Tourism Law in Europe

20 extraños, pero no los que provengan de robo a mano armada, o sean ocasionados por otro suceso de fuerza mayor ” 47 . From the reading of the aforementioned precepts, it could be concluded that the hotel businessman must reimburse, or failing this, compensate the guest for the damage or disappearance of the effects that the guest is carrying, provided that the same are introduced into the establishment with the knowledge of the businessman or his employees, that the client observes the instructions established by the host regarding their custody and safekeeping, and that the damage caused to said goods does not arise from armed robbery or are due to a cause of force majeure. However, this conclusion is not as simple as it may seem at first sight, and certain clarifications are necessary: The first, relating to the nature of the effects that the traveler brings into the establishment, and the second, relating to the different regime of custody and liability of the guest's goods, since with regard to these it is appropriate to analyse the goods over which the employer has indirect custody, i.e. those that have been brought into his establishment without prior transfer of possession of them, from those over which he has direct custody. Let us look at them separately. V.3.1. Liability for the effects brought by the guest into the establishment It should be noted that the guest's effects are understood as everything that the traveller takes with him and brings into the establishment, regardless of the property in question and its value. This means that, for the purposes of its concept, it makes no difference whether the traveller’s clothes and belongings, mobile devices, cameras, jewellery, money and goods of special value and even his means of transport (car, motorbike or bicycle) are considered to be the traveller’s effects. However, their treatment and the responsibility assumed by the host may be different, as since 1968, the year in which the Ministerial Order of 19 July on the classification of hotel establishments was issued, and which is still partially in force, different treatment has been imposed on the objects that make up the guest's luggage. Thus, and as a result 47 The liability referred to in the preceding article includes damage done to the effects of travellers, whether by the servants or dependents of the innkeepers, or by strangers, but does not include damage resulting from armed robbery, or caused by any other event of force majeure (author’s translation).