Travel price
The travel price is a legal term under which the price for the conclusion of a travel contract is understood as consideration for travel services offered .
General
The tour price is made up as the travel expenses mainly from transport costs (travel expenses for transportation ), accommodation costs ( hotel ) and travel incidental costs ( excursions , fees , guide , gratuities ) together. A travel price that includes these components as well as food and drinks is called all inclusive . Depending on the type of travel, the travel price applies to package tours or individual travel . It results from the invoice or travel confirmation of the tour operator , whereby a deposit is due upon receipt of the travel confirmation and the remaining travel price as an advance payment after receipt of the most important travel documents.
Legal issues
The contracting parties to the travel contract are the traveler and the tour operator . According to § 651a Abs. 1 BGB the traveler is obliged to pay the tour operator the agreed travel price. The travel price is binding in accordance with Section 6, Paragraph 2 of the German Civil Code Information Obligation Regulation . In the case of package tours, the tour operator's general travel conditions usually provide for a deposit and prepayment of the travel price before the start of the trip. Advance payments of a maximum of 20% of the travel price are permitted. According to § 651a Paragraph 5 BGB, the regulations on package tours do not apply to day trips without an overnight stay if the travel price does not exceed 500 euros. According to Section 651a, Paragraph 5, Clause 2 of the German Civil Code (BGB), the traveler can withdraw from the travel contract if the travel price increases by more than 5% or if there is a significant change in an essential travel service , if the General Travel Conditions do not reserve the right to make subsequent changes to the service. In the case, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square could not be visited due to a military parade in Beijing ; instead, a visit to the Yonghe Temple was offered, which, in the opinion of the BGH, represented a significant change in the travel service.
The journey has to § 651c para. 1 BGB a travel lack , so decreases in accordance with § 651d 1 BGB. For the duration of the defect rate of travel in accordance with the 638 § para. 3 BGB. Thereafter, in the event of a reduction, the price of the rice must be reduced by the ratio in which the value of the trip in a fault-free condition would have been to the real value at the time the contract was concluded. If necessary, the reduction is to be determined by estimation. The BGH ruled in December 2016 that the tour operator also bears the risk of not receiving the agreed travel price if the success of the trip is thwarted by circumstances that cannot be attributed to either him or the traveler. The judgment quoted was about the serious injury suffered by the traveler in a traffic accident during the transfer from the airport to the hotel. This constitutes a lack of travel, even if the tour operator is not at fault for the accident. If the traveler is injured so seriously as a result that he cannot use any further travel services, the tour operator regularly loses the entire claim to the travel price.
If the traveler withdraws from the contract, the tour operator loses the right to the agreed travel price in accordance with Section 651i (2) BGB. Before paying the travel price, tour operators and travel agents may only demand or accept this if the traveler has been given a travel insurance certificate for the purpose of securing the travel price ( Section 651t Paragraph 4 BGB). If payment of the travel price is requested or accepted from the traveler without the handing over of a security note or without proof of security , this is an administrative offense according to § 147b GewO .
economic aspects
The BGH considers advance payments of up to 20% of the travel price to be appropriate in view of the changed risk distribution resulting from § 651t BGB. The down payment of a maximum of 20% of the travel price and the remaining prepayment are a customer credit that the traveler grants to the tour operator. The traveler takes on an advance payment risk , so that his down payments and advance payments may be lost if the tour operator goes bankrupt before the trip is carried out. To secure this payment risk , the legally required travel insurance certificate is used, which is to be handed over to the traveler in the form of a surety / guarantee by a bank or insurance when the travel price is paid ( Section 651r (2) BGB). Particularly in the case of mass tourism, the liability limit of 110 million euros according to Section 651r (3) of the German Civil Code (BGB) must be observed. The customer funds are fully secured, but due to the liability limit, they are only reimbursed proportionally, so that there may be reductions in the repayment claim. The more travelers are entitled to a reimbursement from a major operator, the higher their risk of not receiving the full reimbursement amount.
International
In Switzerland ( Art. 6 Package Travel Act ) and in Austria ( Section 2 PRG) the travel price is simply called “price”.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hermann May / Claudia Wiepcke (eds.), Lexicon of Economic Education , 2012, p. 514
- ↑ BGH, judgment of December 9, 2014, Az .: X ZR 13/14 = BGH NJW-RR 2015, 621
- ↑ BGH, judgment of January 16, 2018, Az .: X ZR 44/17 = NJW 2018, 1534
- ↑ BGH, judgment of December 6, 2016, Az .: X ZR 117/15 = NJW 2017, 958
- ↑ BGH, judgment of June 20, 2006, Az .: X ZR 59/05 = NJW 2006, 3134
