The new travel law from July 01, 2018
It hasn't been that long since we went into a travel agency and came out with a ready-made vacation package. Flight, transfer, hotel, rental car - everything included. The perfect all-inclusive trip. If something went wrong, we had a contact person and the package travel law. Everything was very simple. But that has changed in recent years. We are increasingly putting together our vacation in bits and pieces on the Internet. Of course, package travel law does not apply here. The new law is now intended to take travel law into account. But not all changes are now more consumer-friendly - what you need to bear in mind when booking a trip in future!
From now on there is the "linked travel service"
The amended travel law introduces this new term. This means that if you book a hotel with a travel agency or online, for example, and then add something else within 24 hours, such as a flight, and have individual invoices for both, you cannot apply the package travel law, but you make the contact person an intermediary. The agent must insure himself against insolvency so that the holidaymaker gets his money back if the worst comes to the worst. The agent also has a duty to inform the payer. If the agent sells even more individual services and forms a total price, he becomes the organizer and must then also be liable for travel defects. This is because package travel law then applies.
Major price changes are still possible at short notice
Previously, if the price increased by more than five percent after booking, the holidaymaker could cancel the trip free of charge. The limit has now been raised to eight percent. In addition, the price can still be changed up to 20 days before the start of the trip. That's pretty tight!
New travel law: report travel defects, then you have time
If, for example, the hotel does not deserve four stars, you can claim the defect from the organizer afterwards and get part of the vacation price refunded. You now have one month to do this. Since July 1, you have two years to do this. What remains: You must draw attention to the defects on site and document them.
Day trips are no longer covered by the package tour law
Previously, the package tour law also applied to day trips. This has been over since July 1. There is only one exception: if the day trip is more expensive than 500 euros, the law still applies. This means that coffee trips in particular are no longer protected by travel law.
The law of the respective country now applies to vacation homes
Want to rent a vacation home abroad? Then watch out: Because when the new travel law comes into force, these bookings will no longer fall under the protection of package travel law, previously a special feature in Germany. As part of the Europe-wide harmonization, this no longer applies. If a German tour operator now writes in its General Terms and Conditions (GTC) that the law of the respective vacation country applies to vacation homes arranged, you as the tenant would have to claim possible compensation in the event of a complaint under this national law, if necessary also in a local court.
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