DENMARK | MARIE JULL SØRENSEN AND KIM ØSTERGAARD 139 and the terms and conditions described an opportunity for the consumer to purchase “bankruptcy coverage” from the retailer. This premise concerns whether GoLeif.dk can be deemed to have achieved a valid agent disclaimer, both contractually and in terms of the information on their website. In this regard, the high court attaches decisive importance to the reservation not being explicitly stated, since the consumer acting as an agreement reader is not able to correctly decode the implications associated with the wording of the contract. Hence, for an agent reservation to be valid, it must be written in plain, clear and intelligible language. These requirements are the cumulative conditions for intermediary reservations to be considered validly agreed inter partes in consumer contracts52. In a decision from 2018, the Western Regional Court concluded that the accommodation platform Booking.com exhibited a valid intermediary disclaimer when they provided accommodation at a farm hotel in Sweden53. The appellant in Denmark, acting as a consumer, argued that Booking.com must be regarded as the contracting party and therefore be subjected to the contractual obligations. The consumer claimed that the accommodation service suffered from actual deficiencies, as the farm hotel was under renovation during the stay. The Western Regional Court stated: “The booking confirmation contains the name and address of the specific accommodation that is reserved, as well as the duration and price of the stay. It also appears that payment is made at the place of residence during the stay, that cancellation and change fees are determined by the place of residence, and that you can contact the place of residence if you need help with the reservation. From Booking.com’s terms and conditions, which [the appellant] has accepted, it appears that he entered into a direct contractual relationship with the place of residence, and that Booking.com acted exclusively as a link between him and his place of residence. Accordingly, [the appellant] should have understood that he entered into an overnight stay with the place of residence, and that Booking.com alone acted as an intermediary of the agreement.”. The first two sentences of the judgment concern identifying, on a contractual basis, the contracting party of the consumer. The contract leaves no doubt as to who is performing the service and how the remuneration shall be paid directly to the place of residence. The main contractual terms in relation to the performance of the contract are also agreed directly with the place of residence. 52 GoLeif has subsequently changed its standard terms in order to achieve a valid agent disclaimer. 53 Western Regional Court case U.2018.574.V.
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