A German tourist visiting Greece recently received compensation for not being able to secure a sun lounger due to other guests reserving them with towels. The tourist was awarded £850 by a court in Hanover after taking legal action against his tour operator.
The tourist, vacationing with his family in 2024, woke up at 6 am and spent 20 minutes searching for a sun lounger, only to find them all taken. He argued that the reservation system in place rendered the sun loungers unusable.
The court sided with the family of four, declaring their package holiday as ‘defective’ and entitled them to a refund. The man had paid €7,186 (£6,211) for the holiday to the Greek island of Kos. He claimed that his tour operator failed to enforce the resort’s no-reservation policy for sun loungers and did not address the issue with guests.
As a result, the children had to resort to lying on the ground. While the tour operator initially offered a £302 refund, the court granted a higher payout of £852.89. The court emphasized that even though the tour operator did not manage the hotel, it had a responsibility to ensure a fair distribution of sunbeds among guests.
The phenomenon of ‘sun lounger wars’ has become increasingly common during European holidays, with vacationers often documenting the chaos of securing a spot near the pool, bar, or beach at the beginning of the day. Some hotels have been captured on camera removing towels from loungers to prevent reservations.
