SPECIAL OFFERS

• Special rates apply for stays from Nov 6 to Nov 25, 2011 and from Jan 8 to March 30, 2012.
  Book online and get our special rates automatically!
   
• And what about last minute bookings?
  Deference to our hosts booking and paying their stay long beforehand we have chosen not to offer any discounted rates for last minute bookings. Normal rates apply.

How many people can we accommodate?
The standard capacity of each apartment is specified on its description page.

When extra persons are possible, a supplement applies. When you insert the number of persons (including children and babies if any), the booking engine will calculate automatically the best rate. In case the number of participants in your party exceeds the maximum capacity of one apartment you may consider the possibility to rent one or several other apartments. In this case, kindly book each apartment separately and mention it in the remarks field when booking. All our apartments in Riquewihr are within short walking distance (50 to 150 meters only).

How can I see the availabilities?
The best way to see the availabilities is to choose one of the apartments (see home page) and from there you will see the calendars. Occupancy is up to date. Dates shown as available may have been requested but with a stay not yet confirmed (A booking is confirmed only after payment of a deposit of 30% of the total amount).

Select your dates and the system will return the best rate available according to the period of the year and the length of the stay you selected. Then, you can make a booking request.

How can I see the costs?
Kindly use our online system and follow step by step what is explained on the website: select the offer, select your dates and the system will come up with the best offer considering the length of stay and period of the year.

About stairs and levels... 
Our apartments are in medieval houses, part of the French National Heritage. We had therefore to keep intact the original structure with its different levels. Please note that, although the staircases are fully practicable, our apartments are unfortunately not suitable for people having mobility problems or for very big people.
Remark: The studio 'Refuge of the Imp' is at street level.

Do I need a car when travelling to Alsace and staying in Riquewihr?
No, you do not absolutely need a car when staying in Riquewihr. Actually the answer depends on how long you will be staying, in which season and whether you want to discover larger areas (Alsace, nearby Germany and Swizerland are easily accessible from Riquewihr) or only the nearby vineyards and cities.
There are buses from Riquewihr to Ribeauvillé and Colmar. From Colmar train station, you have high speed trains (TGV) to Paris and even Zurich, as well as many fast regional trains to Strasbourg and Basel. Visit the dedicated website for public transportation in Alsace (English version available).

What about parking?
A genuine medieval city is not very well adapted to modern cars as everybody can imagine. But this will add charm and romance to your stay and make it unique. After check in, it is possible to drive to the house and unload the luggage. After that, it is necessary to park the car on one of the public parkings 50 / 200 meters away (depending in which of our apartments you are staying). There are plenty of parking places (some of them are free of charge) around the medieval city but no place is specially reserved for us. Recently we made an agreement with the owner of parking lots inside the old city of Riquewihr. An optional secluded parking facility is now available upon request when you make an online booking (EUR 5 / day).
We can also get special parking passes for the duration of your stay at a privileged rate. With such a parking pass, you have unlimited parking on public spaces for EUR 2 / day. If you have a car, we do recommend to book at least this option for its high flexibility and low cost and because there is no free public parking available in Riquewihr. Select the parking option when booking.

About heating in Winter
In fact the concern is not the heating itself but the behavior some people might have. In most of the places for rent during the Winter, heating is not included and comes on top of the rental amount. We have chosen - for the comfort of our guests - to include "reasonable heating". This can be a big risk for us since, unfortunately, some people have no idea about heating and cost management, especially nowadays when energy is getting so expensive. Some people will push the temperature up to 25°C in Winter while wearing only a T-shirt. Such a behavior does not have the same impact on costs as leaving the temperature on 21°C and wearing a sweater.
We also found out that some people go out for the whole day and leave the heating at full power! One day we found the heating of the Dove's Nest house switched to 31°C after all people had departed... We have invested a lot of efforts and money in the restoration of that places in order to offer some of the nicest places available in Alsace at a very reasonable rental rate. We wish to maintain that level of rates as low as possible. To achieve that, we need to make sure that our guests understand this correctly, share and agree with our approach and behave accordingly.

About children
We are happy to welcome well behaved children under the full responsability of the parents in our Winemaker's property. A credit card print is requested upon arrival to cover damages if any.
Remark: all 3 holiday homes of the Ramparts 1500 Property (Dove's Nest, Sentinel and Refuge of the Imp) are not suitable for children.

How big is the city?
There are only 1200 inhabitants in Riquewihr, but an incredible number of places to visit, restaurants and coffee shops and places where to eat cakes or taste great wines! Riquewihr is indeed one of the most prettiest villages in France, it is not only a slogan. Some 12 kilometres away only (10-15 minutes) is the town of Colmar (approx 90 000 inhabitants) where you will even find more boutiques and all kinds of lovely things to eat or to buy...

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FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about the Sales Conditions

1. Question - Why such a long and precise Sales and Conditions page? 

1. Answer - Having the conditions on our site is mandatory by law. If you came accross sites or places without this, it only means that they are not complying with French and European rules and regulations. A lot of people offering accommodation are not always aware of the legal aspects. If a problem occurs, they will be in trouble and will put their guests into trouble. The content of our sales conditions is what is provided by the French administration and professional organizations. We did not write them ourselves. This is explained in the first paragraph. When a tourist is renting an apartment or a house, his legal status is not different from a family or anyone renting a furnished flat for any other personal reason. The main philosophy is very simple and easy to understand: the renter must take good care of what he rents.

2. Question - What is "taking good care"?

2. Answer - The answer is very simple: not being careless! Let us take some examples: breaking a glass can happen to anybody. Unless it is thrown against the wall in a moment of anger, it is an accident. During more than 5 years of activity at Le Clos de la Rose (our former Bed and Breakfast near the Champagne vineyards), we had to change maybe 10 glasses. We never asked anybody for a single penny because of a glass. And we never had any other damage but a fireplace window shield broken by accident (fire was mishandled). The client's insurance paid for it.
But a renter thinking that because he is paying a rent entitles him to be unbehaved should be charged for the damages. We believe that a renter having his black shoes shining with some costly bath towel should be given the towel to take home and be charged for it. A renter not caring for removing his shoes full of mud when he comes back from a walk and crossing the house and the sleeping room carpet with them is an unbehaved person and should be charged for the extra cleaning. All this has more to do with behaving and education than with real risk.

3. Question - In the sales conditions it states "the tenant promises to take out insurance against tenancy risks" and below it states "the landlord promises to insure the accommodation against tenancy risks on the tenants behalf". Does that mean I do not have to take out the insurance?

3. Answer - It is mandatory to have a personal insurance here around. Most of the personal insurances cover the risks when travelling and renting another place for a short period of time. But since in some countries it is not mandatory to have a personal insurance, we are obliged to mention this and make sure the traveller takes this into consideration. As an owner we have an insurance for majors risks. But this does not cover the damages our guests might create. Kindly check with your personal / home insurance if unsure.

4. Question - The sales conditions state that the credit card print taken as a security deposit will be valid for a 1 week period after departure of the traveller. I would have thought it would be cancelled when we leave, if we left the place as we found it?

4. Answer - The reason is very simple to understand: it is impossible to inspect in detail the place when people leave. Most of the problems are often discovered much later. Take our Dove's Nest house in Riquewihr. It is quite large and full of antiques and a lot of sophisticated equipment. Some of them are used only from time to time. Other owners say such a problem is sometimes discovered by the following guest only and not by the house maid. Should a place remain empty for some days, you see that a week delay is quite reasonable.

5. About our cancellation policy - Deposits paid to us are not refundable. Why?

5. Answer - More about the legal aspect of deposits.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued July 18, 2007 an important decision (Case No. 277/05) about deposits. This decision applies in the 27 countries of the European Union.

An hotelier in France took deposits from guests who booked rooms in advance. A dispute over the VAT due on these deposits arose where retained by the hotelier because of the guests canceling the booking; were the remuneration for the reservation service and subject to VAT, or cancellation payments to compensate for the loss of a guest’s custom and therefore not subject to VAT?

The ECJ (18 July 2007) held that Articles 2(1) and 6(1) of the Sixth Directive meant that a sum paid as a deposit was to be regarded, where the hotelier retained the amount as a result of the guest canceling, as compensation for the loss suffered as a result of the cancellation. It had no direct connection with the supply of any service for consideration – and therefore not subject to VAT.

Before the decision of the ECJ, it was possible to read a lot of different opinions about deposits and refund of deposits. Someones said that deposits should be refunded when the cancellation occurred a long time before the date of the stay, others also said that if the room / apartment was rebooked, the deposit had to be refunded.

None of this has then to be taken into consideration: ECJ says clearly that deposits have "no direct connection with the supply of any service for consideration".
In principle, the decision concerns all agreements whereby parties agree upon cancellation charges in advance, which a party cancelling the agreement owed the counterparty.

Actually a "refundable deposit" makes no sense: every professional is free to require a deposit or not. A large hotel may have a very flexible cancellation policy.
We have a limited number of apartments and each one is unique - it means it cannot be replaced by any other one - and each reservation is for a precise apartment.
Vacations rentals, especially for longer stays, are booked a long time in advance.
Many of our guests are preparing their trip several months, if not a year or more, in advance. This means sometimes planning a complex circuit with accommodation, events and transportation... To satisfy guests planning a long time ahead, we need absolutely to work on a reliable planning. We cannot afford taking the risk of blocking our vacation rentals, turn down a lot of requests and end up with somebody who changes his mind when the stay gets nearer.

Of course, we understand that daily life might be subject to unforeseen circumstances. Therefore we strongly recommend a travel / cancellation insurance. But no insurance will cover a change of mind of the client. In this case, and as the law says (Article L 114-1 of the last paragraph of the Consumer Code) : "each contractor may reverse its commitment, the consumer losing the deposit, the business returning the double."

Rmk: If you pay your deposit / stay with some credit cards like a Visa Premier or Mastercard Gold, your credit card is including a free cancellation insurance. Check with your credit card company. Anyway, a cancellation insurance can be obtained from most of the banks, can also be subscribed online and is rather cheap. As an example, here is a link to one insurance company offering travel / cancellation insurance: Travel Insurance Services

Should you have any other question, do not hesitate to ask.