F.A.Q.

1. How does escapade work?
Escapade is a marketplace of accommodations. Our Web enables you to book and ask information directly to the holiday rental agencies and the hotels collaborating on our website. To give you an idea, in Spain more than 200 holiday rental agencies and 600 hotels are collaborating on the website. We are not a travel agency; the holiday rental agencies, the hotels, and the B&B owners answer to your questions, your requests of availability, and your reservations on the website. As soon as you send requests (questions, blockings, confirmations of availability, reservations, etc…) automatic messages are sent to the property managers. In the same way, when a holiday rental agency or a hotel answers to your request, you receive an automatic email informing you that you have an answer on your reservation file.

2. Can I book by phone?
NO, it is impossible. Each holiday rental agency and hotel manages its own reservations on Escapade's interface; we cannot intervene in this process without endangering the good course of the process.

3. Can I ask for the telephone or the email of a holiday rental agency?
The use of Escapade requires the acceptance of some rules. One of them is that you can't request the data of an agency. It is given to you at the time of the confirmation. To solicit more information you have a link, To send a message, on each reservation file, allowing you to discuss directly with the agency managing your reservation. Indeed, we don't wish anymore to regulate the litigations between customers and agencies communicating by telephone and whose reservations do not match any more with the confirmations given on Escapade. We do not seek to importune you, but rather to give you additional guarantees all while protecting us. Your questions and the answers of the agencies are kept in memory and are added to the tacit contract that binds you with the agency at the time of the confirmation.

4. Is the price based on the number of people, the housing or the length of the stay?
It depends on the type of accommodation. If, for example, you try to rent a villa for 8 people but you are only 5, do not hope to get a discount. The price is according to the housing and the duration of your stay. The number of people does not affect the price. On the other hand, the number of people indicated is a maximum number that can't be exceeded. With the hotels, the prices are calculated according to the number of people and the duration of your stay. If you are alone and that you try to reserve a double room, the system will require that you put 2 people in order to calculate the proper price of the room.

5. Are the VAT and other taxes included in the price?
In Spain, Andorra and Italy usually all the taxes are included. In the contrary case, they are specified. In France, the VAT is included, but very often the visitor's tax (which is tiny) must be added.

6. How to obtain more information?
For each request, you will find a corresponding file on your account, and on each file you have a link "To send a message" allowing you to discuss with the holiday rental agency or the hotel managing the accommodation you chose. It will answer to your question on the same file. Caution: only ask a question on the accommodation corresponding to the file; in the contrary case it will not be able to answer you correctly.

7. Can I book in real time?
There are several possible cases: - When a hotel or a holiday rental agency gives exclusive accommodations on Escapade's system and accepts the payments by credit card, you have the possibility of reserving and receiving a confirmation of your reservation in real time. - When a hotel or a holiday rental agency gives exclusive accommodations on Escapade's system, but refuses the payments by credit cards, you can get the availability in real time, but obviously not the confirmation of your reservation because you must send a down payment by bank transfer. The reservation will be confirmed to you only after the good reception of your payment on the bank account of the supplier. - Lastly, when the supplier does not allocate any accommodation on the website, you must first send a request of availability, await for an answer of the property manager, then you have to send a blocking request, wait for a confirmation of the blockage in order to carry out your payment, and finally you receive a confirmation of your reservation. This process can take several days.

8. Who guarantees my booking?
Your booking is guaranteed by the hotel, the holiday rental agency or the Bed and Breakfast owner who receives your deposit or credit card data. They signed an agreement in which they commit themselves to give you an honest description of the accommodations and to give the best possible answers to your requests, questions and reservations.

9. What are the booking conditions?
On the description page of each accommodation there is a link where you can find its the booking policy. So please, take a close look at the booking terms of each accommodation before reserving it.

10. Do I have to send a deposit to reserve?
It depends on the booking conditions of the holiday rental agencies and hotels. Moreover, the conditions can change according to the periods of the year. If a hotel does not require a down payment, it will ask you the data of your credit card in order to guarantee your booking. In most of the cases, the hotel will charge your credit card of one night in case of no-show. All the holiday rental agencies ask for a down payment in order to reserve. Take a close look at the booking conditions of each housing before reserving.

11. To whom should I send the required down payment?
This information will appear on your booking file as soon as the supplier put an option under your name. You directly pay the holiday rental agency or the hotel managing your booking.

12. What does it mean to give the credit card data in guarantee?
Some hotels don't ask you any kind of deposit, they just want to have a trace of your credit card in order to confirm a booking. But, in case of No-Show, they will charge on your credit card an amount stipulated in the booking conditions, usually the equivalent of one night.

13. How do I follow my requests and bookings?
To send requests of availability, ask questions to the property managers, reserve an accommodation, etc…,you must create an account, My Escapade. Then, you will be able to follow the answers and the confirmation of your bookings by logging on your account with your email and password. The access is located on the homepage of the website.

14. Where do I have to go to recover the keys?
All the data of the holiday rental agency managing your accommodation will appear on your booking file as soon as the agency confirms your reservation. You will have to go to the agency in order to regulate the balance of your rental, to sign the contract, and to get the keys. If, by any case, you should meet in another place, the holiday rental agency will tell you where.

15. I sent several requests, and I still do not have an answer, is this normal?
Each holiday rental agency and hotel manages its reservations according to its own mode of management and its schedule. Some will answer you very quickly while others will take some time.... But, all know that the first to answer usually gets the booking.

16. I sent a request for a holiday rental that seemed to be free on your Web, and I got a negative answer, what happened?
First of all, you have to know that the availability of the holiday rentals changes quickly, it can be modified within seconds. Then, it is possible that several people ask for the same accommodation at the same time, in this case the first to send the request, the first to get it. Lastly, it happens that an agency gives a holiday rental to a customer through another channel of distribution (travel agency, tour operator, etc...) and does not modify immediately its planning on Escapade's website.

17. Why do I have to send a proof of the bank transfer to book a holiday rental?
Quite simply because foreign bank transfers, whereas the banks have the most advanced technologies to send transfers in real time, it takes 7 to 8 days for the beneficiaries to get the payments on their bank accounts. Your proof allows the holiday rental agency or the B&B owner to keep the accommodation under your name until the good reception of your deposit.

18. About the fluctuations of the tariffs and the last minute offers.
You will find different kinds of behavior regarding the prices. Some holiday rental agencies and hotels rather give better prices to the customers who reserve several months in advance, whereas others will privilege the last minute offers. Indeed, some holiday rental agencies and hotels can start a season with reasonable prices and increase their tariffs through time. Indeed, the availability becomes reduced while the demand rises; consequently, the prices increase with time. Whereas others, because of late cancellations and of accommodations not sold by tours, travel agencies, or other intermediaries, will publish last minute offers on the web. It's up to you to do the good search at the right time, good luck…

19. How can I book?
As soon as you send a request for a reservation, the system requires the access codes of your account. If you are not registered, follow the instructions by clicking on the link "To register". You do not have to reserve, this account allows you to track all the requests you may send to the holidays rental agencies and hotels collaborating on our website and get their answers.

20. Am I certain to get the accommodation I reserved?
The holiday rental agencies, the hotels, and the B&B owners take the whole responsibility to give you the accommodation or the bedroom you booked.

21. Will I receive a contract by mail?
In Spain and Andorra, some holiday rental agencies will send you a contract by mail, others a simple confirmation by email. On the other hand, do not hope to receive a contract before sending your deposit. You have to know that the Spanish holiday rental agencies do not have the obligation to send you a contract. In this case, you can print the booking confirmation on your account, it is a reasonable evidence of a tacit contract between you and the holiday rental agency. In France and Italy, the holiday rental agencies will send you a contract either by email or by mail. With the hotels, you just have to print your booking confirmation on the website.