A German tourist receives compensation after a dispute over sun loungers during a family holiday in Greece. The man sued his tour operator for allowing guests to reserve sun loungers with towels, despite a hotel ban on the practice. The court ruled in his favor, awarding a refund of nearly €1,000.
German tourist receives compensation following sun lounger dispute
The unnamed German tourist was on a package holiday with his wife and two children on the island of Kos in Greece. He paid €7,186 for the trip but faced difficulties securing sun loungers for his family. Despite waking up at 6:00 am, he spent around 20 minutes each day trying to find available loungers. Other guests were reserving loungers by placing towels on them, which was against the hotel’s rules.
The man argued that the tour operator failed to enforce the hotel’s ban on towel reservations and did not address the issue with guests who were breaking the rules. His children were sometimes forced to lie on the floor due to the lack of available loungers.
Court ruling and refund details
The district court in Hanover ruled that the holiday package was “defective” because the tour operator did not ensure a reasonable system to guarantee access to sun loungers. Although the travel company did not manage the hotel directly, it was responsible for organizing a fair allocation of sunbeds to guests.
Initially, the tour operator had refunded the family €350. However, the court decided the family was entitled to a larger refund of €986.70. The ruling acknowledged that while the operator could not guarantee every guest a sunbed at all times, it had an obligation to prevent widespread reservation practices that made sun loungers unusable.
Context of sun lounger reservations on holiday
Reserving sun loungers with towels, often called “sunbed wars” or “dawn dash,” is a common issue faced by tourists. Videos on social media have shown holidaymakers in places like Tenerife sleeping on sun loungers overnight to secure poolside spots.
Some tour operators are introducing measures to combat this practice. For example, Thomas Cook offers the option to pre-book poolside spots for an additional fee. In certain regions of Spain, tourists who reserve sun loungers and leave them unattended for hours face fines of up to €250.