A German family who were denied the use of sun loungers on their holiday to the Aegean island of Kos in 2024 have sued and won a case against the tour operator.

The court ordered the tour operator to refund the family €980 (£850), even though the tour company had already refunded €350 (£300). The tour operator has not been named.

The family had paid around £6,200 (€7,186) for the holiday, but each day the father could not find vacant sun loungers for his wife and two children. They found that most sunbeds had already been taken by guests who put their towels down, some even before daybreak, despite the hotel having a rule explicitly against this. This left the family with the only option of lying on the ground of the pool area.

While the tour operator did not run the large Greek hotel, the judge stated that it had an obligation to ensure that each guest had access to a sunbed during their stay.

Some tour operators are trying to combat the practice of ‘high-jacking’ sun loungers, with holiday company Thomas Cook offering tourists the option to pre-book a spot beside the pool for an additional fee.

In Spain, tourists in certain regions have been threatened with a €250 fine for reserving a sun lounger and then disappearing for hours.