A tourist from Germany sued over not being able to sunbathe on a sunbed during his holiday in Greece, because other tourists constantly occupied them by marking them with towels, writes BBC.
Photo by Peter Cade / Getty Images
This man, whose name has not been released in the press, was on holiday with his family in Greece in 2024. Every morning he would get up at six o'clock to reserve a sunbed — and still failed.
For the holiday at a hotel on the Greek island of Kos for his entire family — him, his wife, and two children — he paid 7186 euros.
Upon returning, he complained to the Hanover district court about the tour operator for not fighting against this practice of "reserving" sunbeds with towels.
In court, he said that the hotel itself had banned this practice, but the tour operator did nothing to enforce the ban, meaning it did not require guests not to mark sunbeds with towels.
As a result, according to him, his children had to sunbathe on the floor.
The tour operator had already paid him 350 euros in compensation before the trial, but the court decided that this was not enough and awarded him 986 euros and 70 cents.
The judge explained that, although the tour operator does not own the hotel and therefore cannot personally ensure a free sunbed for each of its clients, it should still have ensured that the holiday at the resort where it sells tours was properly organized, including providing a "reasonable" ratio of sunbeds to guests.
Tourists face the problem of sunbeds or loungers constantly "reserved" with towels in many places.
Last year, for example, videos appeared on social media of tourists in the Canary Islands sleeping in loungers to avoid losing their spot by the pool.
Some tourist companies try to combat this problem. Thomas Cook Tourism, for example, offers clients the option to book a spot by the pool in advance — for an additional fee.
In Spain, in some places, large fines have been introduced for tourists who occupy a sunbathing spot with a towel or their belongings and then disappear for a long time.
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