Four-digit sums for a beer tent table at the Oktoberfest: Oktoberfest hosts have been fighting for years against the second sale of reserved spaces by online retailers. For the first time, a landlady is defending herself in court. Antje Schneider from the Ochsenbraterei is suing a portal that is already offering places for 2022. On Friday the district court Munich I want to announce a decision.
“These platforms have never received reservations from us. We deliberately do not give reservations to intermediaries, since these are not about added value for the customers,” says the landlady and head of Haberl Gastronomy, which runs several restaurants, including the Biergarten am Chinese tower in the English garden. In addition, the transfer of reservations with the intention of making a profit is excluded in the general terms and conditions. “So that the Oktoberfest remains a folk festival, there are official rules for table reservations for tent operators.”
The online provider refers to a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice from 2008 on Bundesliga tickets. Accordingly, acquisition from third parties is generally permitted. It could only be forbidden in exceptional cases if there was a so-called surreptitious purchase, “that is, we would” send “people in to buy the tickets with the aim of reselling them to us,” according to a statement. But that is not the case here.
The lawsuit is the right step, says economics officer and Wiesn boss Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU). “The Oktoberfest is for everyone – regardless of how big your wallet is.” Wiesnwirt spokesman Peter Inselkammer speaks of “exorbitant prices” https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/. “Morally, I don’t think it’s good that something is traded that doesn’t cost anything here.” Inselkammer says about the complaint from landlady Schneider: “It is right that the colleague takes action.” Guests only have to buy food vouchers from the hosts. The reservation is essentially free of charge. A seat on the platforms usually costs a multiple of the vouchers. Inselkammer warns: According to the terms and conditions, the hosts canceled every table that was resold if they knew. Every now and then, customers would stand in the tent and have paid, but no table.
The landlords have not yet submitted any applications for 2022, and the city has not decided on approvals. “You can’t seriously expect table reservations for next year,” says Baumgärtner. Whether there will be a Oktoberfest in 2022 is not certain anyway. For the second time, the festival has been canceled due to the pandemic. Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD), of course, would like to have an Oktoberfest next year. They are working on concepts “how the Wiesn can take place in 2022 and how visitors can have fun as safely as possible”.