The Legal Impacts of COVID-19 in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry

11 indicated it, besides generally in paragraph 1) of the contract works for both the traveller and the hotelier. Although the protection afforded to hoteliers seems to be similar to that afforded to tour operators, some considerations deserve inherent, not only as regards the terms within which refunds must be made or vouchers issued (which will be discussed in the next paragraph), but, above all, for all reservations of overnight stays outside the packages. While for packages there is always a monetary payment at the time of the stipulation of the contract as a down payment or deposit, the amount of which increases as the departure date approaches, as established by Article 34 letter d) of the Legislative Decree No. 79/11, it is not the same for hotel contracts. Often hoteliers enter into real free booking contracts for their customers, who are free to cancel up to a few days before the arrival at the hotel, for a slightly higher price per night 11 . This is a common practice in contracts concluded through online platforms. Therefore, in all these cases, the voucher tool will be completely useless, since the customer has paid nothing to ensure the stipulation of the subsequent hotel contract, and so the hotelier will have a dry loss, not even being able to ensure the presence of customers during the coming year, as they will not have issued any vouchers. 3.2. A further novelty in favour of tour operators An element of novelty, compared to the previous Article 28, is represented by the provisions of paragraphs 6 and 7 of Article 88 bis Law No. 27/2020. It is stated that, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 41, paragraph 6, Legislative Decree No. 79/11, the tour operator pays the refund or issues the voucher (at his choice), only after receiving the refunds or vouchers from the individual service providers and, in any case, no later than 60 days from the date scheduled for the start of the trip. It is clear that the rationale for this rule lies in first having the voucher issued or the reimbursement paid by the subject who received the cash flows and is in possession of it. So, if the tour operator has already paid its suppliers, he will wait for them to issue the voucher in his favour and, in turn, he will issue it to the traveller. Considering, however, the already difficult position of the traveller, who is denied the right to choose, it would seem that, in this way, his situation is further aggravated, precisely where he should 11 Regarding the free booking contract and the differences compared to the hotel contract or other preparatory legal contracts, see (for all) V. Franceschelli, The booking (Il contratto di prenotazione), in (by Franceschelli – Morandi) Tourism law, Turin, 2019, p. 256.