Tourism Law in Europe

14 The Western Regional Court stated: "The booking confirmation contains the name and address of the specific accommodation that is reserved, as well as the duration and price of the stay. It also appears that payment is made at the place of residence during the stay, that cancellation and change fees are determined by the place of residence, and that you can contact the place of residence if you need help with the reservation. From Booking.com's terms and conditions, which [the appellant] has accepted, it appears that he entered into a direct contractual relationship with the place of residence, and that Booking.com acted exclusively as a link between him and his place of residence. Accordingly, [the appellant] should have understood that he entered into an overnight stay with the place of residence, and that Booking.com alone acted as an intermediary of the agreement." The first two sentences of the judgment concern identifying, on a contractual basis, the contracting party of the consumer. The contract leaves no doubt as to who is performing the service and that the remuneration shall be paid directly to the place of residence. The main contractual terms in relation to the performance of the contract are also agreed directly with the place of residence. It is therefore clear in this case that the place of residence is the performance debtor, and that this role does not fall to the intermediary platform, Booking.com. It is also clear that the place of residence must be regarded as the consumer’s contracting party, since the contract makes it evident that Booking.com is purely an intermediary platform and that the consumer is contracting directly with the place of residence. Though not directly determined by the court, we must nevertheless regard it as central that the contractual criteria regarding adoption, clarity and clearness are met. In this regard, the court assumes that the applicant as a consumer should have understood that the place of accommodation constitutes a party to the agreement, not Booking.com. Thus, the Western Regional Court, like the Eastern Regional Court in the GoLeif judgment, developed a functional definition of what can be expected of a consumer in terms of linguistically decoding the contract and its related legal implications. In contrast to the GoLeif judgment, the cumulative requirements for the adoption of a valid intermediary reservation were met in the Booking.com case because of the contract conclusion process and informative and plain language. Consequently, it was easier in this instance