Tourism Law in Europe

17 to what results from the technique and what is imposed by exquisite prudence in the exercise of his activity to prevent the damaging event. All of the above, taking into account both the personal circumstances of the time and place in which they occur, as well as the traffic sector or the physical and social environment where the conduct is carried out (high or aggravated diligence according to Article 1104 CC), as this will make it possible to determine, by Article 1902 CC, whether the employer or his agents acted with the appropriate care and perseverance to avoid the damage 41 . This is so because the liability for (non-contractual) fault derived from the aforementioned precept consists not in the omission of mandatory rules, but in the lack of diligence required of a good father of a family in accordance with article 1104 of the same body of law. Therefore, the hotel operator can be held liable both if he fails to comply with the imperative rules of infrastructure and safety of the establishment and the provision of the different services it provides, and when he respects them since mere compliance is insufficient to exonerate his liability when, on the contrary, his lack of diligence contributes to the harmful result, which prevents it from being classified as an accident 42 . In these situations, moreover, the negligence of the employer or his agents is presumed, 41 Vid . the judgments of the Provincial Courts of Alicante, of 1 February 2001; of Valencia, of 22 February 2003; of Cordoba, of 22 February 2012; and of the Balearic Islands, of 9 December 2015, among others. We would like to point out how clear the court was when in the judgement of the Provincial Court of Girona, of 8 October 2001, and despite the fact that at the time it was not obligatory to have a lifeguard for the specific pool where the injurious event took place, it states that “ dejando de lado que reglamentariamente no existiese la obligación, por las dimensiones de la piscina, de que en la misma prestara sus servicios mientras estuviese abierta a los clientes personal cualificado en socorrismo, lo cierto es que en las circunstancias que se daban el día de los hechos parece plenamente exigible que el hotel dispusiera algún servicio de vigilancia, tomando en consideración la gran afluencia de niños que en los días indicados se produciría en el hotel y, muy previsiblemente, en el uso de sus instalaciones lúdicas, entre las que no cabe duda tiene un atractivo especial para los niños una piscina. La existencia de un riesgo derivado de su uso, máxime cuando los usuarios son niños, hace que la propiedad del hotel no puede escudarse en el cumplimiento esencial de las normas reglamentarias ”,  leaving aside the fact that, due to the size of the swimming pool, there was no regulatory obligation for qualified lifeguards to provide their services in the pool while it was open to guests, the fact is that in the circumstances that existed on the day of the events, it seems fully justifiable that the hotel should have a lifeguard service, taking into consideration the large influx of children that on the days indicated there would be in the hotel and, very likely, in the use of its leisure facilities, among which there is no doubt that a swimming pool has a special attraction for children. The existence of a risk deriving from its use, especially when the users are children, means that the hotel's ownership cannot hide behind the essential compliance with the regulatory standards (author’s translation)  . 42 LÓPEZ PELÁEZ, P. “El crédito preferente del hotelero”, op . cit ., p. 179.