- EU law protects package travellers
- If unreasonable health hazard: cancellation free of charge
- hotel closure does not automatically entitle you to withdraw
In the years of the Corona pandemic, holidaymakers have experienced many unpleasant surprises with their package tours: closed beaches, pool ban or locked in hotel room. These are all actually reasons for one price reduction. But the tour operators are blocking, so far successfully. The tide has now turned due to a judgment by the ECJ. By the way: If Corona ruined your vacation, you can for two years after the travel date, try to reduce the price or ask for money back, such as financial tip reveals.
Locked beach locked in hotel room: reduction in the price of the trip?
Travelers whose package holiday was affected by measures to combat the Covid 19 pandemic may be entitled to a Reduction of the travel price the ECJ (Judgment of January 12, 2023, case no.: C-396/21). Because the corresponding Europe-wide Package Travel Policy provides for no-fault liability on the part of the tour operator.
Two travelers had booked a two-week package tour to Gran Canaria 2020 with a German tour operator. They ask for a price reduction of 70 percent because on the island to fight the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic imposed restrictions passed and therefore the tourists had to leave early.
Due to the corona measures, beaches were closed and a curfew was imposed in the hotel, so travelers were only allowed to leave their hotel rooms to eat. Access to the pool and the loungers was also prohibited and the animation program was stopped. After five days of vacation, the two travelers received word that they should be ready to leave the island at any time. After two more days they had to return to Germany.
EU law protects package travellers
The tour operator FTI tourism refused the requested price reduction on the grounds that he was not responsible for such a “general life risk”. The two travelers then sued FTI Touristik before the district court (LG) Munich I. The LG asked the ECJ to interpret the EU Package Travel Directive. This stipulates that travelers are entitled to a reasonable price reduction have for the period in which a breach of contract Template. Unless the tour operator can prove that the non-conformity is attributable to the traveler. Acts of war, the outbreak of a serious illness at the travel destination or natural disasters are mentioned as examples in the guideline.
The ECJ ruled that Corona measures constitute such a breach of contract. The reason for this and in particular its accountability to the tour operator be irrelevant. The guideline establishes the right to a price reduction independently of a no-fault liability of the tour operator. According to the ECJ, he is only exempt from this if the non-performance or defective provision of the travel services attributed to the travelers is, which is not the case here.
The LG Munich I must now clarify whether the blocking of the hotel pools, the lack of an animation program or the blocked access to the beaches of Gran Canaria and the visit to the island non-performance or one poor performance of the contractual services provided by the tour operator. This determines the amount of the price reduction.
In the event of an unreasonable health hazard: cancellation free of charge
Already in last year, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) with cancellation costs busy in Corona times, which can be very high the closer the travel date approaches (Judgment: BGH of August 30, 2022, Az.: X ZR 66/21). In principle, package holidaymakers can withdraw from the contract before the start of the trip. The tour operator is then but one adequate compensation to (the cancellation costs).
And this was the case: A woman over 80 booked a river cruise on the Danube in 2020 for 1,600 euros. Two weeks before departure, she withdrew from the trip because of the pandemic. The organizer held on to the cruise with a reduced number of participants and kept from the plaintiff 1,000 euros cancellation fee a. The woman did not want to pay for it and sued the organizer. She got her right before the BGH. At the time of booking, her age didn’t matter at all, but suddenly in the pandemic risk factor become. The risk of infection due to the cramped conditions on board was significantly greater than at home. At that time there were no vaccinations or therapies.
The Supreme Court has one unacceptable health hazard of the plaintiff in the affirmative, in particular because of the spatial conditions on board a river cruise ship, the non-existent vaccination opportunity and the non-existent therapies against Covid-19. The river cruise would have led to an unreasonable health hazard for the elderly woman, which is why a free cancellation was possible.
Hotel closure does not automatically entitle you to withdraw
Two other travel cases occupied the BGH, but they were not so clear. It was about the cancellation of a trip to Mallorca due to the corona-related closure of one booked hotels (Judgment: BGH of August 30, 2022, Az.: X ZR 84/21). In this case are Cancellation fees are possible, if other accommodation would have been reasonable in Mallorca during the travel period. The pandemic presented in the individual case, according to the judges not automatically a “significant impairment”. Therefore, the BGH referred the dispute back to the Düsseldorf Regional Court for further examination.
Preventive travel cancellation examined before the ECJ: In another case, a Baltic Sea cruise, according to the Federal Court of Justice, the decisive factor is that the customer has already declared his or her withdrawal and the organizer only then canceled the trip.
Whether the organizer has to return the cancellation fees in such a situation depends on EU law away. The BGH had already submitted a comparable case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in August 2022. He suspended the new dispute over the Baltic Sea cruise until there was an answer from the Luxembourg judges (Judgment: BGH of August 30, 2022, Az: X ZR 3/22).
Conclusion
Travel law for package tours is quite complex. The EU directive applies and in many cases helps to put the organizers’ unreasonable demands in their place. But the law was not prepared for the corona pandemic. In drastic cases, package travelers can try to enforce a reduction in travel costs from their tour operator with reference to the ECJ ruling. There is no guarantee of success.
