Sustainable Tourism Law

FROM TOURISM TO SUSTAINABLE TOURISM 67 Hotel booking (prenotazione) is a preparatory contract 60 . Preparatory contracts and, in particular, the reservation (booking) are at the base of tourist traffic. While the full purchase of the ticket suits the contract of carriage – because, ultimately, the scope of the contract of carriage is to be transported from one place to another – on the other hand many tourist contracts – regarding the autonomous nature of the figure – see the preparatory phase as an important phase of the contract. Here we have a variety of choices, ranging from pure reservation to the conclusion of other preparatory contracts, accompanied by the payment of a sum of money as a deposit, until the conclusion of the final agreement, in special cases, with the full payment of the price. Booking has a preparatory nature for the stipulation of a subsequent contract (hotel, transport, travel). The tourist / traveller (who is also a consumer) is geared towards entering into a “tourist” contract, but wants to reserve some freedom. As is well known, in the pre-contractual phase it is possible that the parties, even if they do not want the definitive effect, intend to block the deal, while reserving the definitive effects for a later stage. Hotel booking may therefore be defined as a preliminary contract, with obligations solely for the hotel. Deposits in hotel and hotelier liability From a private law point of view, it is well known that the discipline of hotel activity focuses on the responsibility of the hotelier. Deposits in hotels and hotelier liability governs the liability of managers and other operators of receptive structures in relation to the goods belonging to hotel customers. The rules in the Italian Civil Code (art. 1783) derive from the International Convention on the Liability of Hotel-keepers concerning the Property of their Guests, signed in Paris on 17 December 1962, ratified by the Italian Republic with the Law 10 June 1978, no. 316. According to the Convention, a hotel-keeper shall be liable for any damage to or destruction or loss of property brought into the hotel by any guest who stays at the hotel and has a sleeping accommodation put at his disposal. The provisions on hotel deposits and hotelier liability are applicable to all accommodation facilities, as for example organized tourist campsites (App. Bari, 60 See Vincenzo FRANCESCHELLI, La prenotazione alberghiera. Una ricostruzione giuridica ed economica , in QUADRIMESTRE, 1991, page 665. The essay carries out a legal and economic analysis on the booking contract as a preparatory contract for the stipulation of a future final contract. As part of the preparatory legal relationship, the hotel booking is constructed as a contract with obligation on the hotel only and with no obligation on the side of the tourist. The Legal reconstruction is based on an economic analysis, following the methodology of the economic analysis of law.