Family given £280 refund after Greek holiday – because they couldn’t get a hotel sunlounger
A FAMILY were given nearly £300 in compensation after their holiday to Greece – because they complained they were unable to use a hotel sunlounger on their holiday.
The holidaymakers, from Bischofswerda, a small village in Germany, spent €5,260 (£4,532) on their package holiday to Rhodes.
According to Bild, a newspaper in Germany, the family were staying at the TUI Kids Club Atlantica Mikri Poli hotel, which has around 500 sunloungers dotted through its complex.
The Greek hotel is said to operate a strict “no-hogging” policy of its sunbeds.
This means holidaymakers are unable to use their towels to reserve sunloungers for longer than 30 minutes.
However, the German holidaymakers have argued that hotel staff failed to implement the policy, which meant they were unable to use the hotel’s sunloungers.
According to court documents obtained by Bild, the family were unable to find any unreserved sunloungers after 9am, except for one single day.
Yesterday, on Thursday, January 4, 2024, a judge at Hanover District Court ruled that the hotel had deprived the family of part of their holiday, and the family were awarded €322.77 (£278) in compensation.
The verdict, which is not yet legally binding, can still be appealed by both parties.
Sun Online Travel have contacted TUI for a comment.
Every year, resorts throughout Europe become the sites of battles for sunbeds, with guests getting up at the crack of dawn to reserve the best spots.
Last year, Tiktoker Thomas Clifford (@thomaswclifford) captured footage of holidaymakers queueing up for sunbeds before 8am at a resort in Spain.
In the video, people are seen queueing up around the pool, before darting towards the best spots, to make sure they get their towels down.
The footage starts with a close-up of Thomas’ watch, revealing that the charge towards the sunbeds is taking place at 7.47am.
Meanwhile, other holidaymakers were filmed using their kids to score empty sunbeds at a hotel in Malaga.
Renowned etiquette expert, William Hanson, believes there is a 30-minute grace period on poolside reservations.
William told Sun Online Travel: “In the morning, at the start of the day, if you’re by the pool after breakfast, then it’s fine at 8.30 to put your towel on the bed to reserve your spot.
“But later on in the day after you’ve used the lounger, and go off for a massage, for example, which is going to be an hour, then you can’t use a towel to reserve the sun lounger.”
Meanwhile, hotel staff have been filmed getting revenge on guests, by removing the towels from their sunbeds.
And another guest claimed fights had broken out between people staying at the all-inclusive resort he was at.