The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has supported the request of two German tourists for a 70% discount on the price of their trip to the Canary Islands due to the restrictions against covid-19 in force at that time, in March 2020, and because they had to return to their country early.
The court, based in Luxembourg, has answered this Thursday to a preliminary question raised by a German court that analyzes the dispute raised by these two tourists who contracted a two-week vacation trip from Germany to Gran Canaria in the period between March 13 and 27, 2020.
Due to the pandemic, that trip was reduced by half, so those affected requested a 70% reduction in the price, taking into account that during their stay on the islands the beaches were closed and a lockdown had been decreed.
So travelers could only leave the hotel room to eat, while access to the pools and sunbeds was prohibited and the animation activities program was canceled.
On March 18, 2020, the two travelers were informed that they should be prepared to leave the island at any time, and two days later they had to return to Germany.
Considering that it could not be held responsible for what constituted a "general risk of life", the organizer of the trip refused to grant them this requested price reduction, so the two travelers filed a lawsuit.
The CJEU considers the cause irrelevant and attributes responsibility to the organizer
In its ruling this Thursday, the Court of Justice responds that a traveler is entitled to a reduction in the price of their trip combined when the lack of conformity of the contracted services is due to the restrictions imposed at the destination to contain the spread of an infectious disease, such as covid-19.
In this sense, the cause of the non-conformity and, in particular, its imputability to the organizer, is irrelevant, given that European regulations provide, with respect to the right to a price reduction, the objective responsibility of the organizer, according to the opinion.
The organizer is only released from that responsibility when the non-execution or incorrect execution of the travel services is attributable to the traveler, which is not the case here.
On the other hand, the judgment continues, it is irrelevant that the restrictions have also been imposed in the traveler's place of residence and in other countries due to the global spread of covid-19.
To be adequate, the price reduction must be determined taking into account the services included in the combined trip in question and must correspond to the value of those whose non-conformity has been observed.
Therefore, it is now up to the Regional Court of Civil and Criminal Matters of Munich, which sent the preliminary question to the CJEU, to assess, based on the services that the organizer had to provide according to the contract, whether the adoption of the measures adopted by the Spanish authorities to contain the spread of the virus could constitute a non-execution or an incorrect execution of the contract by the organizer.
Once that assessment has been made, the reduction in the price of the combined trip must correspond to the value of the travel services affected by the lack of conformity, the court concluded in its opinion.