It is misleading advertising if a website that brokers hotel accommodation does not clearly state in the first booking step that the website operator's brokerage fees are added to the price of the accommodation stated there. This was the decision of the Berlin Regional Court, which ordered the operator of a website to refrain from advertising "net prices" for hotel rooms.
According to the district court, information about the fee at later stages of the booking process came too late. The law already wanted to prevent a consumer from dealing with the offer at all due to a misleading statement, even if he could recognise his error in the further course. In addition, the design of an offer also violated price regulations if an insufficiently designed asterisk symbol was used to indicate the possibility of additional costs.
Berlin Regional Court, Judgment of February 22, 2011 - 15 O 276/10 -
Source: Press release of the President of the Berlin Court of Appeal, Press Office of the Berlin Civil Courts
Goldberg Attorneys at Law 2011
Attorney at Law Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
Specialist lawyer for information technology law
E-mail: info@goldberg.de
