Trip Report Competition Official Rules

Offical Rules of the 2010 Trip Report Competition

Eligibility:
Competition is open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are eighteen (18) years of age or older at the time of Entry. Members of the judging panel are not eligible. 

How to Enter:
All Entrants must be registered members of InTheRoo.com with a valid e-mail address. The registered email address of the Entrant establishes the identity of the Entrant. To register for free visit the registration page.

To enter, create a new discussion thread in the Trip Reports section of the InTheRoo.com forum. Post the trip report in that thread under your registered username. The material submitted in that thread under your username will be considered the Competition Entry. 

Entry must report on a trip taken in part or in entirety in the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico and must have occurred after January 1, 2010. 

Limit one (1) Entry per person per email account for the duration of the Competition. If multiple entries are received from any person or e-mail address, all such subsequent entries will be disqualified. 

No purchase is necessary and there is no Competition fee.

Submission Requirements:
Trip Report must contain the following to be eligible: **
• Dates of stay. 
• Name of accommodations. 
• Minimum of five (5) photos (resort, beach, restaurant, attraction, etc.)
• Minimum of one (1) food photo and name of restaurant where photo was taken. 
• Review of at least one (1) restaurant, lodging or attraction. 
** At the judging panel’s sole discretion, exceptional trip reports not meeting all these requirements may be allowed Entry in the Competition. 

Entries that do not include all required information and adhere to the foregoing and following requirements will be considered void and will not be considered in this Competition.

Trip report must be posted online by end of Competition Period. Amendments or additions to trip reports made after end of Competition Period will not be taken into consideration.

Competition Periods:
Competitions begin at 12:00:00 am Central Time (Mexico) on the first of each month (8/1/10, 9/1/10, 10/1/10, 11/1/10, 12/1/10) and end at 11:59:59 pm CST on the last day of the same month (8/31/10, 9/30/10, 10/31/10, 11/30/10, 12/31/10 respectively) . Sponsor’s computer is the official time-keeping device for the Competition. 

Selection of Winners:
Winning trip reports will be selected by a judging panel consisting of the owners of InTheRoo.com Libby and John, Forum Moderators Susango and Dan-0, and guest judgeMichele from BuyPlaya.com. Selection will be based on, among other factors, usefulness to future visitors, completeness of trip report, number and quality of restaurant reviews, quality of lodging review, number and quality of attractions/tours reviews, number and quality of photos, quality of writing. Entrants agree that the Sponsor has the sole right to decide all matters and disputes arising from this Competition and that all decisions of Sponsor are final and binding.

Winners will be notified via the email address on their registered account with InTheRoo.com.

Prizes:
One (1) first place prize of $100 USD will be awarded by InTheRoo.com in each of the five (5) Competition Periods. Approximate retail value (“ARV”) of each prize is $100 USD.

One (1) second place prize of $50 USD will be awarded in the four (4) Competition Periods beginning September 1, 2010. Approximate retail value (“ARV”) of each prize is $50 USD.

A maximum of $600 USD will be awarded in this Competition. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received.

No substitution of prizes permitted except at Sponsor’s option. Cash prizes will be paid via Paypal. It is the sole responsibility of the winners to create a Paypal.com account and have the ability to access Payal funds. 

Partner prizes may become available, and will be distributed at the sole discretion of Sponsor. Partner prizes may also be subject to additional terms and conditions as determined solely by that partner.

The winners shall be responsible and liable for all federal, state and local taxes on the value of their prize.

General Conditions:
This Competition is void where prohibited by law and is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. In the event of non-compliance by the winner, with the official rules of this Competition, an alternative winner may be awarded the respective prize. The prize is non-transferable. Return of any prize or prize notification as undeliverable will result in a disqualification and an alternate winner may be selected. 

Entries: must be the original work of the Entrant; must not infringe third-party’s rights; must be suitable for publication (i.e., may not be obscene or indecent); must not contain obscene or pornographic material, may not contain defamatory statements, may not invade privacy or other rights of any person, firm or entity, may not in any other way violate applicable laws and regulations, and may not contain any copyrighted works (other than as owned by the Entrant). Entries containing prohibited or inappropriate content as determined by the Sponsor, in its sole discretion, to be inappropriate will be disqualified. 

Sponsor makes the final determination as to which entries are eligible. Submission of an Entry grants Sponsor the right to publish and use the Entry in any way, in any and all media, without limitation, and without the requirement to make payment to the Entrant or to any third party, whether or not such Entry is selected as a winning Entry. 

Releases:
By participating, Entrants agree that the Sponsor and their directors, officers, agents, employees, attorneys, and any other person or entity associated with this entity and/or promotion shall not be liable for any and all claims, damages, losses or injuries, including any third party claims, arising from or relating to, in whole or in part, this Competition, including Entry and participation in this Competition and acceptance, possession, use or misuse of the prizes. All Entrants further agree that in the event of any third party claims, damages, losses or injuries, arising from or relating to this Competition, they will indemnify Sponsor from any and all such claims, including the attorneys’ fees related thereto.

No responsibility is assumed for viruses, technical, hardware, software or other online Entry malfunctions of any kind or unavailable network connections, or failed, incorrect, incomplete, inaccurate, garbled or delayed electronic communications caused by the sender, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Competition which may limit the ability to participate, or by any human error which may occur in the processing of the Entry for the Competition. If the Competition is not capable of being conducted as described in these Official Rules, Sponsor shall have the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the sweepstakes. In such an event, Sponsor reserves the right to choose winner from all eligible entries received. Responsibility for receipt of Entry rests solely with the Entrant.

Any person attempting to defraud or in any way tamper with this Competition will be ineligible for prizes and may be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The Sponsor reserves the right to modify the rules of the Competition in any way or at any time, as long as reasonable notice is given. 

Sponsor:
The Sponsors of the Trip Report Competition are InTheRoo.com and BuyPlaya.com. Any inquiries regarding the Competition should be directed to info@intheroo.com.