Terms of use for mountain guides in the Mountain Spirit portal
Version terms-v1-2026-08, in force from 27.07.2026
1. Who enters into this agreement
These terms apply between Mountain Spirit SNC di Plattner Guenther & C., Zwölfmalgreiner Straße 8B, 39100 Bolzano (BZ), VAT ID IT02414740213, hereinafter Mountain Spirit, and the self-employed mountain guide who creates an account in the mountain guide portal, hereinafter the guide. The portal is aimed exclusively at persons practising the profession commercially. It is not an offer to consumers.
The portal is not open to everyone. Access is granted to those who have entered into a partnership with Mountain Spirit. Registration without an existing partnership does not give rise to any entitlement to approval of the profile.
2. What Mountain Spirit does and does not do
Mountain Spirit operates a platform on which guides can present themselves and their tours and courses, and through which visitors can send non-binding enquiries. Mountain Spirit establishes the contact. Mountain Spirit is neither a tour operator nor a travel agent within the meaning of the Italian Codice del Turismo, does not owe any mountain guiding service and does not act as the guide's representative towards the visitor. Mountain Spirit does not guarantee any particular availability of the platform and may restrict it temporarily for maintenance, changes or further development.
3. Requirements for use
On registration the guide warrants, and maintains throughout the term:
- that they hold the state-recognised professional qualification as a mountain and ski guide or aspirant guide under the applicable rules, in South Tyrol under provincial law of 13 December 1991, no. 33 and its implementing regulation, in Italy under law of 2 January 1989, no. 6, or an equivalent foreign qualification recognised in Italy
- that they are registered in the relevant professional register, in South Tyrol with the provincial chamber of mountain and ski guides, and that the registration is neither suspended nor cancelled
- that they hold valid professional liability insurance for the activities offered, with cover at least matching the requirements of professional law
- that they hold the tax and administrative prerequisites required for their activity, in particular a valid VAT number where required by law
- that they are not subject to any ban from the profession or any ongoing disciplinary suspension.
4. Evidence
The guide keeps the evidence for point 3 available, at least confirmation of registration in the professional register and proof of liability insurance stating the expiry date. Mountain Spirit may request the evidence at any time and verify its authenticity with the competent body. The guide produces it on request within 14 days.
Uploading the evidence in the portal is possible but is not a condition of registration. Mountain Spirit admits only guides with whom a partnership already exists and bases approval on that partnership. Mountain Spirit therefore does not check the professional qualification and does not owe any such check. Responsibility for meeting all requirements under point 3 lies with the guide alone.
The guide informs Mountain Spirit without delay if any requirement under point 3 ceases to apply, in particular if insurance cover lapses or registration is cancelled. In that case the profile is removed from public display immediately.
5. Duty of accuracy
All information provided by the guide about their person, qualification, languages, regions, specialisations, tours, difficulty grades, durations, group sizes and prices must be accurate, complete and up to date. Prices must be the prices actually charged and must state whether VAT is included and what is not included. Misleading statements about safety, difficulty or the experience required are not permitted. The guide corrects information that has become inaccurate without delay and on their own initiative.
6. Content and images
The guide uploads texts and images themselves. They warrant that they hold all necessary rights in the uploaded content, in particular copyright or the corresponding usage rights, and that persons shown have agreed to publication. Images belonging to third parties, stock images without an appropriate licence and images showing tours other than their own are not permitted.
The guide grants Mountain Spirit a non-exclusive, territorially unlimited, royalty-free right to use the uploaded content, limited to the purpose of presenting the profile and the tours on the Mountain Spirit pages, making them findable in search engines and promoting them in Mountain Spirit's channels. Mountain Spirit may adapt images technically, meaning crop, resize and compress them, without altering their substance. The usage right ends when the account is deleted, with a transitional period of 30 days for copies already distributed, caches and search engine indexes that Mountain Spirit cannot access directly.
If it turns out that content infringes third-party rights, Mountain Spirit removes it and the guide indemnifies Mountain Spirit against justified third-party claims arising from the infringement.
7. Approval reserved
Profiles and tours become publicly visible only after Mountain Spirit has reviewed and approved them. Mountain Spirit decides on approval at its own discretion and is not obliged to approve any profile or tour. A refusal is given with reasons. Mountain Spirit may withdraw approved content from public display at any time if it breaches these terms, applicable law or Mountain Spirit's quality requirements. Mountain Spirit may make editorial cuts and linguistic corrections without changing the substance. Review by Mountain Spirit does not replace the guide's own review and does not create any responsibility of Mountain Spirit for the accuracy of the information.
8. No guarantee of enquiries
Mountain Spirit does not owe any particular result. There is no entitlement to a particular number of enquiries, to any enquiries at all, to a particular position in listings or search results, or to any particular visibility. Mountain Spirit determines order and presentation freely and may change them at any time.
9. Handling of enquiries and visitor data
Mountain Spirit forwards visitor enquiries to the guide. In respect of that personal data the guide is an independent controller under Regulation (EU) 2016/679. The data protection clauses of the cooperation agreement apply in addition and form part of this contractual relationship. In particular, the guide may use the visitor's data solely to answer the individual enquiry and not for marketing.
The guide answers an enquiry within 24 hours. Where no substantive answer is possible within that time, for example because the guide is out on a tour, a brief interim message stating when they will be in touch is sufficient.
10. Contractual relationship with the visitor and liability
The contract for carrying out a tour or course is concluded exclusively between the visitor and the guide. Mountain Spirit does not become a party to it, owes the visitor no service and assumes no responsibility for the delivery, for safety, for the choice of route, for the assessment of conditions, for the suitability of participants, or for cancellations and postponements.
The guide bears sole professional and legal responsibility for their services. They indemnify Mountain Spirit against all third-party claims arising from the delivery of their services, from the absence of a required qualification or insurance, or from inaccurate information in their profile.
Towards the guide, Mountain Spirit is liable only for intent and gross negligence, and in cases where a limitation of liability is not permitted by law, in particular for damage to life, body and health. Mountain Spirit is not liable for lost profit or for indirect damage arising from temporary unavailability of the platform.
11. Breaches and suspension
Mountain Spirit may temporarily suspend or withdraw from public display a profile, individual tours or the entire account where there is sufficient suspicion that
- a requirement under point 3 is not or is no longer met
- information is inaccurate or misleading
- third-party rights in content are being infringed
- visitor data is used contrary to point 9, in particular for marketing
- visitors complain repeatedly and with justification about the guide
- the safety of visitors has been endangered
- applicable law has been breached.
Mountain Spirit notifies the suspension and states the reason. The guide is given the opportunity to comment within 14 days, except where the safety of visitors is at risk or the breach is obvious and serious, in which cases the suspension takes effect immediately. Once the reason has been resolved, the suspension is lifted. In the event of a serious or repeated breach, Mountain Spirit may terminate the relationship with immediate effect.
12. Term, termination and deletion of the account
The contractual relationship runs for an indefinite period. Either side may terminate it at any time without giving reasons, on 30 days' notice in text form. The right to terminate for good cause with immediate effect is unaffected.
The guide may delete their account in the portal at any time. If they delete it themselves, everything happens immediately and in one operation: the profile and all tours are not merely hidden in the shop but deleted, together with the images uploaded for them, so that not even the image files remain reachable at any address, and the account data, images and evidence are removed from the database and from the file storage. Where either side terminates without the guide deleting their own account, Mountain Spirit removes the profile and all tours from public display within 7 days and deletes the account data, uploaded images and evidence within 30 days, unless a statutory retention obligation applies.
Visitor enquiries already transmitted are unaffected and are deleted after the general period of 12 months. The guide remains responsible for visitor data stored on their own side and deletes it in accordance with the cooperation agreement.
Because no charge is made for use of the portal (point 13), no accounting document arises between Mountain Spirit and the guide that would have to be retained for ten years under Article 2220 of the Italian Civil Code. The guide's data is therefore not retained beyond the periods stated above. If Mountain Spirit introduces a charge at a later date, the statutory period applies to the accounting records then created, and this point is amended accordingly.
13. Remuneration
Use of the portal is free of charge for the guide. Mountain Spirit charges neither a fee nor a commission, neither on enquiries nor on tours that are concluded. Handling and payment of the tour are the sole responsibility of the guide; Mountain Spirit takes no part in this and settles nothing.
If Mountain Spirit introduces a charge in future, this point will be recast in full beforehand and notified to guides in accordance with point 14. Until then Mountain Spirit has no claim to payment under this contractual relationship.
14. Changes to these terms
Mountain Spirit may amend these terms. Changes are notified to the guide in text form at least 30 days before they take effect. If the guide does not object before they take effect, the amended terms are deemed accepted. The notification expressly points this out. If the guide objects, the contractual relationship ends on the date the changes take effect.
15. Governing law, jurisdiction, language
Italian law applies. The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from this contractual relationship is Bolzano.
These terms are available in German, Italian and English. Where the versions differ, the Italian version prevails, because Italian law applies and an Italian court decides. The English version is provided for ease of understanding only; in the event of a dispute the Italian version governs.
16. Separate approval under Article 1341(2) of the Italian Civil Code
The guide confirms separately, that is by way of a second, distinct approval, that they have read and agree to the following clauses:
Point 7 (approval reserved and the right to withdraw content from public display), point 8 (no guarantee of enquiries, free determination of order), point 10 paragraphs 2 and 3 (indemnity against third-party claims, limitation of Mountain Spirit's liability), point 11 (suspension and termination with immediate effect), point 12 paragraph 1 (termination without giving reasons), point 14 (unilateral amendment of these terms) and point 15 (exclusive place of jurisdiction Bolzano).
The portal obtains this approval by means of a second field that is not pre-selected and stores it with the time and the version identifier separately from the approval of points 1 to 15.