If there is one topic that can divide Europe like no other it is the annual sunbed wars that grip beach resorts every summer.
Tourists wake up at the crack of dawn and wait for the gates to the hotel pool to open, before making a mad dash to reserve a lounger with a towel.
Now one German dad has successfully sued his tour operator because he kept on losing the battle for a sunbed.
The unnamed man had spent £6,200 on a holiday with his wife and two children to the Greek island of Kos in August 2024.
He thought he would not have to stress about reserving a spot in the sun because the hotel had an explicit rule banning loungers with towels.
However a district court in Hanover heard how the family’s mornings became a rush for pool space, with guests ignoring the ban in practice.
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The dad said that even when they got up at 6am, most of the sun beds had already been nabbed by other guests.
He complained to the court that the situation was so dire the family spent up to 20 minutes each day trying to find a spot they could all sit togehter,
The children were sometimes left lying on the floor because of the lack of loungers, he said.
The German man claimed hotel staff refused to step in to help.
The tour operator – which was not named in proceedings – previously offered £300 to the family in compensation.
But the court sided with the holidaymaker and ruled he was entitled to a partial refused of £850.
The court ruled the package holiday had been ‘defective’ because it had not provided the ‘character’ that the customer was contractually entitled to expect.
The ruling acknowledged that the travel company did not operate the hotel itself so could not guarantee sunbed access.
However the judges said the operator still had a duty to ensure there was a structure in place that meant a ‘reasonable’ ratio of loungers available.
Germans actually dislike the annual sunbed wars, despite the stereotype as one of the most dogged participants.
One poll showed that as many as 66 per cent of them opposed it and 14 per cent had even removed offending towels.
However a survey of German tourists last summer revealed that 71 per cent of them thought it was a ‘predominantly German’ custom.
British holidaymakers thought that the biggest culprits were fellow Brits, a different survey showed.
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