Terms of service

1. What Alpine Pal is, and what it isn't

Alpine Pal is a meeting place. We connect customers with independent instructors, handle the booking, the payment and the messaging, and take a commission for doing so.

We are not a ski school, we do not employ the instructors, and we do not teach the lessons. The lesson contract is between the customer and the instructor. We are an intermediary in that relationship, not a party to it.

That has a practical consequence: the quality, safety and legality of the lesson rest with the instructor, not with us.

2. Your account

You need an account to book or to offer yourself as an instructor. The details you give must be true and kept current, and you are responsible for what happens under your account.

You must be of legal age to register as an instructor. Minors may take lessons, but the booking is made by an adult who takes responsibility for them.

3. Instructors: qualification, insurance and responsibility

Teaching skiing or snowboarding is regulated, and the rules change from country to country. In France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland, among others, teaching for payment without the official qualification is not an administrative slip: it is an offence that can carry criminal liability.

Holding and maintaining the qualification, the professional licence, public liability insurance and any permit required by the country and the resort where you work is your responsibility and yours alone. By submitting your application you declare that you meet those requirements, that the documents you provide are genuine, and you expressly accept that responsibility.

Meeting your tax and social security obligations as a self-employed professional in your country is also on you.

• Keep your qualification valid while your profile is live, and tell us if it expires, is suspended or is revoked.
• Hold public liability insurance appropriate to the activity.
• Follow the rules of the resort where you teach, including any restriction on independent instruction.
• If you stop meeting any of these, stop accepting bookings.

4. What our verification means, and what it doesn't

Before a profile goes live we review the documents the instructor provides. When we have checked their identity, their qualification or their insurance, we mark each one separately on the profile, and we only mark what we have actually checked.

That check is documentary and made at a point in time. It is not a certification, an accreditation or a guarantee of the quality of the lesson, and it does not replace the authorisation that each country's authority alone can grant.

Qualifications shown as unverified are the instructor's own statement. We label them as such on the profile.

We may suspend or remove a profile at any time if we have reasonable doubts about its documentation.

5. Riding companions

In some countries we offer the companion role: someone without a qualification who shares the mountain with the customer without teaching. It is not available in countries whose law requires a qualification for this activity, and the platform blocks it at sign-up.

A companion may not teach technique for payment, present themselves as an instructor, or take charge of minors without their guardians.

6. Bookings

A booking starts as a request: the customer picks resort, date, time and duration, and pays upfront. The instructor has a window, twelve hours by default, to accept or decline.

If the instructor accepts, the booking is confirmed and a chat opens between them to agree the meeting point and the details.

If they decline or let the window pass, the booking lapses and the amount is refunded in full.

The instructor may propose a different time. The customer can accept it, confirming the booking at the new time, or decline it and get their money back.

7. Prices, commission and payments

The instructor sets the lesson price. Alpine Pal keeps a 10% commission on that amount; the remaining 90% belongs to the instructor.

Payment is taken through Stripe. Card details are entered in a Stripe form and never pass through our servers or get stored by us.

The amount paid by the customer is held until the lesson has taken place. From then on it is credited to the instructor's balance, which they can withdraw to their bank account.

The instructor is responsible for issuing any invoices due to their customers and for declaring their income.

8. Cancellations and refunds

Refunds go back to the original payment method. How long it takes to show up depends on the issuing bank.

If something went wrong, write to us: we mediate between the parties and can refund where the complaint is well founded.

• Booking not accepted or expired: full refund, automatically.
• Cancelled by the instructor: full refund to the customer.
• Cancelled by the customer: refunded under the conditions applying to the booking when it was made.
• Resort closure, lack of snow or weather making the lesson unsafe: treated as a cancellation beyond anyone's control and refunded.
• If the customer does not turn up, the lesson counts as delivered.

9. During the lesson

The customer must arrive at the agreed meeting point with a valid lift pass and suitable equipment, and follow the instructor's directions and the resort's rules.

The instructor may stop the lesson if continuing would be unsafe, or if the customer is under the influence of alcohol or other substances.

Skiing and snowboarding carry risk. Everyone takes part accepting that, and is responsible for holding whatever insurance and assistance cover they need.

10. Communication and conduct

The platform chat exists to organise the lesson. Do not use it to harass, insult, advertise or share other people's data.

We ask you to keep the booking and the payment inside Alpine Pal. Arranging the lesson outside to avoid the commission leaves both sides without the protection of the held payment and of our mediation, and can lead to the account being closed.

11. Reviews

Only someone who has had a lesson can leave a review. Reviews must reflect a real experience; we remove those that are fake, abusive or unrelated to the service.

We do not remove a review for being negative.

12. Content

What you upload — your photo, your biography, your messages — stays yours. By uploading it you allow us to display it on the platform for the purpose of providing the service.

Do not upload material you have no rights to. The Alpine Pal name, design and code are ours.

13. Our liability

We are answerable for the platform working: that you can book, pay, communicate and get your money back when due.

We are not answerable for the lesson itself, for the consequences of an instructor failing to meet what their country's law requires of them, or for harm occurring during the activity. That responsibility lies with whoever provides it.

None of the above limits the rights the law gives consumers, which apply in any case.

14. Suspending accounts

We may suspend or close an account that breaches these terms, provides false documents or puts other people at risk. Where money is still owed, we settle it anyway unless a claim is open.

You can close your account whenever you like by writing to us.

15. Changes to these terms

We may update them. If a change is significant we will say so in advance by email or on the site. Bookings already confirmed are governed by the terms in force when they were made.

16. Governing law and complaints

These terms are governed by Spanish law. If you are a consumer you keep the protection of the mandatory rules of your country of residence and may bring proceedings where you live.

Before that, write to info@alpinepal.com: almost everything gets settled that way.