Wallet and Referral Terms

Article 1 — Purpose

1.1. These terms govern the ZiYou wallet and referral programme (the “Programme”). They supplement the Terms of Use (Conditions générales d'utilisation, CGU) and the Terms of Sale and Booking (Conditions générales de vente et de réservation, CGV), which must have been accepted.

1.2. The Programme returns part of the service and payment fees collected by ZiYou on each honoured booking. This share is credited to the wallet of the guest, the host and their sponsors, in the form of a credit that can only be used to pay for bookings on ZiYou. Only bookings made and paid for on ZiYou feed the wallet.

1.3. Wallet credit is never due in respect of a sign-up, a referral or a recruitment. Only a real, honoured booking generates it.

1.4. In the event of any conflict, these terms prevail as regards the operation of the wallet. The service and payment fees remain defined in the Terms of Sale.

1.5. Organiser. The Programme is organised by ZIYOU, a simplified joint-stock company (société par actions simplifiée) with share capital of €5,000.00, registered with the Melun Trade and Companies Register (registre du commerce et des sociétés) under number 131 242 513, whose registered office is located at 61 rue des Grisonnières, 77000 Vaux-le-Pénil, France, represented by its president, Jean-Christophe Bontillot (“ZiYou”). Contact: contact@ziyou.fr.

Article 2 — Definitions

• Reference price: the price of the nights actually invoiced to the guest after application, where relevant, of the listing's automatic pricing, and before any discount, excluding cleaning fees, extras, tourist tax and service and payment fees. Definition identical to Article 2 of the Terms of Sale.
• Service and payment fees: fees collected by ZiYou, equal to 13% of the reference price excluding VAT (VAT of the listing's country in addition), payable by the guest alone. The host pays no service fee.
• Wallet credit: the amount credited to the wallet, calculated in accordance with Article 5.
• Wallet: a personal counter in euros, kept by ZiYou, in which wallet credits are recorded. It is a credit that can only be used on ZiYou, and not a refundable sum of money.
• Credited amount: each wallet credit recorded in the wallet, with its credit date.
• Credit date: the date on which an amount is vested and recorded in the wallet. It starts the 18-month validity period.
• Sponsor: a user to whom another user, their referee (referred member), is linked (Article 6). First circle: the direct sponsor. Second circle: that sponsor's sponsor.
• Booking made on ZiYou: a booking requested, accepted and paid for through the booking flow of the website or the app.
• Honoured booking: a booking made on ZiYou whose stay has actually begun.
• Guest side / host side: the two referral chains of the same booking, handled separately.

Article 3 — Eligibility

3.1. The Programme is open to any adult user registered on ZiYou who has accepted these terms.

3.2. Participation is free of charge. No purchase, payment or contribution is required to participate or to refer.

3.3. Participation creates no employment contract, mandate or agency relationship with ZiYou.

Article 4 — Nature of the Programme and communication

4.1. Wallet credit is a deferred discount linked to real bookings. It is neither a salary, nor a guaranteed income, nor an investment.

4.2. ZiYou guarantees no amount. Wallet credit depends solely on the number and value of honoured bookings.

4.3. Any communication about the Programme uses the terms “wallet” and “referral”, always links the wallet to stays booked on ZiYou and never presents the Programme as a way of earning money by recruiting.

4.4. Any communication that mentions the wallet states, visibly, that the wallet can only be used to pay for bookings on ZiYou, that it cannot be withdrawn as cash and that each amount expires 18 months after its credit date.

Article 5 — Calculation and allocation of wallet credits

5.1. Calculation basis. Wallet credit is calculated on the service and payment fees excluding VAT, which are themselves calculated on the reference price. Cleaning fees, extras, tourist tax, VAT and discounts are excluded.

5.2. Effect of a discount. A discount granted by the host reduces neither the fees nor the wallet credit; it only reduces the price of the accommodation, and therefore the amount received by the host.

5.3. Redistributed share. Of the service and payment fees excluding VAT of an honoured booking, at most 40% is credited to wallets according to the scale below. ZiYou keeps the balance, i.e. at least 60%.

5.4. Rounding. Each share is rounded to the nearest cent. Rounding is carried out so that the sum of the credited shares never exceeds 40% of the service and payment fees excluding VAT of the booking.

5.5. The scale is the same for all listings and all countries covered by ZiYou. No wallet credit is paid beyond the second circle.

5.6. Missing sponsor. Where a sponsor is missing in the chain (no one above, account closed, suspended or non-existent), their 5% share is paid to no one and remains with ZiYou. The 40% is therefore a maximum.

5.7. Paying for a booking with the wallet does not change the wallet credit generated by that booking.

5.8. No wallet credit is generated by a booking concluded or paid for outside ZiYou, including where it is imported or synchronised from another platform.

5.9. Listing managed by a concierge service. The 10% “host side” wallet credit goes to the owner if the owner is the sponsor of the concierge service, and to the concierge service if the concierge service is the sponsor of the owner. In all other cases, it goes to the holder of the listing.

Article 6 — Referral and linking

6.1. A user who signs up with another user's link or code becomes that user's referee.

6.2. Invitation of a partner or service provider. A partner or service provider (for example a cleaning team or a co-host) who does not yet have a ZiYou account and who signs up at a user's invitation becomes the direct referee of the person who invited them. A person who already had an account keeps their sponsor.

6.3. A user who signs up without a link, without a code and without an invitation is automatically linked to a sponsor according to the platform's technical rules, without their consent being requested. They are informed of this linking as soon as they sign up.

6.4. The linking is final: the assigned sponsor cannot be refused. A user who does not wish to keep it may close their account and create a new one; their wallet is then governed by Article 12.3. The linking has no effect on bookings honoured before it.

6.5. What a sponsor sees. For each of their direct referees, a sponsor sees the first name, the initial of the surname, the role, the date of joining ZiYou and the profile photo. They never see the e-mail address or the nationality of their referees and contact them through ZiYou's messaging. They also see the wallet credit due to them and the booking that generated it, without any other identifying data. Each user is informed, when signing up, of what their sponsor will see about them.

Article 7 — Vesting and crediting

7.1. Wallet credit vests on the day after the guest's arrival date. It is then credited to the wallet: this is its credit date.

7.2. Before that date, it appears as “forecast” and cannot be used. Once vested, it is automatically credited to each beneficiary's wallet.

7.3. The wallet is neither a bank account, nor a payment account, nor electronic money, nor a financial instrument. It is a credit, usable only to pay for bookings on ZiYou; it bears no interest and is not refundable in cash.

7.4. Each user can view the history of their wallet in their account area: origin, amount, credit date and expiry date of each amount.

Article 8 — Use

8.1. The wallet may be used only to pay for all or part of a booking on ZiYou, under the conditions of Article 23 of the Terms of Sale. Vested wallet credit can be used from its credit date.

8.2. When a payment is made, amounts are used in the order of their credit date, oldest first.

8.3. A host or a sponsor may use their wallet for their own bookings as a guest on ZiYou.

8.4. The wallet is personal: it may not be given, sold or transferred. It may pay for a booking made in the name of its holder for a stay in which other people take part.

8.5. No cap: the wallet may pay for the whole of a booking.

Article 9 — No withdrawal

9.1. The wallet may not be withdrawn, paid into a bank account, or exchanged for money or any other benefit, whoever the user. No fee is applied to the wallet.

9.2. ZiYou may, in the future, reconsider the possibility of a withdrawal. This reconsideration is neither a promise nor a commitment; if withdrawals were opened, their conditions would be set out in a new version notified before its entry into force.

Article 10 — Wallets from the former platform

10.1. All wallets from the former version of ZiYou have been paid. Programme wallets start at zero.

10.2. Members of the former version must accept these terms in order to participate in the Programme.

Article 11 — Cancellation and refund

11.1. A booking cancelled before arrival generates no wallet credit; the forecast wallet credit is cancelled.

11.2. If a booking is refunded after the wallet credit has been recorded, ZiYou takes back the corresponding wallet credit from each beneficiary's wallet, in proportion to the refund. If the wallet is insufficient, the difference is deducted from future credits.

11.3. Where a booking paid for in whole or in part with the wallet is refunded, the part paid with the wallet is re-credited, in the same proportion as the refund. The re-credited amount keeps its original credit date, but remains usable for at least 90 days after the re-credit.

Article 12 — Validity period and account closure

12.1. Validity. Each credited amount is valid for 18 months from its credit date. After that period, the unused part expires and remains with ZiYou. The oldest amounts are used first.

12.2. The expiry date of each amount is permanently displayed in the user's account area. In addition, ZiYou sends a reminder e-mail every 6 months, starting one year after the first euro credited, only to users who have a wallet. Before closing their account, the user is informed of their wallet balance and invited to use it.

12.3. The wallet is lost only if the user closes their account themselves and confirms this closure after a screen warning them of the amount forfeited. In all other cases (account closed or suspended by ZiYou), the balance remains valid until each amount expires. A balance never prevents an account from being closed.

Article 13 — Taxation

13.1. The user is responsible for any tax and social security declarations relating to the wallet credit they receive. ZiYou provides the information useful for these declarations, without this constituting tax advice.

Article 14 — Fraud and abuse

14.1. The following are prohibited in particular: multiple or fictitious accounts held at the same time, fictitious bookings or bookings arranged for the sole purpose of generating wallet credits, circumvention of payment on ZiYou and any manipulation of the calculation.

14.2. In the event of proven fraud, ZiYou may suspend the account, cancel the wallet credit concerned and block the use of the wallet, after informing the user of the reasons. During the review, the user retains read access to the history of their wallet.

Article 15 — Amendment of the terms

15.1. Each amendment gives rise to a new numbered and dated version, notified at least 30 days before its entry into force. It applies to bookings honoured after its entry into force and affects neither wallet credit already credited nor its expiry date.

15.2. A user who refuses an amendment may close their account; their wallet is then governed by Article 12.3.

Article 16 — End of the Programme

16.1. ZiYou may end the Programme with reasonable notice. Users then have a period, stated in the notification and which may not be less than 6 months, to use their wallet on ZiYou bookings.

Article 17 — Governing law and disputes

17.1. These terms are governed by French law, without depriving consumers of the mandatory protections of their country of residence.

17.2. In the event of a dispute not resolved after a written complaint to contact@ziyou.fr, consumers may refer the matter free of charge to the consumer mediator (médiateur de la consommation): CM2C, 49 rue de Ponthieu, 75008 Paris — www.cm2c.net.

Article 18 — Acceptance

18.1. Acceptance of these terms is dated and recorded together with the accepted version number (“V3.5”). The same applies to each new version.

Worked example (no contractual value)

Night at a reference price of €100, France, excluding cleaning and tourist tax: service fee €13.00 excluding VAT (€15.60 including VAT). The guest and the host each receive €1.30 in their wallet, each of their sponsors €0.65, each of those sponsors' sponsors €0.65: at most €5.20 in wallets, at least €7.80 kept by ZiYou. These amounts can only be used to pay for bookings on ZiYou, within 18 months of their credit date.