The reports concerning the spread of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) are currently coming in thick and fast. The virus causes a respiratory disease (Covid-19) that can have life-threatening consequences under certain circumstances.
The consequences were the various restrictions and the measures that the states have taken: For Germany, the travel warning applies in principle to all countries of the world, for other countries such as Egypt or Italy and Switzerland, entry restrictions apply and almost all countries have local restrictions (museums, churches, etc. closed). This has meant that planned trips can no longer be carried out, or, as is also possible, that trips have been cut short.
In all these cases, the holiday price has already been paid, but the holidaymaker does not receive anything in return. The situation is similar for those renting holiday apartments, for example in Denmark or the Netherlands.
As a rule, instead of a refund, the tour operators offer a voucher. So how should the holidaymaker behave?
In the case of a package holiday, provided that German law applies, the tour operator is obliged to refund the price of the holiday. The traveler is not entitled to compensation, nor does the law require the tour operator to fulfill its repayment obligation by issuing a voucher. However, the federal government is already considering this: if all tour operators were now required to repay the tour price in such cases, this would quickly lead to them running out of funds, which would result in an immense wave of insolvencies. In these cases, the holidaymakers would ultimately not be served either. So the German government has considered quickly amending the law to allow vouchers to be issued instead of refunds. However, a declaration or the consent of the EU Commission would still be required in this regard, and such a declaration is not yet available. In principle, therefore, the current situation remains that the holidaymaker is entitled to a refund. However, it remains to be seen whether the tour operator is financially able to settle all the claims asserted. It would therefore be worth considering whether to accept a voucher solution.
In the case of trips that are canceled or cut short, the question naturally arises as to whether there is a claim for non-material damages due to lost vacation enjoyment. However, this is not the case. The relevant provision of § 651 h BGB does not provide for further compensation in cases of exceptional circumstances, and thus also not for a claim for non-material damages.
When renting a vacation apartment, it is first necessary to look at the legal situation: this is not a package tour and therefore not a travel contract with its legally regulated forms, but ultimately a kind of rental agreement/overnight accommodation contract. In this case, if you have reached an agreement with the landlord abroad to rent the holiday apartment, it is likely that foreign law (e.g. Danish or Dutch law) will apply, rather than German tenancy law. It may therefore be difficult to persuade the landlord to repay the accommodation price, especially since legal disputes would then also have to be settled in the other country. In such cases, it would probably be advisable to accept a rebooking offer or a voucher offer from the landlord.
The statements represent initial information that was current for the law applicable in Germany at the time of initial publication. The legal situation may have changed since then. Furthermore, the information provided cannot replace individual advice on a specific matter. Please contact us for this purpose.