Biztrails Terms of Use

BCD Travel Germany GmbH (referred to below as “BCD Travel”) makes a communication platform available on the internet under the domain www.biztrails.de (referred to below as “Biztrails”). By registering as a member of the Biztrails community, you agree to the following Terms of Use, which govern your rights and obligations when using Biztrails.

If you do not wish to be bound by these Terms of Use, BCD Travel expressly forbids you to use Biztrails.

1. Conditions of Biztrails membership

1. Two versions of Biztrails are available to users:
a) A public area where all interested users can read selected content
b) A closed area where registered users can enjoy full access to Biztrails, a platform that facilitates more efficient travel planning through pooled knowledge

Biztrails registration and membership are free of charge, but membership is restricted to those aged 18 and over.

Your Biztrails membership begins when you activate your chosen Biztrails login information. You are responsible for providing Biztrails with complete and correct details of your identity at the time of registration. These details are to be kept up to date for the duration of your membership. If misuse of your account or login information is suspected, Biztrails has the right to block your access to the site immediately.
Your Biztrails membership is not transferrable. Only one Biztrails account per person is allowed.

2. As a Biztrails user, you warrant that all details submitted at the time of registration are complete and correct. Users are required to notify Biztrails of any changes to their user details without delay.

Users are not permitted to use a pseudonym or a nom de guerre.

As owner of your account, you are responsible for all content published under your user name.

3. If you wish to upload an image to your profile, you must comply with the following conditions:

a) Images depicting another person must not be used.
b) Images that are protected by copyright, trademark rights or other property rights must not be used.
c) Out of consideration for the sensibilities of other users, images with crude or offensive content must not be used.
d) Images submitted to Biztrails should be no more than five (5) years old, and the user should be clearly recognisable.

2. Legitimate use of the site

1. Due diligence by the user
As a user, you are responsible for all content published under your user name. It is therefore advisable to choose a password to protect your account, and to take all necessary steps to ensure this password remains confidential. BCD Travel will never disclose your password to any third party and will never ask you for your password.
Consequently, you are responsible for any unauthorised use of your account by third parties. If you lose your login information or become aware that a third party has obtained your login information and/or is making use of it, you must inform Biztrails of this fact immediately.

If Biztrails becomes aware of or has cause to suspect misuse of your user name or password, Biztrails may take the necessary action in accordance with section 3 and may, in particular, temporarily suspend or terminate your membership or your access to the site.

BCD Travel does not have the technical means to ascertain whether a registered user of the Biztrails websites really is the person the user claims to be. Biztrails therefore offers no guarantee as to the true identity of any user. As a user, it is your responsibility to confirm the identity of other users to your satisfaction.

2. Responsibility for submitted content
As a Biztrails member, you have a variety of opportunities to participate in the community and to submit content such as text, images and reviews. In this connection it should be noted that users are not permitted to use the site to disseminate, offer or make available any content that is illegal or that offends common decency or infringes the rights of third parties.

In particular, the following types of content are prohibited:

a) Racist, pornographic, obscene, insulting, crude or immoral content, and content that glorifies or trivialises violence
b) Content that impairs or imperils the development or education of children or adolescents, or that violates human dignity or other legal rights
c) Content that could motivate others to engage in criminal or immoral acts
d) Insulting or hurtful statements
e) Threats directed at other members, vendors or third parties
f) Verbal abuse, libellous statements, insults, lies or false information
g) Content that could infringe the data privacy rights of third parties
h) Content to which the user owns no rights and that infringes the intellectual, industrial or other property rights of third parties (e.g. trademarks)
i) Content that constitutes a data security risk (e.g. viruses)
j) Links to web pages containing material that is illegal, harmful to minors or otherwise prohibited
k) Private data such as telephone numbers and email addresses outside the user’s profile
l) Names containing addresses, telephone numbers or email addresses outside the user’s profile

Users are forbidden to use Biztrails and the data available through the site for advertising, spam, chain letters and similar purposes. You also agree not to rent or sell your account to third parties, or to offer or make it available to third parties for advertising purposes.

As a user you should note that BCD Travel, as the site operator, accepts no responsibility for the content, accuracy and format of submitted contributions or articles. Individual authors are solely responsible for their contributions. You should be aware that, by using the Biztrails service, you may be exposed to insulting, offensive or otherwise objectionable content, if the user responsible for such content has failed to comply with these Terms of Use and/or the relevant statutory requirements. Please report any such violations to Biztrails in accordance with section 9.

3. Reviews and travel tips / Reisetipps
As a Biztrails member, you are allowed to write reviews and/or travel tips. Biztrails reserves the right to publish these reviews and tips on the Biztrails rating platform. Biztrails members have no right to demand publication of their reviews and tips.

The following rules apply to reviews:

a) Reviews must relate to the vendor being rated.
b) Reviews must reflect reality.
c) Reviews must be objective and accurate.
d) You may only review services that you have used.
e) Negative reviews are allowed but must be phrased objectively.
f) Pejorative tags must not be used.
g) Reviews instigated by vendors/businesses, their family members or employees are not permitted.
h) Inclusion of email addresses, URLs or telephone numbers for self-promotion purposes is not permitted.
i) Pure advertising (covert or overt) is not permitted.
j) Content based on rumours, hearsay or unsubstantiated statements by others is not permitted.
k) Each branch of a business may be listed only once as a location on Biztrails.

BCD Travel has the right to block reviews submitted by Biztrails users if there are genuine indications that statutory requirements or these Terms of Use would be contravened. BCD Travel reserves the right to investigate and, if appropriate, delete reviews submitted by Biztrails users.

3. Rights and obligations of the site operator

Users have no statutory entitlement to use the Biztrails portal. BCD Travel makes every effort to keep the site running without disruption. However, BCD Travel cannot vouch that Biztrails will be operational and accessible at all times.

BCD Travel reserves the right to occasionally restrict the availability of the Biztrails service to a reasonable extent in order to perform maintenance and development work, provided such work is essential to proper or improved operation.

If you breach these Terms of Use, BCD Travel has the right to prohibit you at any time from using Biztrails, with permanent effect, and to delete any contributions you have published.

BCD Travel has the right, to the extent permitted by law, to monitor all areas of the Biztrails online community for compliance with these Terms of Use and with the code of conduct in particular.

4. Use of your data

As operator of the Biztrails portal, BCD Travel collects, stores and uses users’ data solely for the purposes of providing the Biztrails service. The personal details you provide at the time of registration are treated as confidential by BCD Travel and not shared with any third parties.
Should BCD Travel wish to make use of your data for other purposes, this will be done only with your prior agreement (consent). If it is no longer necessary to store your data (e.g. if you terminate your membership), all your personal details will be deleted.

As a user, you agree to your data being stored in connection with your use of the Biztrails portal.

For more information on data protection, please refer to the Biztrails privacy policy, which forms part of these Terms of Use.

5. Assignment of rights to Biztrails

a) Copyright and performing rights to submitted content and uploaded images, especially text and photographs, remain unaffected. However, by submitting this content (reviews) and/or uploading your photograph, you grant Biztrails the irrevocable, non-exclusive right, with no restrictions of time or place, to use the content and the photograph in conjunction with your chosen user name within the Biztrails community, for the duration of the statutory copyright and performing rights.
b) While upholding the moral rights of the copyright holder and your personal privacy rights, BCD Travel has the right, in particular, to reproduce, disseminate, make publicly available and make available on demand, in the context of the Biztrails service, your reviews and photograph (online, access and broadcast rights), and to archive them and include them in databases.
c) BCD Travel has the right to modify your submitted content and photograph only in so far as this is necessary for graphic display or editorial reasons.
d) BCD Travel will not pay any fee for the assignment of the aforementioned rights of use.
e) As a user, you guarantee that you hold all the rights to the content and photographs that you submit, and, in particular, that you are entitled to assign the aforementioned rights to BCD Travel. Persons depicted in photographs must have reached the age of majority and have consented to the upload, or else must have obtained such consent from their parent or guardian. If you breach these guarantees, if you fail to assign the rights, or if you assign incomplete or erroneous rights, then you agree to indemnify and hold harmless BCD Travel, in accordance with section 7, from all third-party claims.
f) You have no right to demand publication of your submitted content and photographs. BCD Travel has full editorial discretion as to whether to publish them. In the case of photographs, BCD Travel is not required to credit the photographer.
g) BCD Travel will make the data and/or information you have submitted available to other users, provided this data and/or information does not contravene statutory requirements or these Terms of Use. BCD Travel has the right to remove illegal content from Biztrails websites without notice.
h) By submitting content as a user, you agree not to exercise your right to be credited as author under section 13, sentence 2, of the German Copyright Act.
i) You are prohibited from using any mechanisms, software or scripts in the course of your use of the Biztrails websites. You may, however, use any interfaces or software made available to you by Biztrails as part of the services offered on the Biztrails sites.
j) Blocking, transcription, modifying or copying is not permitted unless essential to proper use of the services on the Biztrails websites. Copying using robot/crawler search engine technology is not essential to proper use of the services on the Biztrails websites and is therefore expressly prohibited.
k) You must not disseminate or publicly reproduce any content from the Biztrails websites or other users. Any action likely to restrict the functioning of the Biztrails infrastructure, and especially to overload it, is also prohibited.

6. Liability and limitations of liability

1. General
As a user, you use the services offered on Biztrails at your own risk.

As operator of the Biztrails online community, BCD Travel accepts liability for damage to computer systems, data loss and other losses arising from your use of the Biztrails services only on the following conditions:

BCD Travel is liable for breach of duty, including tort, only in cases of intent or gross negligence.

In cases of minor negligence, BCD Travel accepts liability only if material contractual obligations have been breached. Liability in such cases is limited to immediate, typical and foreseeable damage.
The obligation to pay compensation for death, physical injury or damage to health, liability under the German Product Liability Act, and liability arising from acceptance of quality guarantees remain unaffected by the above stipulations.

Where BCD Travel’s liability is not excluded or limited by the above stipulations, the same provisions apply to the liability of BCD Travel’s employees, representatives and agents.

2. Exclusion of liability for user-generated content
In providing a platform for third-party content, BCD Travel does not adopt such content, neither endorses nor opposes it, and does not edit it. Responsibility for external content lies solely with the respective vendor or user who has submitted the content to the Biztrails service, and not with BCD Travel. However, should BCD Travel become aware of external content that contravenes these Terms of Use, BCD Travel will respond appropriately in accordance with the Terms of Use (e.g. section 3).

If there is only a suspected breach of these Terms of Use, BCD Travel will not be held liable for the absence of any action unless the breach can be proven.

3. Links to other websites
The editorial content of the Biztrails website may contain links to external sites and third-party services. BCD Travel has checked these links and determined, to the best of its knowledge and belief, that at the time the link was placed, no illegal content was apparent on the websites and third-party services in question. BCD Travel has no influence on the future form, content or authorship of such linked sites. Consequently it is not possible for BCD Travel to continuously monitor the content of linked sites and, should illegal content be present, to immediately block access to the linked site in question, unless the content has been positively identified as illegal by BCD Travel.
BCD Travel therefore accepts no liability for illegal, inaccurate and/or incomplete content, or for any losses resulting from the use of linked sites. These are solely the responsibility of the respective website operator and/or service provider. If, as a user, you choose to access third-party websites via such links, you do so at your own risk.

4. Exclusion of liability for information provided by third-party vendors
In the case of editorial content produced by BCD Travel, Biztrails relies on information obtained by BCD Travel from third-party vendors. BCD Travel makes such information available in good faith but is unable to check the information for accuracy and completeness. BCD Travel therefore offers you no guarantees or assurances as to whether the information is correct, complete and up to date.
Entry and visa requirements in particular are liable to change at short notice, without the third-party vendor or BCD Travel being informed of the change in advance. Consequently, the individual user is responsible for obtaining definitive information on entry and visa requirements from the relevant embassy or consulate.

7. Indemnification by the user

If, as a user, you culpably breach these Terms of Use, you must indemnify BCD Travel, as operator of the Biztrails online community, against any and all resulting losses, including reasonable legal defence costs. As a user, you retain the right to prove that the loss incurred is non-existent or smaller than that claimed by BCD Travel.

If a third party asserts a claim against BCD Travel on account of content submitted and/or photographs uploaded and/or utilised by you as a user (especially claims for breach of privacy rights, copyright, trademark rights or performing rights) you are required to compensate BCD Travel for any and all losses incurred as a result of your culpable breach of duty. You retain the right to prove that the loss incurred by BCD Travel is non-existent or smaller than claimed.

8. Trademarks and other protected rights

As a user, you acknowledge that all rights to the online communication platform www.biztrails.de and its identity, including any other copyrights, performing rights, patent rights, trademark rights, licensing rights and similar legal rights, belong to BCD Travel and/or other designated companies or individuals and may not be used by you without explicit prior permission in writing from the owner of the rights.

In particular, as a user you are not permitted to use the BCD Travel brand, or to copy, modify, decompile or adapt in any way the software used on the www.biztrails.de website.

Likewise, you are not permitted to download, reproduce, extract or store in any form the designated works of third parties, such as photographs, without the express written permission of BCD Travel.

9. Termination of Biztrails membership

As a user, you have the right to terminate your free Biztrails membership at any time without prior notice or indication of reasons.

BCD Travel has the right to terminate your free Biztrails membership with four (4) weeks’ notice.

Otherwise, BCD Travel has the right to terminate your Biztrails membership with immediate effect in the event of any breach of these Terms of Use. If this happens, you may only register again as a Biztrails member with the express permission of BCD Travel. Biztrails members are not permitted to enable former Biztrails members whose membership was terminated without notice to use the site in any way.

Notwithstanding the above, BCD Travel may close down the Biztrails online community and the associated Biztrails services at any time, without giving reasons, after posting a closure announcement on Biztrails. In this case, your membership will end with the closure of Biztrails.

If your membership is terminated, BCD Travel will delete your user profile and has the right to delete all the data and content you submitted as a user. You have no right to demand that the data and content you submitted be published or surrendered.

10. User’s duty of disclosure

Biztrails operates in real time. Immediate review by BCD Travel, as site operator, of submitted content and contributions is therefore not possible. Owing to the high volume of data, subsequent review is only possible on a random, delayed basis.

If you are of the opinion that other users have breached these Terms of Use or statutory requirements in their use of Biztrails, you are asked to notify BCD Travel of your concerns immediately. The same applies if you are of the opinion that content submitted by a user infringes the rights of a third party, especially copyright, performing rights, privacy rights, property rights or similar legal rights.

To investigate and prosecute alleged infringements of rights, BCD Travel relies on specific, comprehensive details. You are therefore asked to report alleged infringements of rights by email to feedback@biztrails.de, if possible giving the user name of the accused, a description of the alleged infringement, relevant proof of the legal rights in question, and an indication of where the material can be found on Biztrails. You acknowledge that, in the event of a substantive breach of these Terms of Use or statutory requirements, BCD Travel has the right to identify the IP address of the Biztrails user in question.

11. Concluding provisions

BCD Travel reserves the right to amend or supplement these Terms of Use and the services provided with future effect at any time, provided the changes are reasonable from the user’s viewpoint, considering the interests of Biztrails. This is especially true if the changes bring no significant disadvantages to users (e.g. amendment of contact details, introduction of additional services and similar changes).

In all cases, BCD Travel will give reasonable notice of any change to these Terms of Use or any substantive change to a service, at least 14 days before the change is scheduled to take effect. This information will be sent by email to the address you provided at registration. You will be deemed to have consented to changes if you do not raise an objection within one (1) month of notification or if you use the services of Biztrails within this period.

All legal relationships arising from use of the Biztrails service are to be governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Biztrails membership services:

feedback@biztrails.de

Brought to you by

BCD Travel Germany GmbH
Otto-Lilienthal-Str. 1

28199 Bremen


Tel.: +49 (0)421 / 3500-656
Email: info@bcdtravel.de