offer to conclude a rental agreement with the owner. The content of this offer consists of the description of the selected vacation rental (e.g., location, amenities, and price), supplemented by your individual booking details (e.g., name and number of guests and booking period). You always submit this offer for yourself and for each fully legally competent guest that you name in the booking. Accordingly, both you and these guests become contractual “tenants,” regardless of who actually uses the vacation rental later. Therefore, please ensure that these guests also agree to the rental agreement. The rental agreement comes into effect the moment you receive a booking confirmation from us. By confirming the booking, we accept your offer on behalf of the landlord in their name and on their behalf. Please check that the booking confirmation is correct and contact us immediately if you notice any errors.
4. We charge an agency fee for arranging the vacation rental. This fee is shown during the booking process. By submitting a booking request, you agree to pay the agency fee. This agreement applies to yourself and to each person named in the booking who has full legal capacity. Of course, you will only be charged the agency fee once. We earn the agency fee at the moment the rental agreement is concluded, i.e. as soon as you receive the booking confirmation. In the event of a rebooking, we will adjust the agency fee to the new total price. In the event of a cancellation, however, the agency fee will generally remain unchanged, unless we are responsible for the reasons for the cancellation. If the rental agreement is terminated in any other way (e.g., revocation, extraordinary termination), our claim to the agency fee is based on the statutory provisions.
5. The rental agreement refers to the vacation apartment specified in the booking. If, for reasons that arise after the contract has been concluded, the landlord is exceptionally unable to provide you with the vacation apartment you have booked, he may fulfill the rental agreement by providing you with an equivalent or higher-quality vacation apartment in the same complex, but no more than 2 km away. You will be notified of such a change immediately.
6. Once you have received a booking confirmation, the rental agreement can generally no longer be canceled or changed. This does not affect your mandatory legal rights (e.g., mandatory rights of withdrawal or rescission). In all other cases, cancellation from this point onwards is only possible in accordance with Section III. If, on the other hand, you decide to rebook and this is still possible, we will charge you a rebooking fee of €25.00 (including VAT) for the associated costs, which is payable immediately and is independent of your individual booking conditions.

2. Payments:

1. The contractually agreed services and prices are set out in the publicly available service descriptions (website) and in the information provided in the booking confirmation.
2. Upon receipt of the booking confirmation, you are required to pay a deposit of 20% of the total agreed individual fees (rental price, agency fee) within 10 days of the booking confirmation date. The remaining payment is due within 28 days prior to arrival without a further request for payment, whereby the date of receipt of the payment is decisive for the timeliness of the payment.
3. Notwithstanding this, the following applies: For bookings made 28 days or less before departure, the agreed individual fees (rental price, agency fee) are due immediately and in full upon receipt of the booking confirmation.
4. Insurance premiums are always due immediately and in full at the time of booking.
5. If the deposit or the remaining payment is not received on time or is reversed, we may consider this a cancellation and treat it in accordance with Section III, i.e., a cancellation fee may be charged and the vacation rental may be rented to someone else.

3. Cancellation:

1. All cancellations must be made in writing. They can only be made before the start of the rental period. We will accept your cancellation on behalf of the landlord at: Ostseetraum Ferienwohnungen GmbH
  An der Waterkant 8
  18211 Börgerende
  The date of cancellation is determined by the date we receive your cancellation (postmark).
2. In the event of cancellation, we will charge you a cancellation fee of €25.00 for our administrative costs. In addition, depending on the time of cancellation, we will charge you a flat-rate rental loss fee on behalf of the lessor as follows:
  – for cancellations less than 61 full calendar days before the contractual start of the rental period: 50% of the agreed rental price;
  – for cancellations less than 36 full calendar days before the contractual start of the rental period: 80% of the agreed rental price.
  You are free to prove that the actual costs or damages are lower. The flat-rate rental loss fee for the landlord shall be waived proportionally for those days on which the vacation apartment is rented to another party or, despite proven opportunity, this is not done in breach of duty. The cancellation fee and the flat-rate rental loss fee are due for payment immediately upon cancellation. Any advance payments already made shall be offset against these fees.
3. In the event of late cancellation or in other cases where the vacation rental is not used for the entire booking period (e.g., late arrival, early departure), you are not entitled to a partial reduction in the rent.

4. Arrival and departure:

1. 1. Arrival is on the first day of your booking, from 3 p.m. at the earliest. If you plan to arrive after 5 p.m., this must be agreed in advance. Keys will be handed over at our office in Börgerende (An der Waterkant 8 in 18211 Börgerende), our office in Ostseebad (Nienhagen Strandstraße 14 in 18211 Ostseebad Nienhagen), our office in Kühlungsborn (Hermannstraße 23 in 18225 Kühlungsborn) or at another location by arrangement. If, in exceptional cases, the vacation apartment is not available from 3:00 p.m. but is still available on the agreed arrival date, you cannot claim a reduction in rent or make any other claims.
  2. On the day of departure, the apartment must be vacated by 10:00 a.m. Late departure may be charged to your account.
  3. The apartment must be left swept clean on the day of departure. Dishes, glasses, etc. must be cleaned. Furthermore, any dishwasher must be emptied, trash cans emptied, and the refrigerator cleared out. You will be responsible for the costs of any additional cleaning required due to excessive dirtiness. You may be charged for these costs.
5. Vacation apartment:
1. 1. The vacation apartment will be handed over to you in a neat and clean condition. If you notice any defects or damage upon arrival, these must be reported to us immediately. A reasonable period of time must be allowed for the defects or damage to be remedied. The vacation apartment is located in the countryside, so insects may be present. This does not constitute a defect. Other disturbances may also occur in individual cases (agricultural machinery, construction noise, etc.).
  2. Should any defects or damage occur in the vacation apartment during the rental period, we must also be informed immediately. You are liable for any damage you cause to the rental property, the inventory, and the communal facilities (e.g., broken dishes, stains on the carpet, damage to furniture). This also includes the cost of lost keys (locking system).
  3. If you have liability insurance that also covers damage to rented property, the damage must be reported to the insurance company. To do this, you must provide us with the name, address, and customer or contract number of the insurance company upon request.
6. Scope of use:
1. The vacation rental may only be used by the persons listed in the booking. If the apartment is used by more people than agreed, a separate fee must be paid for them, which is determined by the rental price. In this case, we may also terminate the rental agreement on behalf of the landlord without notice if the use by more than the agreed number of persons is unreasonable for the landlord, in particular in the event of overcrowding.
2. Subletting and transferring the apartment to third parties is not permitted. The rental agreement cannot be transferred to a third party.
3. If there are house rules for the vacation rental, these must be observed.
4. Some vacation rentals are located in areas with limited cellular coverage, which means that network and Wi-Fi connections may be unavailable or limited. No defects or claims can be derived from this.
5. In the event of violations of the terms and conditions or house rules, we may terminate the rental agreement on behalf of the landlord without notice. There shall be no entitlement to a refund of the rental price, reimbursement of expenses, or any other compensation.

7. Liability:

1. 1. We accept no liability in cases of force majeure or unforeseeable or unavoidable circumstances, even if these circumstances restrict or prevent the use of the vacation apartment. We also accept no liability for your personal belongings (e.g. in the event of theft or damage).
  2. Our contractual and statutory liability for damages or reimbursement of expenses, regardless of the legal basis, is limited as follows: We shall not be liable for more than the foreseeable damages typical for this type of contract in the event of a slightly negligent breach of essential obligations arising from the contractual relationship. We shall not be liable for slightly negligent breaches of non-essential obligations arising from the contractual relationship or for slight negligence in other respects.
  3. Any limitations of liability under these General Terms and Conditions shall not apply to damage caused intentionally or through gross negligence, culpable damage to life, limb, or health, damage resulting from the breach of a guarantee, or other cases of mandatory statutory liability.
  4. The above exclusions and limitations of liability apply equally in favor of the lessor.

8. Place of jurisdiction:

1. 1. 1. The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from the contractual relationship is the court in whose district the vacation apartment is located.
    2. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies.

9. Other:

No verbal or written side agreements have been made. Changes and additions must be made in writing to be legally valid. The same applies to the waiver of the written form requirement.
Should any of these provisions be or become invalid or void, this shall not affect the legal validity of the remaining provisions of the contract. The two contracting parties undertake to replace the legally invalid provision with a legally valid provision that comes as close as possible to the economic purpose and meaning of the invalid provision. In all other respects, the statutory provisions shall apply.

Mandatory information pursuant to Sections 36 and 37 of the Consumer Dispute Resolution Act (Verbraucherstreitbeilegungsgesetz):

Ostseetraum Ferienwohnungen GmbH is neither willing nor obliged to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board. The European Commission provides a platform for online dispute resolution. Link: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/