Capping the cost of hotel accommodation in rail transport
The railroad company WESTbahn is changing its compensation conditions following a warning from the Association for Consumer Information (VKI). Three clauses of the compensation conditions are affected.
Previously, WESTbahn's compensation conditions stipulated that hotel costs for passengers who were unable to make their last connection on the same day due to a delay or train cancellation were capped at 80 euros. This applied if WESTbahn did not organize hotel accommodation for the passenger itself.
The capping of costs to a maximum of 80 euros for accommodation is only possible in Austria for regional transport.
The general capping of the costs for an overnight stay in a hotel at 80 euros contradicts EU passenger rights and was also complained about in the past by the apf when reviewing the tariff regulations of the WESTbahn. As a result, WESTbahn amended the relevant provisions and since then has also granted compensation for costs exceeding this amount if there are substantial reasons for doing so. [Incidentally, this was also the case with ÖBB-Personenverkehr .
As the WESTbahn changed this again to the disadvantage of passengers, the VKI contacted the apf in this regard and took up the illegality of the corresponding provision of the compensation conditions. WESTbahn was subsequently issued with a warning.
In future, WESTbahn will cover hotel costs without an upper limit, provided that these are "reasonable" costs. An overnight stay in a hotel may be necessary, for example, if an evening train is canceled, an onward journey on the same day is no longer possible or if the train breaks down during the journey. [nbsp]The reasonableness of the costs must always be assessed by apf on a case-by-case basis. Hotel costs at times of high demand in generally high-priced cities are to be assessed differently than in the low season in less expensive cities.
According to the VKI, the two other clauses in the area of compensation conditions contain an excessively far-reaching right of amendment - and a non-transparent clause on the consequences of ineffective contractual clauses.
WESTbahn immediately issued a declaration of discontinuance for all clauses. The apf welcomes the changes in favor of the passengers.
In recent years, the apf has not received any requests for arbitration concerning the capping of hotel costs on the WESTbahn.
In the case of ÖBB-Personenverkehr, higher costs for overnight stays can therefore be reimbursed on a case-by-case basis if there are significant reasons. For apf, this includes reasonable costs when using long-distance trains, even if they exceed 80 euros.
The apf has repeatedly recorded cases in which ÖBB-Personenverkehr has not carried out a case-by-case examination in order to cover costs for accommodation that may exceed EUR 80. The apf has repeatedly pointed this out to ÖBB-Personenverkehr and requested that measures be taken in view of the constantly rising costs/inflation.