General Booking Conditions (GBC)

Verkehrsbüro Business Travel GmbH (VB BTC)

General Information

Verkehrsbüro Business Travel GmbH (“VB BTC” for short) is exclusively active as a travel agent in the framework of an agency agreement. The services booked by VB BTC shall be exclusively rendered by the brokered service providers (airlines, hotels, car-rental companies etc.). The General Business Terms laid down by such service providers shall not be affected by the VB BTC booking conditions and shall remain valid. The GBC as well as the General Travel Conditions (ARB 1992) shall apply for all VB BTC services unless agreed otherwise by virtue of individual agreements.

Personal Data

Due to the special nature of our services, the storage and transmission of personal data of the travelers are indispensable. The customer agrees that VB BTC shares personal data of the travelers or company data required for the provision of the agreed services and accepts the transfer of personal data for the correct performance of the ordered service to:

Booking platforms used to book tourist services
Service providers providing tourist or other services
Public bodies and banks, for reporting, tax and other statutory purposes

If the personal data is not collected directly from the data subject, but by other representatives of the customer, the customer undertakes to inform the person concerned about the data transfer to VB BTC and the disclosure of the data by VB BTC to the recipient categories described above. VB BTC will treat this information confidentially in accordance with the relevant data protection regulations and will only disclose it to third parties if this is necessary for the provision of the service, or if the disclosure is obligatory by law. A detailed description of the common rights and obligations as well as a reference to the responsible contact persons for questions about data protection can be found in the privacy policy.

Booking of Services

For each reservation or change in reservation the customer shall receive confirmation either over the phone or via e-mail. The customer shall be responsible for complying with the deadline specified with regard to ticket issue.

All flight times and tariffs offered shall be subject to changes made by the service providers. Reservations made via VB BTC on the Internet or via an external self-booking tool shall be subject to separate provisions. The same shall apply for group bookings and mile bookings or bookings based on customer-loyalty programs.

Ancillary services to be rendered by the service providers (e.g. seat reservations, mile upgrades, airport transfers) will be booked by us on the customer’s request, but cannot be guaranteed by VB BTC. The customer will be informed of any additional costs prior to confirmation.

Ticket Issue Request, Taxes, Fees and Delivery

Upon placing the request to ticket issue, making a binding reservation, a change in reservation or a cancellation, the customer and the travel agency shall enter into a contract on the consulting or booking service and accept the present VB BTC GBC. At the same time, the customer shall enter into a contract on the provision of the brokered service with the respective service provider and thus accept the business terms, tariff terms and general provisions laid down by the respective service provider.

All taxes, fees or other charges levied by government or local authorities as well as by airport operators shall be paid by the customer in addition to the air fare. This shall also apply for any fees charged by intermediate agents called in for the procurement or brokering of the service in order to ensure the best terms for the customer or to cover costs for the delivery of documents.

VB BTC shall retain the right to pass on any delivery costs to the customer, provided that there is no other pertinent contractual provision. VB BTC shall not be held responsible for the loss of travel documents sent through postal or courier services. In such cases, the travel agency shall, furthermore, not be liable for the consequences resulting from delayed delivery.

Transaction Fees

As transaction charge (ticket fee) shall be deemed the remuneration for VB BTC consulting services. This amount shall depend on the nature of the service and shall be charged per document issued or per individual service provided.

The Ticket-Service Charge (TSC) shall solely apply for scheduled-flight tickets. It constitutes a fixed amount charged per document issued and will be specified separately on the invoice.

As CRS fees shall basically be deemed a combination of fees which are independent of ticket and flight coupons. They cover increased fees for computer-reservation systems. CRS fees will be specified separately on the invoice.

As Ancillary Service Fees (ASF) shall be deemed fees charged for the organization of additional services not directly linked with the actual basic service rendered by the service provider (e.g. transport service provided by the airline) and constituting a separate service provided by VB BTC. ASF depend on the nature of the service as well as on the service provider. ASF will be specified separately on the invoice.

Remunerations for services which have already been provided will not be refunded in the case of (a change in) reservation or cancellation of a booked service.

The respective fees are published here or can be requested from the employee in charge as amended. These fees shall solely apply unless regulations have been agreed by way of an individual contract.

Terms for the Use of Airline Tickets

For the use of airline tickets shall apply the IATA carriage rules or the terms and conditions laid down by the service providers respectively booked and used as well as the conditions applicable for the booked fare.

We recommend to check any change with regard to your itinerary in due time and in writing together with us or with the service providers in advance and to have such change performed. Changes not performed in time or not performed duly may result in violation of the rules and conditions and constitute the loss of any claims.

VB BTC and the service providers shall not be liable for any additional costs or for costs incurred for further transport in the case of non-compliance with the rules and conditions.

Check for Completeness and Accuracy

The customer shall be obliged to check confirmations and travel documents for their completeness and accuracy immediately upon receipt thereof and to perform changes and corrections without any delay.

VB BTC shall not be liable for any additional costs incurred in the wake of corrections and changes which are not immediately performed by the customer.

Use of the 24/7 Emergency Hotline

We provide this service to you outside our business hours for emergencies (travels scheduled within the next 3 days), supporting you whenever there are problems concerning services already booked with airlines, hotels and car-rental companies. For the use of this service VB BTC will charge the agreed fees.

Check-in Times

The passenger shall be responsible for complying with the required check-in times. Please also schedule waiting time for security checks which may vary considerably depending on the airport you use. Furthermore, the travel agency shall not be responsible for the means of transport used for getting to the airport arriving on time.

Entry Regulations & Visa

The customer shall be obliged to comply with the recommended and required health and entry provisions applicable in the transit and target countries. Respective information is available under the links specified in your confirmations, on our website or over the phone.

VB BTC shall obtain the entry or transit visa for travelers of all nationalities, provided that these have their primary residence in Austria. VB BTC has, however, no influence on the granting or refusal of visa.

Requirements for visa being obtained by VB BTC:

The required documents are either handed over to VB BTC in full and on time for the purpose of submission or directly forwarded to the visa service.
All specified deadlines shall apply from the point of time of document receipt.
The fees charged for obtaining the documents shall apply upon/until document receipt by VB BTC.

Ticket Refund

VB BTC shall be informed of the non-use of electronic flight coupons if such are to be submitted for refund. For refunds which are subject to a special permit granted by the airline and which must not be handled directly by the travel agency, there may be longer handling times depending on the airline involved. VB BTC only acts as an intermediary in this respect. Unless agreed otherwise by contract, VB BTC will charge a fee for ticket refund.

Hotel Reservations

For hotel reservations, rates shall be specified, at the point of time of reservation, for the booked room category/service (e.g. with or without breakfast). VB BTC shall neither be liable for additional taxes such as local charges, statutory VAT, service charges or any increase of such taxes and charges nor for additional services. According to the service provider involved, a payment or a guarantee (e.g. via credit card) may be required when the service is booked. This results in different cancellation and arrival deadlines; the traveler shall be responsible for their compliance.

When making reservations for meetings and groups in hotels, the special meeting conditions laid down by the individual hotels shall apply which we will submit to you together with the booking confirmation.

Reservation of Rental Cars

When making reservations for rental cars, only a certain vehicle category – and not a certain vehicle type of the car brand – can be booked respectively. Each category includes vehicles of different manufacturers coming in approximately the same type size. The reservation of a certain vehicle type can only be forwarded as a non-binding customer request. Availability of the booked rental-car category falls within the responsibility of the car-rental company.

Liability / Complaints

VB BTC shall be solely liable in the case of violation of contract caused by its own and being contrary to duty, violation of contract caused with intent or grossly negligent violation of contract. Consequently, no liability will be assumed for damages, losses, non-compliance with deadlines etc. caused by the fault of a service booked via VB BTC.

If services booked via VB BTC are not provided for reasons not falling within the travel agency’s responsibility (e.g. overbooking, force majeure, delays or strike), the customer has to negotiate directly with the service provider on the way his/her reservation and transportation claim is to be implemented. Complaints must basically be voiced directly on site without any delay in order to give the service provider the opportunity to rectify the defect.

Invoicing / Payment

The customer shall be responsible for the correct handling and payment of taxes – especially in the case of tax-burden transfer in the framework of legal transactions realized between entrepreneurs according to the reverse-charge procedure.

Payment of the brokered service: generally, the brokered service is directly paid for to the service provider (as a rule, by entering credit-card information in the airline ticket, or in cash, or by way of credit-card payment directly at the brokered hotel). If the payment of the brokered service is handled via VB BTC, a fee in the amount of € 8.90 will be charged for this for each transaction.

Payment of the brokerage service: as a rule, such payment is handled via a company credit card (travel-account card, as it is called) or a private credit card. If the customer makes use of the delivery-on-account option, such payment shall be due immediately upon receipt of the invoice and without any deductions, to the extent that no other contractual agreements are applicable.

Severability Clause

In the event of individual provisions of these booking conditions being ineffective, this shall be without prejudice to the effectiveness of the remaining provisions – Vienna, Austria, shall be deemed as place of jurisdiction.

No VB BTC employee shall be entitled to complement, amend or cancel provisions of these booking conditions.

as of: May 2018