Two tourists and a security man tug at the handle of a travel cart. "Let go!" Cries the tourist in her white summer dress and finally, together with her escort, manages to take the luggage and roll it away.
The scene can be seen in a video that the channel n-tv has released. It is supposed to show tourists who are reported to be leaving their hotel in the Dominican Republic with their belongings. But because the bankrupt Thomas Cook had not paid the bill here, the hotel staff had tried to prevent the tourists at the departure.
Recorded the video was the n-tv report, according to German tourists. "We have just heard that the manager of the hotel in which we have actually resided has put a bounty on the population," says tourist Stefan Härtl in the film. Guests should therefore be "returned" to their accommodation, so that hotel operators could ask them to checkout.
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Thomas Cook bankruptcy: From dream to horror vacationThe background is that hoteliers around the world now fear that they will not receive any more money from the insolvent travel giant Thomas Cook when the holidaymakers have left. There are increasing reports of affected customers claiming to be harassed in their accommodation - from Spain to Cuba.
Mallorca: "This is blackmail"
In Mallorca , according to media reports, several hotels have asked guests to pay the stay again. Such cases would have "row by row", reported the "Mallorca newspaper". "We should pay the full price again, which of course we have not done," said a German tourist in a video interview with the newspaper at the airport of Palma. Only one day after arriving in Cala Millor in the east of the Mediterranean island, he left prematurely with his wife and child.
They have "fled", also because there have been rumors that "Condor will soon stop flying". "We have now paid three times 120 euros (for the trip home), which of course is super-poor," he said. A man who wanted to remain anonymous said, according to the report, he had zweiseknirschend 800 euros paid. "The word coercion is too harmless, that's blackmail," he scolded. "I do not know if I will get the money back." The Hotel Association of the Spanish holiday island (FEHM) initially did not want to comment on the request of the German Press Agency.
A German couple in Bali, Indonesia , was asked to pay the cost of the overnight stay of 5700 Euros before leaving - even though they had already paid in advance for the trip. The threat was that they would not leave the hotel otherwise. The German embassy intervened - and the hotel waived the payment
Cuba: Escape from the hotel
Two German tourists in Cuba felt under pressure. Tim K. and Sandra S. had booked a trip through Thomas Cook six months ago and paid in full, according to K. in an e-mail to SPIEGEL. Now, after the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook, the Sol Palmeras hotel in Varadero is said to have demanded 1200 euros from them. Of these, the customers were informed at the reception.
When K. and his companion wanted to go back into the room to contact the tour guide and get smart, they could not open the door. "The room was already locked," writes K. "By luck and coincidence" the cleaning lady has granted the tourists then access. "There we decided to escape without checking out", writes K. He just wanted to escape "the clutches of the hotel". So they packed their things and made their way to the airport - the "safest place", as it seemed to the tourists.
They took a room next to the airport for one night. On Wednesday evening (local time), the couple wanted to fly home with the airline Iberia. "After a long wait and anxiety, we made it through the security checkpoint, but we still did not feel safe," K. finally writes. "We are completely through the nervous tension and hope soon to land again in Germany."
In eastern Cuba, it hit some 60 British Thomas Cook customers, according to the British newspaper Independent. Together with eleven Thomas Cook Airlines crew members, they were "held hostage" by a hotel on Tuesday. The Paradisus Rio de Oro had demanded £ 3,000 from the airline staff alone - as they were already on the bus to take them to the airport.
"We were taken off the bus and told that we would have to pay," crew member Danny Cossar told the newspaper. In another hotel in Cuba, guests were detained in the lobby and Wi-Fi was on display. In the end, the ambassador helped and solved the problem.
Ambassador in Thailand: That does not end well for you "
A hotel in Khao Lak in Thailand confirms to the German press agency that it insists on payments locally. James Nuimang, the five-star hotel front-office manager, says, "We last received money from Thomas Cook in June, nothing in July and nothing in August because the company is broke, we have to contact the guests directly. " Guideline in case someone refuses: "We will not have the guests checked out and we will call the police." According to a guest, the German consulate in Phuket said: "If you do not, that does not end well for you."
In Tunisia , hotel guests from different countries were detained for a short time. Already on the weekend, before the news of the bankruptcy of the British parent company, complained numerous vacationers of the hotel Les Orangers in the seaside resort of Hammamet: The security personnel block the exit of the hotel, the guests should not leave the plant at the end of their vacation. They were asked to pay a fee, said a guest from Belgium.
The reason: Thomas Cook did not pay bills of around 60 million euros to Tunisian hotels, said Mehdi Allani, President of the Hotel Association in the district Nabeul. He nevertheless criticized the behavior of the hotel management. Not the guests, but the tour operator is responsible for the outstanding payments. The tourists were able to leave the facility after the Tunisian Minister of Tourism and were escorted to the airport.
"Totally unacceptable"
Events such as these criticized the German Travel Association (DRV) sharp. Although most of the hotels were very fair. "But unfortunately there are other cases that are completely unacceptable," says DRV President Norbert Fiebig. "The holidaymakers have paid their travel price, so there's no reason to keep them there."
In addition, there was a commitment by the bankruptcy insurer Zurich to take over the costs for the hotels as a result of the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook Germany. According to its own statements, the DRV requested the hotel associations and tourist offices in the holiday destinations to inform those hotels in which the package tour guests of Thomas Cook Germany are currently accommodated.
Holidaymakers, of whom hoteliers demand money, should contact the tour guide and the Insolvency Zurich, advises Felix Methmann from the Federation of German Consumer Federation (vzbv). "The insurer's job is to secure advance payments from customers and to cover the costs of stranded vacationers."
