Il Rifugio Booking Terms

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Arrival and Departure
Arrival time at the property is between 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM on a Saturday. Arrangements to arrive outside those hours are difficult and can not be guaranteed. If your flight is delayed, or you are held up for other reasons, it is essential that you call to advise us. Departure from the property must be prior to 10:00 AM on the Saturday of your departure.

Included in the Rental Price
Electricity, cooking gas, heat (in the winter) hot water, clean bed linen, towels, soap, firewood and basic kitchen and bathroom supplies.

Payment Term

1.	All prices are in US Dollars.
2.	For bookings made more than 4 months prior to the arrival date, 50% of the total rental price is due to secure the rental period. The balance plus the security deposit is due no less than 4 months before the arrival date.
3.	For bookings made less than 4 months before the arrival date, the total rental fee plus the security deposit is due at the time of booking.
4.	Please see Security Deposit, Cancellation Policy and Travel Insurance below.
	(Click here to see an example payment table...)

Security Deposit
There is a $500 security deposit for the first rental week plus $200 for each subsequent week in addition to the total rental price. The security deposit must be paid according to the Payment Terms noted above.
This is the owner's guarantee that any valuable furniture, objects, art, books, decorations and general household furnishings and equipment will be treated with due care and respect. Nonetheless, accidents and breakage happen in the best of homes. Please advise the property manager of any damage, however small, at the end of your stay.
The security deposit less any costs for damages or unpaid fees such as telephone charges, wine consumption, etc., will be refunded within two weeks of the departure day. If the cost of repairs or replacement is greater than the security deposit, the excess amount will be invoiced to the client and the security deposit will not be reimbursed.

Cancellation Policy
Notification of cancellation must be in writing. Your final payment is due four months prior to your arrival date and is considered a full commitment with no refund available after that time. For cancellations made more than four months prior to your arrival date, you can choose from one of the following two options:
 
   A) Pay a $300 rescheduling fee and reschedule your booking period, based on availability, within one year of your original arrival date. There will be no additional charge if you book into the same rental rate time frame, for example; Low rate to Low rate season or Normal rate to Normal rate season. Otherwise, the difference will be charged, based on whatever the new rate is. There will be no additional rescheduling's. The $300 rescheduling fee and the new booking date must be received within ten days of your notification to us.
 
  B) We will attempt to rebook the period that you canceled. In the event it does get booked; at the time of the re booking, we will notify you and refund all money received less 20% of the total rental fee. In the event it doesn't get book, there is no refund.

The reason for this policy is due to the fact that most bookings are made several months in advance, often more than a year. The opportunity to rent is all but lost when a cancellation is made within four months of the arrival date.

Travel Insurance
We strongly recommend making the necessary arrangements with a reliable insurance company to cover all stages of the holiday including flight or transport cancellations as well as for cancellation of your rental booking. Your travel agent should be able to help you with this.
Please see our Links page for some examples of travel insurance companies.

Extra services
Additional cleaning service, in house dinners, wine or olive oil tasting, guided tours, airport transportation, baby sitter, car or bicycle rentals, theater or restaurant reservations, special events, etc., can be arranged in advance. We cannot always guarantee that a particular service will be available. The more advance notice you give us, the more likely we will be able to make an arrangement for you. Please see our Services page for some examples.

Complaints
All efforts are made to ensure that the property is in perfect condition and fully functional prior to the client's arrival. Should any of the domestic systems or appliances malfunction during the stay, repairs will be made as soon as possible. We cannot be held responsible for events beyond our control such as breakdowns, leaks, power cuts, water shortages, floods, storm damage, strikes or force majeure.

Liabilities
We cannot accept liability for fortuitous events such as acts of God or war, riots or civil strife, terrorist activity, industrial disputes, labor strikes, natural disasters, fire, adverse weather conditions, or consequences of any person during the course of the holiday stay.

Miscellaneous
» The total number in the party must not exceed 12 people.
» Camping on the grounds of the property is strictly prohibited.
» There is no smoking inside the house.
» Domestic animals must not be brought to the property under any circumstances.

These conditions must be accepted by all members of the rental party. We can not reduce or waive these terms in the event of circumstances beyond control such as illness, injury or death, flight cancellations, war, civil uprisings, terrorist attacks, labor strikes, earthquakes, floods, storm damage or force majeure. If, for reasons beyond our control, we are forced to cancel the booking, we will do our best to find a suitable alternative rental property or rental period, or give you a total refund of all money paid to date.

A note to our guests
Please understand that many of the conveniences, which we accept as normal in some other countries, are not always as readily available in rural Italy. You should understand that the electrical systems in Italy function on a 220-voltage current. We have done everything possible to make available any necessary electrical adapters that may be needed.

The water at Il Rifugio is pumped from our wells, which is controlled electrically. The heating of hot water and the house is done with a natural gas boiler but is started and controlled electrically. You may experience a power or telephone outage during a storm or other related interference, which is fairly normal. Please understand that these occurrences are totally out of our control and that we cannot make refunds due to happenings such as these during your stay. Generally the outages are for short periods of time and will not result in any major inconvenience.

Three of Cortona's finest

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