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Providing personal details during the booking process Bookings
Cancellation policies for bookings Security Privacy
Vacans is a service that allows you to book accommodation in Italy without using intermediaries.
You can check availability and room prices in real time and send bookings or booking requests directly to the hotel. In fact, the hotel will reply directly to your request.
It is always the hotels that independently insert their prices and information on availability in the Vacans system.
With Vacans you can book rooms anywhere in Italy with guaranteed availability and special rates negotiated directly by us.
We have been on the Internet since 2001 and our head offices are in Verona, Italy:
Is the service offered by Vacans free?
What advantages does Vacans offer?
How do I go about booking a hotel?
When you have found accommodation that matches your requirements, click on ‘Book’ and you will be redirected to the summary page where you will find all the hotel details and you will be asked to provide
your personal details and payment details.
All you will have to do is click on the button at the bottom of the page and you will have sent the booking directly to your chosen hotel.
You never have to pay Vacans anything.
Before you send your booking directly to the hotel, please read the terms of cancellation carefully; these are always clearly stated by the hotel.
What’s more, if you have any further requests, you can write them in the space provided.
All the information you provide will be sent using SSL protocol: Secure Server provided by Thawte.
Your details will be encrypted and will be visible only to the hotel.
Providing personal details during the booking process Are my details safe?
All information is sent using an encrypting system and a Thawte secure server (SSL); your details are confidential and protected by Italian privacy legislation. Why do I have to provide my personal details? The details requested are necessary for completing online bookings and so that the hotel can confirm your booking, contact you and, if necessary, send you information about your booking or the hotel.
Can I ask for my details to be deleted? Certainly! You can ask for your details to be deleted at any moment.
There are three different types of booking or requests that can be made to hotels: 1) With the first type (immediate confirmation), availability is given in real time and, as soon as you send the booking confirmation to the hotel, your room is booked. You can print the booking voucher you’ll need to present to the hotel on arrival straight away. Therefore your booking is confirmed immediately. 2) With the second type (reply within 24 hours), availability can be checked online in real time and you can send your booking request directly to the hotel; the difference is that the hotel then confirms the booking. You will have a reply within a maximum of 24 hours. Usually confirmation arrives quickly (after several minutes or a few hours) but in any case the maximum time is 24 hours. N.B.: With this type, your booking request could be turned down. Remember that you can consider your booking to be complete only when you receive the confirmation e-mail directly from the hotel and you can print out the booking voucher. To enable the hotel to send you confirmation of your booking request via e-mail, make sure that you insert your e-mail address correctly when requesting the booking. If you type your address incorrectly, the hotel will not be able to reply to you and this will lead to misunderstandings and a breakdown in communication. Therefore it is essential you ensure that all your details are correct before sending your request. 3) With the third type (via a simple request form), you cannot know if there are rooms available and therefore you have to send the hotel a simple request form. This request will arrive directly with the hotel, which will reply directly to you: by telephone, e-mail or whichever means of communication you have given as your preference.
How are online bookings managed? The booking is sent directly to your chosen hotel/B&B/etc., which organises the booking through the Vacans system. This system creates direct contact between the user who is booking through Vacans and his/her chosen hotel. a) If you have made an “immediate confirmation” booking, you can consider your room booked and you will not receive e-mail confirmation from the hotel. b) If you have made a “reply within 24 hours” booking, your booking will be complete only when the hotel sends you the confirmation e-mail and the booking voucher to be printed. c) If you have made a booking “via a request form”, the hotel will reply when it can using the means of communication you have given as your preference (e-mail, phone, fax). With options A and B, you will also receive an e-mail summarising the details of your booking. This e-mail contains a link you can click on to go to your private page within the Vacans site where you can check the status of your booking in real time. How can I check the status of my booking? You can check the status of your booking by clicking on the link that will be sent to you by e-mail as soon as you make your booking. This link takes you into the Vacans booking system.
There are various possible means of payment; which one you use will depend on the hotel, seeing as you will always directly pay the hotel and the hotel only. In most cases you will pay the hotel at the end of your stay using your preferred means of payment.
Usually the hotel requests a credit card number when you are making the booking just to serve as a guarantee of the booking and to protect the hotel in case the guest does not arrive or cancels after the deadline for cancellation stipulated by the hotel. For certain bookings the hotel may ask for a deposit; this usually happens with high season reservations or when the price quoted for the room is a special offer or in any case much lower than the usual price. Whatever your booking, you will always pay only the hotel. The Vacans service is completely free of charge.
Are there additional or hidden costs? We guarantee users a service that is free of charge and with no hidden costs.
Are the prices quoted per person or per room? Are taxes included in the price quoted at the time of booking? Yes. For all the holiday accommodation featured on the Vacans website, the price quoted includes all taxes, VAT and charges.
Is breakfast included in the price quoted for the room?
What do I have to do when I arrive at the hotel? Whatever your booking, you only need to give your name and surname or booking number. For your convenience we advise you to print out the booking voucher, if your room has been confirmed, and hand it to the receptionist when you arrive.
I would like to book by telephoning the hotel. Is that possible? It is not possible to book directly with hotels/B&Bs/etc. unless you use our Internet booking system. Many hotels/B&Bs/etc. have rooms reserved specially for us and special rates only for Internet bookings. Therefore, if you telephone the hotel directly, you may be told that there are no rooms available, or be quoted a higher price than the one given online.
Can the Vacans staff book the room for me? Our service is an Internet booking service that has been designed to allow users to book directly with the hotel/B&B/etc.. Vacans.com cannot make, confirm or cancel bookings on behalf of website users.
Cancellation policies for bookings What is a cancellation policy? (also ‘cancellation terms’ or ‘terms of cancellation’)
Before you definitively confirm your booking, the cancellation policy will be clearly stated to you. Usually the latest time for cancelling the booking without incurring a penalty ranges from 24 hours before arrival to a few days before, but for high season bookings policies can be harsher and you may be asked to cancel the booking many days before the beginning of your stay if you are to avoid paying a penalty. The hotel also decides on the amount of the penalty and it can range from the price of the first night only to the cost of the whole booking.
If you cancel your booking after the date set by the hotel as the latest possible moment for cancellation, or you fail to turn up on the day your stay is due to begin, the hotel can take the amount previously established as compensation for cancellation/failure to arrive from your credit card, or whichever form of payment guarantee you provided. Hotels usually state the terms for cancelling a booking without having to pay a penalty on our website. After the deadline has passed, you will need to contact the hotel directly because in this case only the hotel can decide whether to cancel your booking free of charge. If you cancel the booking in accordance with the hotel’s cancellation policy and within the deadline, you will not have to pay anything. If you cancel a booking after the cancellation deadline that was expressly stated by the hotel or in a way that is not in accordance with hotel policy, you may be liable to payment of a penalty. The hotel may debit a previously established amount from your credit card as compensation for the room(s) that have not been filled, or if you have paid a deposit, the hotel may simply keep that amount. Security We have a digital encryption certificate issued by Thawte, an independent body that guarantees secure transactions on the Internet. Your credit card number is NEVER sent by e-mail in its entirety; in fact, the hotel can see only a part of the number and has to access a special page that uses the above-mentioned security system to see the rest of the numbers. Your credit card number is always broken up and is therefore safer. Your details are later deleted physically and definitively from the system. To verify the authenticity of our security certificate, click on this link: Thawte.
Privacy How can I protect my personal details? The form you send contains only basic details such as your name, surname and telephone number so that the hotel can confirm the booking, contact you or, if necessary, send you information. No other personal details will ever be asked of you. Your credit card number is not part of the booking form and will not even be visible to you after you have made the booking. Your credit card details are handled according to security criteria in accordance with the law and they are cancelled shortly after you make your booking. Moreover, your personal details are handled in accordance with Italian Privacy legislation. Will my e-mail address be used to send me unwanted e-mails? No! Your e-mail address will never be used to send you unwanted e-mails. If you sign up for the Vacans newsletter, by giving your consent when you make your booking, you will receive information on special offers, hotels and holiday destinations in Italy around once a month.
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