Article 1: Definitions

Each term written in capital letters below has the meaning assigned to it in this section:

• 'TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE' (TCU) refers to this document.
• 'CLIENT' refers to the person who has stayed in a Gîtes de France® labeled accommodation and who writes a review about it.
• 'OWNER' refers to the person who owns accommodation listed on one of the Gîtes de France® network websites.

Article 2: Scope of Application

Reviews are now a key element in the research and booking decision processes for internet users. They also provide owners with valuable information to continuously improve their services and enhance their customer relations.
These Terms and Conditions of Use (TCU) outline the principles and rules for collecting, moderating, and displaying online client reviews. They ensure the reliability of the collection process and define the principles and requirements established by Gîtes de France® to treat client reviews transparently and fairly. The review process includes the stages of collection, moderation, and publication.

Article 3: User Information

Gîtes de France® sets out principles and rules for collecting, moderating, and publishing reviews, which clients must follow for their reviews to be accepted and published.
Submitting a review does not grant any financial advantage or compensation to the client.

3.1 Independence – The review collection, moderation, and publication processes are entirely independent of advertising and product/service sales on the website.

3.2 Accessibility – The TCU is displayed at the time of review submission; acceptance is confirmed via a checkbox during the submission process.

3.3 Acceptance – By checking the box when submitting their first review, the client formally accepts the TCU. At this time, the client also certifies that they:

• Are a physical person,
• Are not in a conflict of interest,
• Have personally experienced the stay for which they are submitting the review,
• Are attaching only materials (documents, photos, etc.) that they own and/or have the right to use,
• Accept to be contacted for verification purposes.

Gîtes de France® will reject reviews that do not comply with these principles.

Gîtes de France® commits to:

• Allowing each client, for every contract registered with Gîtes de France®, to leave a review after their stay on the accommodation they occupied,
• Not selecting clients based on the perception of their experience (positive or negative) or their characteristics (e.g., frequent customers),
• Ensuring no inaccurate or misleading representation of the reviewed accommodation (the accommodation reference is noted on the online form),
• Ensuring a review is not published if the author requests its removal (checkbox at the end of the review submission form).

3.4 Contact – Gîtes de France® may contact the client to verify the authenticity of the review. If the client does not respond to verification, their review may be removed.

3.5 Intellectual Property – The client grants Gîtes de France® the exclusive, free rights to reproduce, represent, translate, use, exploit, adapt, and distribute the reviews they publish.

Article 4: Collection Process

4.1 General Principles – The objective of review collection is to gather client opinions objectively and verifiably, ensuring that no bias is introduced by any party. It ensures clients can express their opinion on their stay, with full knowledge of the submission process, and without influencing their opinion. Authors with conflicts of interest are excluded.
Reviews are solicited from clients who have stayed in Gîtes de France® labeled accommodations, supported by dematerialized rental contracts, with reservations made via the www.gites-de-france.com site or, in some cases, directly with the owners.

4.2 Purpose – Reviews are collected for various purposes, including:

• Evaluating client satisfaction after their stay,
• Comparing reviews on different accommodations to assist users in their booking decisions,
• Promoting Gîtes de France Calvados’ offerings.

4.3 Personal Data Protection – Gîtes de France® complies with applicable personal data protection laws. In accordance with French Law No. 78-17 of January 6, 1978, known as the Data Protection Act, clients have the right to access, modify, correct, and delete their reviews and any information concerning them by contacting Gîtes de France® at 8, rue d’Athènes - 75009 PARIS, or via the contact form on www.gites-de-france.com.

4.4 Review Author Identification – A review must include the following attributes to attest to the stay experience, which are collected during the submission phase:

• Client identification,
• Timestamp of the review submission,
• Stay period,
• Structured questionnaire.
  The client also agrees to be contacted for verification or further information.

4.5 Content Structuring during Collection – Gîtes de France® allows the client to describe their stay experience in their own words. However, they must:

• Comply with regulations, particularly regarding consumer protection, competition law, press law, intellectual property, etc.,
• Not copy comments or reviews from others,
• Submit a readable, clear, and comprehensible review,
• Avoid SMS language, spelling mistakes, vulgar or offensive language, abbreviations (e.g., 'c' instead of 'c’est,' 'ki' instead of 'qui'),
• Adhere to text length restrictions,
• Ensure the language used is as neutral as possible.

4.6 Review Form – Gîtes de France® provides clients with a questionnaire covering their stay. Gîtes de France® does not guide the review in any direction. The client can describe their stay experience in their own words and language.

4.7 Verification Process during Collection – Gîtes de France® has developed verification processes for collected content to ensure it complies with the principles and rules. These processes combine automated tools and manual verification processes. Reviews are analyzed based on:

• Consumer identification characteristics collected during the user identification process,
• User behavior,
• Comparison of the assigned rating with the average,
• Review of the language used.

Based on these analyses, Gîtes de France® immediately initiates moderation and publication of non-problematic content.