Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

118 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE classic package holiday in which the operator combines the travel services before being offered to the public – “before any contact with the traveller” has been established” – up until the tailor-made trip in which the travel services are chosen by the consumer. In Case C-400/00, the consumer A lberto Carlos Lobo Gonçalves Garrido 10 purchased from the Portuguese travel agency Club-Tour, Viagens e Turismo SA , a trip that included air tickets and accommodation for two weeks under a full pension scheme , in a hotel in Gregolimano (Greece). The trip was not included in any Club- -Tour brochure, having the stay been purchased at the travel agency Club Med Viagens Lda. The latter made the necessary arrangements for accommodation, meals and transfers, preparing and publishing the program of the stay and setting a price including all aforementioned elements. Unfortunately, the venture suffered from a wasp infestation, making it impossible for the client and his family to enjoy their holidays to the fullest extent during the entire time they stayed there. The immediate request to be transferred to another venture was not met because Club Med did not have an alternative. Upon returning to Portugal, the client refused to pay the price of the trip agreed with the Club-Tour, which brought an action to the court of Porto to get the conviction of the consumer and obtain the respective payment. The consumer invoked the right of withdrawal after the start of the tour based on the defective conditions of the contracted hotel, with Club Tour excluding the application of the Directive, seeing as the requirement of prior combination provided for in Article 2/1 was not upheld, that is, the trip was organised by the client himself . The choice of travel services by the client would be incompatible with the concept of package travel, excluding the protective regime of Directive 90/314/EEC. The first question to the Court for a preliminary ruling was therefore related to Article 2/1: “Does a package organised by the agency, at the request and on the initiative of the consumer or a strictly defined group of consumers in accordance with their wishes, including transport and accommodation through a tourism undertaking, at an inclusive price, for a period of more than 24 hours or including overnight accommodation, fall within the scope of the concept of ‘package travel’ as defined in Article 2(1)?”. 10 Club-Tour, Viagens e Turismo SA v Alberto Carlos Lobo Goncalves Garrido (Case C-400/00) [2002] ECR I.