Tourism Law in Europe

3 time for two reasons: a) because the regulation provided for in our legal system is obsolete and needs urgent updating; and b) because it does not accommodate much of the accommodation that is demanded through certain accommodation intermediation platforms, in particular, the so-called collaborative platforms such as Airbnb. II. Concept, Legal Nature and Characteristics As we have just pointed out, in our positive law we lack a concept of a hosting contract. This was first included in the Proposal for a Commercial Code, drafted by the Commercial Law Section of the General Codification Commission, which was presented in June 2013 (hereinafter PCM), but it disappears from the Preliminary Draft of the Commercial Code Law, approved by the Council of Ministers on 30 May 2014. This Proposal recognised this contract as “ aquél en virtud del cual el titular de un establecimiento de alojamiento se obliga frente a su cliente a cederle el uso de una o varias habitaciones o dependencias, así como la custodia de su equipaje, y a prestarle otros servicios, a cambio de una contraprestación en dinero ” 3 . The reason for avoiding this and many other contracts linked to the field of tourism, in a country that has a very large part of its GDP centred on this field, was that it was not an issue demanded by the sector, a poor excuse for not duly addressing, even going somewhat beyond what was included in the Proposal, the multiple consumer and inter-company contracts that were being faced 4 . Well, irrespective of the fact that this legal definition has not been successful, the fact is that we can understand as such a consensual and bilateral contract, of a complex and commercial nature, whereby one of the parties, the hotel businessman, undertakes with respect to the other, the guest, to cede the use of the room, ensuring its peaceful enjoyment, as well as to assume the custody of the traveller’s luggage, also providing him with a series of services, some accessory and others complimentary, in exchange for a price. The latter includes very diverse services, all linked to the main obligation, accommodation, and which can be specified, on the one hand, and as far as essential or 3 The one under which the owner of an accommodation establishment is obliged vis-à-vis his client to grant him the use of one or more rooms or premises, as well as the custody of his luggage, and to provide him with other services, in exchange for a consideration in money (author’s translation). 4 On the various inter-company contracts in the field of accommodation, vid. , OTERO COBOS, M. T. Los contratos de explotación hotelera: control y riesgo , Marcial Pons, Madrid, 2019.