German holidaymaker wins £900 payout after failing to secure sunbed despite 6am wake-up
The tourist struggled to find a spot for his family after fellow holidaymakers reserved seats with towels the previous day.
A German tourist has won a £900 payout after failing to secure a sun lounger for his wife and kids despite waking up at 6am to secure a spot.
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The holidaymaker reportedly spent 20 minutes every morning attempting to find a space to bask in the sunshine but every position had already been reserved with a towel the day before.
The hotel and tour operator on the Greek island of Kos, which had a policy explicitly banning guests saving spots, allegedly refused to take action against the rule-breaking guests.
This forced the man’s two children to lie on the floor when they discovered most of the sunbeds had already been “taken” despite rising early, he claimed.
The unmanned reportedly spent £6,203 (€7,186) on a family package holiday in August 2024.
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He claimed the family spent 20 minutes a day trying to find a spot where he could relax with his wife and two kids but failed to do so.
The man also alleged that hotel staff refused to intervene on the family’s behalf.
Judges at a district court in Hanover took the man’s side and ruled that he was entitled to a €986.70 refund.
But the tour operator, which the court did not name, had originally paid just €350.
The court ruled that the tour was “defective” as it failed to provide the “character” that the tourist expected.
While the travel firm did not run the hotel and was not contractually obliged to guarantee customers sunbeds at all times, the judges said it did have a duty to make sure there was a “reasonable” ratio of sunbeds to guests provided by the hotel.
It comes after a phenomenon dubbed the “sunbed wars” went on for days among holidaymakers in the Canary Islands, Spain.
Tourists were seen queuing for extended periods in a bid to secure the best poolside spots at a resort which guests said became a regular occurrence.
At one resort, a clip showed a sunbed hogger at the Paradise Park Hotel, in Los Cristianos, sprinting around a pool to lay down towels in a bid to save spots.
The phenomenon also reached the beaches, with furious locals filming videos of tourists who had gotten up at the crack of dawn to law down their towels before sunrise at packed spots along the Spain’s Costa Del Sol.