Munich Court Bans Resale of Expensive Oktoberfest Table Reservations

The Munich I Regional Court has issued a landmark ruling in the long-standing dispute over the resale of table reservations at the famous Munich Oktoberfest. The verdict provides direct support for beer tent owners who have been grappling with the so-called gray market of reservation trading for years. In the specific case, the court banned one event agency from further offering spots in the Ochsenbraterei tent at prices far exceeding official rates. The case was based on a test purchase organized by the Haberl family, the tent owners. In 2024, an anonymous customer paid the agency €1,729 for six seats at a ten-person table, despite the fact that, according to the reservation rules, this did not grant them any right to a seat. Officially, when booking a table directly with the tent owner, a guest commits to purchasing consumption vouchers for a specified amount, which typically amounts to a few hundred euros for the entire table and can later be used to pay for ordered food and beer. Oktoberfest, held in Munich since 1810, is the world's largest folk festival, attracting millions of visitors annually. Traditional beer tents, managed by Munich breweries and owner families, offer a limited number of seats, and table reservations, especially on weekends, are highly sought after and sell out quickly. Christian Scharpf, serving as the Wiesnchef, the festival's official organizer and also Munich's councilor for economic affairs, sharply criticized the resale practices. „"Derartige Geschäftspraktiken schaden dem Ruf und dem Image des Oktoberfestes"” — Christian Scharpf – he stated, adding that the city authorities together with tent owners are actively combating this practice. The court ruling may set an important precedent. The court threatened that if the agency violates the ban again, it could face a fine of up to €250,000, and its manager could even be imprisoned. Despite this favorable ruling for the plaintiff, the problem has not disappeared. As press reports indicate, offers for tables at the upcoming festival edition are already appearing on online portals, with prices reaching up to €10,000 for packages covering several tables. The fight against this phenomenon is therefore ongoing and requires constant monitoring and legal action. Tent owners, such as the Haberl family, are not winning in court for the first time. In the past, they have also won cases against portals offering reservation resales. The resale mechanism involves intermediaries purchasing blocks of reservations and then reselling individual spots with a huge markup. Customers who use these services are often unaware that the purchase does not guarantee entry to the tent and may even lead to denied service or removal if the tent staff discovers the origin of the reservation. The legal basis for such actions is usually a violation of the terms and conditions, which state that reservations are personal and non-transferable. Tent owners have long demanded more effective legal instruments to stop this unfair trade, which not only inflates prices but also damages the reputation of the entire event.