Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

SLOVAKIA | MONIKA JURČOVÁ 1145 business travels carried out under the general agreement under Article 2 point 2 (c) of the Directive; • In the past, we stated that the phenomenon of the present is a tourism product called “dynamic packaging” 14 and we preferred the solution that if the tour operator brochure includes an offer of separate transport and accommodation from which the client can independently choose his combination, the practice of concluding two separate contracts do not relieve the tour operator – organiser of responsibility for the package travel, as it ultimately sells a package with mutual interdependence to the client 15 . Today, this issue is explicitly regulated in Article 3 point 3 of the Directive 16 ; • Discussed questions such as fly and drive scheme, i.e. if renting a motor vehicle, e.g. at the airport is the continuation of the transport service or whether it is another tourist service, or the question of how to assess accommodation in a sleeper train in contrast to accommodation on a cruise ship, are solved too and there’s no need to hesitate when answering them (Article 3 point 2 of the Directive and point 17 of the Directive’s Preamble); • One can also point to the final satisfactory solution of the issue of weekend stays connected with cooking courses, selling ski passes or wellness tickets. Although the inexpert press 17 , or theTV news, have lately been overwhelmed by inadequate dismay that hotels which provide such packages will “newly” have to become package travel organisers, it is possible to claim the opposite. The obligations of a hotel as a package travel organiser in the contractual relationship as well as the responsibility of a hotel as a package travel organiser for the services provided in the package existed and exist also under the previous legal regulation 18 . On the contrary, the new legal regulation, which emphasizes the complementary nature of the tourist service, and the price threshold as well, which may be a relevant criterion 14 This term is characterized by the following features: a) it is a package because it includes two or more services that are not insignificant in relation to the total price of the package (e.g. flight, accommodation, car rental) and the providers of these services are commercially connected and services are purchased at the same time; b) it is dynamic because it’s arranged by the consumer who decides which elements to choose and which not to choose, so the package allows to a large extent to be individually tailored to the needs of the consumer. 15 Jurčová M., op. cit., p. 28. 16 “Package travel contract” means a contract on the package as a whole or, if the package is provided under separate contracts, all contracts covering travel services are included in the package. 17 https://www.travellawquarterly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gatenby-and-mason-1-final-with-page- -numbers-tlq-online-2106-pdf.pdf (available on 12 September 2018). 18 We came to the same interpretation of legal regulation in 2014, see Jurčová M., op. cit., p. 30.