For millions of vacationers chasing sun and relaxation by the pool, the frustrating ritual of the ‘dawn dash’ for unreserved sun loungers is a familiar holiday headache. Now, that common travel grievance has resulted in a landmark legal ruling, after a German tourist secured a court-ordered refund of more than €980 (£850) over his ruined sunbathing access on a Greek island getaway.
The unnamed tourist traveled to the popular Aegean island of Kos with his wife and two children on a package holiday in 2024, paying a total of €7,186 (£6,211) for the trip. What should have been a relaxing family break quickly turned into a daily battle for poolside space, he told the court. Even when the family rose as early as 6 a.m. to claim a spot, all usable sun loungers were already blocked off by other guests who reserved them with towels, leaving the tourist to spend 20 minutes every day hunting for free space. His children were even forced to lie on the hard ground when no loungers could be found, he added.
Frustrated by the unaddressed issue, the tourist launched a legal case against his tour operator, arguing the company failed to uphold its obligations to guests. In his claim, he emphasized that the resort already had an official ban on towel-based sunbed reservations, but the tour operator did nothing to enforce the rule or intervene to stop guests from misappropriating loungers.
After hearing the case, judges at the Hanover District Court ruled in the tourist’s favor, finding the package holiday experience was legally ‘defective’ and the family was owed a larger compensation payout. The tour operator had already issued a partial refund of €350 (£302) before the trial, but the court ordered an additional payout, bringing the total refund to €986.70 (£852.89).
In their ruling, the judges acknowledged that the travel company did not directly manage the hotel’s facilities and could not guarantee every guest access to a sunbed at any time of day. Even so, they confirmed the operator had a clear contractual obligation to ensure a reasonable organizational system was in place to maintain a fair ratio of sunbeds to registered guests, a requirement the company failed to meet.
The ‘sunbed wars’ phenomenon is far from an isolated issue at Mediterranean resorts, with thousands of tourists sharing their frustrations about the practice every year. In 2023, viral social media videos showed extreme measures taken by holidaymakers in Tenerife, where some guests slept overnight on sun loungers to hold onto their poolside spots for the following day.
Faced with widespread frustration over the issue, travel and hospitality operators have trialed different solutions to curb unauthorized reservations. Major tour operator Thomas Cook, for example, now offers guests the option to pre-book poolside sun loungers for an extra fee to eliminate informal last-minute scrambling. In some regions of Spain, local authorities have introduced strict penalties, threatening tourists with fines of up to €250 if they reserve a lounger with a towel then leave the spot unused for hours at a time.