News & Stories

Berlin. On 11 June, the German Bundestag launched the new travel insurance fund. The law comes into force on 1 July and also applies to hotels.

Karlsruhe. Relief in the German hotel industry: The German Federal Supreme Court has now also declared Booking.com's narrow best price clauses to be incompatible. Thus, the industry finally regains its pricing sovereignty.

Cologne. Last Friday, 30 April, the suspension of the insolvency filing requirement was no longer extended by the German government. Dorint supervisory board chairman Dirk Iserlohe has therefore filed a constitutional complaint with an urgent appeal. Yesterday, he appealed to politics again and spoke of a possible imminent "triage of the medium-sized traditional hotel companies".

Berlin. Today, in the last hours before 1 May, the extraordinary measure suspending the obligation to file for insolvency, introduced by the German government in response to the corona crisis, will expire. Hotel associations now fear a wave of imminent bankruptcies. Yet specialist lawyers doubt whether it will come quite yet. They expect it in 2022.

Munich/Berlin. Dr Matthias Hofmann, specialist in insolvency law, is very surprised "that there have been very few insolvencies in the hospitality sector so far." Both he and Martin Schaffer of MRP consult believe that many businesses simply do not understand what will happen when the obligation to file for insolvency will be reinstated in five weeks' time.

Munich. The dispute over rent and lease reductions has reached the next legal stage in Germany, the Higher Regional Court. The claim issued by operators appears to be strong, but...

Munich. On 25 January, the Munich Regional Court rejected a rent reduction in favour of a hotel operator despite the corona pandemic. The operator was expected to establish sufficient reserves, the Court stated.

Munich. The restaurant and hotel industries have been hit especially hard by the closures ordered by the authorities during the pandemic. At the same time, many had taken out appropriate business closure insurance in good time. But many insurers in Germany are refusing to pay. However, two judgements have set a new course.

Karlsruhe. The Federal Constitutional Court rejected the complaint of a group of six hoteliers on the violation of constitutional rights as "inadmissible" this week. The hoteliers are now taking a new approach and going through different Instances.

Berlin. Discussions between owners and tenants/lessees regarding rent deferrals or waivers - discussions which in many cases have been ongoing in Germany since March - have now been decided in favour of the tenants. The pandemic will be recognised as an interference with the basis of the business transaction within the meaning of § 313 German Civil Code. Individual negotiations between the parties will still be needed though.