Oh such sweet revenge. I love this story. A German man has done what millions of us have fantasised about for years — he took his tour operator to court over a sun lounger towel hogging situation, and won!
David Eggert, a 48-year-old pilot and father of two from Düsseldorf, paid over £6,000 to take his family on a package holiday to Kos, Greece in 2024. The resort had around 400 sun loungers and every one of them had a towel on it by 6am.
Not 400 people lying on them — just 400 towels, holding spots for people who had gone back to bed or headed into town. His children ended up lying on the ground.
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He got up at 6am every morning and still couldn’t get a lounger. SIX AM. He was rightfully irked.
Well, a court in Hanover has this week ruled in his favour, saying his tour operator had an obligation to ensure there was a reasonable ratio of sunbeds to actual guests using them. The family walked away with an £852 refund, and Eggert is calling it a “very, very important ruling”.
Tour operators and hotels that allow the “dawn dash” be warned!
I cannot tell you how much this issue drives me mad.
The sun lounger hogger is a special kind of guest. You know them. They leave their towel artfully draped over the chair, or laid out flat, maybe accompanied by an abandoned paperback, and disappear. Not to be seen for hours. They’ve probably gone to breakfast back to bed.
I have bundled up unattended towels and deposited them in the towel cart before. More than once. Zero regrets.
If you’ve left your towel on a lounger and vanished for two hours, you forfeited that spot. And if they return and say I’m sitting in their seat, I’ll say, oh I’ve been waiting to see who was holding this for the past hour – or three!
I wonder if this case opens a door for other disgruntled sun bathers to take legal action. Imagine if thousands of people start suing hotels and travel companies? Maybe the staff will take action and the irritating practice will be stamped out.
Some resorts allocate sunloungers at check-in. Others use timed cards — if a lounger is unattended for more than 30 minutes, the towel gets removed by staff. One resort sounds a horn at midday and any towels on empty loungers then get scooped up!
So next time you’re on holiday and you rock up to the pool at a perfectly reasonable hour to find every lounger colonised by a towel — channel your annoyed pilot and dad of two from Düsseldorf and sue.
