Terms and conditions

1. Scope and who we are

atelo.ch is operated by Atelo Courses GmbH, c/o Sandro Bachmann, Niederhofweg 12, 4617 Gunzgen, Switzerland, company number (UID) CHE-188.866.973, email support@atelo.ch (“Atelo”, “we”).

These terms apply to everyone who visits atelo.ch, creates an account, sends a request, or books a course through Atelo (“you”). Studios that use Atelo Studio are also bound by the provider agreement.

A request or booking is governed by the version of these terms published on atelo.ch at the time of the request or booking. On request we send you that version.

2. What Atelo is and is not

Atelo is a platform where you find, compare, request, and book creative courses and workshops in Switzerland.

Atelo is never the organiser of the courses. The organiser and your contracting party for the course is always the provider named on the course page and in your confirmation (the “studio”). Atelo puts you in touch and, where offered, handles the booking and the payment.

Depending on the course there are four ways:

• Booking link: you go to the provider's website and book and pay there. The provider's prices and conditions apply.
• Booking request: you request a place through Atelo, and the studio confirms or declines (section 4). Nothing is paid through Atelo.
• Instant Book: you pay on Atelo and are booked straight away (sections 5 and 6). Atelo collects the payment in the studio's name. Not every studio offers this.
• Class request: you ask for another date, a private class, or a team event, and the studio makes you an offer (section 8). Nothing is paid through Atelo.

Atelo is free for you. Studios pay Atelo a commission on bookings paid through Atelo. It is included in the price shown; we never charge you a surcharge.

3. Course information and order of results

There are two kinds of course pages:

• Courses from Atelo Studio: the studio enters and maintains the details itself. For a request or booking through Atelo, the details shown on Atelo at the time of your request or booking apply (price, date, place, content, requirements). They become part of your contract with the studio.
• Automatically collected courses: for courses with a booking link we collect the details automatically from the provider's website. They may be outdated or incomplete. There, only the details on the provider's website at the time of your booking are binding.

Studios and providers are responsible for their details. We may review content, ask for corrections, or hide it, but we are not obliged to and cannot guarantee that all details are correct and complete.

Order: we sort courses by relevance to your search (search term, category, place) and by date or how recent they are. Studios we work with closely as partners get a priority and may therefore appear higher. If a studio pays for a better position in search, we label its offers “Partner”.

Paid placements: on some topic pages we also show a studio that paid for this placement, in a separate area labelled “Sponsored”. This placement does not change the order of the other courses and studios.

4. Booking requests (no payment through Atelo)

For some courses you request a place through Atelo for a date and a number of people.

The contract for the course is only concluded when the studio confirms your request. If it declines or does not answer by the deadline shown, the request lapses. Either way you receive an email.

Payment does not go through Atelo but as the studio specifies (for example on site or by invoice). The price shown and the studio's conditions apply.

Using the link in your email or your account, you can cancel a request or a confirmed, unpaid booking until the course starts. Please cancel as early as possible. If the studio agreed its own terms for late cancellations with you, they apply between you and the studio.

5. Instant Book with payment through Atelo

Not every studio offers Instant Book. The course page shows whether a date can be booked straight away.

Steps: you choose the date and the number of people and enter your contact details. Before paying you see the studio as your contracting party, the course, the date, the total price, and the cancellation terms, and you can correct input errors. The payment button concludes the booking with an obligation to pay.

Contract: the contract is concluded between you and the studio as soon as your payment succeeds. Atelo accepts the booking in the studio's name. Immediately afterwards you receive a confirmation by email with a link to your booking.

Payment: Atelo collects the payment in the name and for the account of the studio. Once your payment succeeds, your obligation to pay the studio is fulfilled. The payment is processed by the payment service provider Stripe; you pay by card or TWINT. Stripe passes the amount on to the studio; Atelo keeps its commission.

Prices: all prices are in Swiss francs and include any VAT and all costs the studio necessarily charges for the course (for example materials), unless expressly stated otherwise.

Sold out during payment: places are not held while you pay. If the last places were taken in the meantime, no contract is concluded and the amount paid is refunded to you in full automatically.

No right of withdrawal: Swiss law gives no statutory right of withdrawal for online bookings. The cancellation terms in section 6 apply.

6. Cancelling a paid booking yourself

Each studio chooses one of three cancellation terms for Instant Book. Your booking is governed by the terms shown to you before payment and in the confirmation; later changes by the studio do not affect your booking.

• Flexible: free cancellation until 24 hours before the start
• Standard: free cancellation until 48 hours before the start
• Strict: free cancellation until 7 days before the start

Within the window you cancel on your booking page or in your account. We automatically arrange the refund of the full amount in the studio's name.

After the window, or if you do not show up, you are not entitled to a refund. You can, however, send someone else in your place at no cost: tell the studio their name before the start. That person must meet the course requirements (for example a minimum age). The studio may voluntarily do more for you, such as rebooking or refunding.

Mandatory statutory rights remain reserved.

Refunds go back to the original payment method. Depending on the method it takes a few business days until the amount shows.

7. Cancellation or change by the studio

If the studio cancels a date or your booking, we inform you by email. If you paid through Atelo, you always get the full amount paid back; we automatically arrange the refund in the studio's name.

If the studio moves your date or materially changes the date, time, or place, we inform you by email. You can then cancel for free until the new start, on your booking page or via support@atelo.ch; if you paid through Atelo, you get the full amount back. Minor changes that do not materially change the course (for example an equally qualified instructor or another room at the same place) are allowed.

If the studio states a minimum number of participants and a deadline on the course page and the number is not reached, it may cancel the course by that deadline; amounts paid are refunded to you in full.

You direct further claims arising from a cancellation or change (for example travel costs) to the studio under the statutory rules.

8. Class requests: private class, another date, team event

For some courses you can send your own request: another date, a private class, or a team event. The studio may make you an offer with a date, price, and details, or decline. You can withdraw your request and accept or decline an offer.

If you accept an offer, the agreement is concluded directly between you and the studio. You settle payment, cancellation, and other details directly with each other. Atelo processes no payment and is not a party to the agreement; we only pass on the request, the offer, and the answer.

9. Participation, groups, minors and safety

If you request or book for several people, you act for all of them. Tell the other participants about the course details, these terms, and our privacy policy.

The studio sets any minimum age. Adults may book, and minors with the consent of their parents or legal guardians. The studio's rules on accompanying children apply.

Follow the studio's safety instructions. Tell the studio directly about allergies or health limitations that matter for the course; do not put such details in Atelo's message field unless necessary. The studio may exclude people from the course who endanger themselves or others despite a warning.

The studio sets the rules on costs and ownership of materials and works, and on photos during the course.

10. Account

For some features (for example saved courses, saved searches, or all your bookings in one place) you can create an account. Sign-in works without a password, with a code or link sent to your email address. You can also set up two-step sign-in (a code from an authenticator app, or a passkey).

Your account is personal. Make sure nobody else has access to your email inbox. We may suspend or delete accounts that are misused.

You can delete your account at any time yourself on your account page, or have it deleted by writing to support@atelo.ch. We block it at once and delete or anonymize the linked data within 30 days, unless we must keep it for ongoing bookings or legal obligations (see the privacy policy).

11. Emails and newsletter

For requests and bookings we send you the necessary emails (for example confirmation, reminder, change, cancellation). They are part of the service.

The newsletter, the weekly overview, saved-search alerts, and reminders about saved courses are optional. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link in each of these emails.

12. Acceptable use

You may use Atelo to find, request, and book courses for yourself, for others, or for your team or company. In particular, the following are not permitted:

• automated reading or bulk copying of content (scraping), except by standard search engines,
• interfering with the operation, for example by circumventing protective measures or sending excessive requests,
• false details, fake bookings, and requests without a genuine intention to take part,
• use for unlawful or misleading purposes, and reselling places or content without our consent.

13. Intellectual property

Atelo's design, texts, structure, and brand are protected and may not be reused without our consent. Course content, photos, and logos of studios and providers belong to the respective rights holders.

14. Liability

The studio is liable for the course. You direct claims arising from the delivery of the course (for example defects, cancellation, accidents) to the studio.

For our own service (platform, brokering, payment collection) we are liable under the statutory rules for intent and gross negligence. For slight negligence we are liable only where mandatory law requires it. Liability for injury to life, body, and health remains unaffected.

We aim for uninterrupted operation but do not guarantee it. The operators of external websites are responsible for their content.

15. Questions, problems and complaints

For questions about the course, contact the studio first; its contact details are on your booking page.

For problems with a booking paid through Atelo, you can contact support@atelo.ch at any time. We help to sort it out with the studio. Please contact us before you dispute a payment with your bank or card issuer; it is often faster.

16. Changes to these terms

We may amend these terms, for example when we introduce new features or the law changes. Existing requests and bookings remain governed by the version that applied when they were made.

We announce material changes to account holders by email in advance. Further use is governed by the version published at the time; the date of the last change is shown above.

17. Final provisions

Swiss law applies, excluding its conflict-of-laws rules. Mandatory protective rules of the country where you live as a consumer remain reserved.

For disputes between you and Atelo, the place of jurisdiction is the registered office of Atelo Courses GmbH. If you are a consumer, the mandatory places of jurisdiction apply, in particular your place of residence (Art. 32 CPC). Disputes between you and the studio follow the statutory places of jurisdiction.

If a provision is invalid, the remaining provisions stay valid.

The German version is binding.