The conciliation procedure

Out-of-court dispute resolution helps to resolve conflicts between travellers and companies efficiently.

Finding solutions together!

Was your complaint to the company unsuccessful? Then you can submit a request for conciliation to us.

According to our code of procedure, the impartial conciliation procedure consists of several stages, as illustrated in this infographic. We immediately forward your request for conciliation to the company in question and initially try to mediate an early agreement between you and the company without further legal scrutiny. This is successful in around half of all cases, with the company acknowledging your claim or making you a new offer.

Failing this, we will conduct a full legal review of the case. We then submit a non-binding recommendation for conciliation. At the end of the conciliation process, a legally binding agreement acceptable to both sides is reached in over 80% of cases.

And if the conciliation doesn’t work out: you can always take legal action at any time.

Complaint to the company

The quickest and easiest way to resolve disputes between travellers and companies is directly between the parties involved. Our support only becomes necessary if the company does not respond satisfactorily to your complaint. You must therefore first address your complaint directly to the company in question and give it the opportunity to resolve the conflict before submitting a request for arbitration to us.

Request for conciliation

The 3 most important requirements for an conciliation procedure are:

  • The facts of the case are not or have not been the subject of court or conciliation proceedings.
  • The company against which the complaint is directed is a member of the conciliation board. You can find a corresponding overview here.
  • The company is aware of your complaint and has already had two months to respond.
  • You can submit your conciliation request conveniently online here and also upload the relevant documents directly. We will forward your request for conciliation in complete form and without delay to the company concerned and ask for a statement.

    Immediate acknowledgement of your claim

    The dispute can be settled particularly quickly if the company recognises your claim in full. A legal review of your claim by our lawyers is then no longer necessary. We will notify you of the settlement based on your claim, thereby ending the conciliation procedure.

    Arrangement of a new offer

    The companies can also make you a new, better offer in response to your request for mediation. We will forward such an offer from the company directly to you. You can then decide for yourself:

    • If you accept the offer, a legally binding agreement will be reached on the basis of the offer and we will end the conciliation procedure.
    • If you reject the offer, we will continue the conciliation procedure with our legal review.

    Conciliation recommendation

    The legal review is carried out by our specialised lawyers. We carefully analyse your request for conciliation and the company’s statement. We also conduct additional research in relevant databases and publicly accessible sources. In addition to legal considerations, we also take into account other interests of the parties as well as particular hardships in individual cases. You will then receive the result of our examination from us with detailed reasons in the form of a written arbitration recommendation. The conciliation recommendation is initially non-binding for you and the company:

    • If you and the company accept our conciliation recommendation, a legally binding agreement will be reached on the basis of this conciliation recommendation.
    • If you or the company reject our conciliation recommendation, the conciliation procedure will end without a legally binding result.

    Legal action

    You can withdraw your request for conciliation at any time during the conciliation procedure and assert your claim in court. Even if the conciliation procedure fails after the conciliation recommendation has been rejected, you can still take legal action.