Bed bugs in the bed bunker in Bodrum, a broken air conditioning in the junior suite of the dream hotel in Mauritius, missing bus pickup in Hurghada or an overbooked resort on Puerto Rico: Hans Klewe expects to soon find everything on the desk, which can go awry on trips ,
Klewe is Managing Director of the Berlin Conciliation Body for Public Transport (SÖP). So far, it has been used when customers have problems with airlines or trains. From December 1, another task is added: the mediation of incidents and annoyances in package holidays .
Because from then on, some online travel agencies will cooperate with the SÖP, if customer and company can not agree. The goal is to find an out-of-court solution. First of all, the disappointed traveler must have turned to the company concerned.
If you sit there the complaint or it is not resolved as desired, consumers can give their case to the SÖP and make a dispute resolution - the whole is free. The arbitration award does not have to be accepted.
The Internet Travel Distribution Association had already signed a cooperation agreement with SÖP last year, and the first companies are now taking part. Specifically, from December Evaneos, Ebookers, Expedia, Holidaycheck, journaway and weg.de participate in settlements by the SÖP.
DRV: Conciliation body not necessary
The German Travel Association (DRV), however, does not seem to be much of a mediator. Their spokesman Torsten Schäfer says that there are extremely low complaint rates in the low single digits in the tour operators. Some one should not, courts should decide on the cases.
"In the few cases in which no agreement can be reached with the customers, the competent courts bring about legally binding decisions - a system that has functioned well for many decades and in which legitimate consumer interests are at the center of the decision," said Schäfer.
He recommends dissatisfied guests to complain immediately on site at the tour guide. So any problem can be solved directly. Whether a DRV member company joins SÖP's arbitration process is an individualized business decision.
The fact that the online travel agencies participate in the SÖP mediation probably has something to do with the EU Package Travel Directive. For example, since July 1, 2018, the same rules apply to travel purchased online as to traditional travel agency distribution. In addition, holidaymakers will have up to two years to claim any deficiencies on a trip.
In 2018, 84 percent of the cases involved air travel
However, other companies may soon be able to participate in the arbitration process - both from the online area and from the traditional travel providers. Many airlines initially rejected the arbitration board for a long time. In the meantime, many of the companies are happy to participate in arbitration, because in this way the airlines save on court costs.
2018 was a record year for the SÖP: In more than 32,000 cases, the club achieved out-of-court settlements. 84 percent, ie 28,104 cases, related to air travel, which was also due to the consequences of the Air Berlin bankruptcy that year. 3200 problems concerned the railway, 581 long-distance buses. In 2019, the volume has normalized to some extent: SÖP settled in mid-November in more than 23,000 cases.
