Austria hotel’s burkini ban discriminatory, court finds

An Austrian court in Salzburg found that an Alpine hotel discriminated against two Muslim women by preventing them from entering the hotel swimming pool while wearing burkinis, a full-body swimsuit commonly worn by some Muslim women.

After a dispute with the hotel manager, the women complained to authorities. The hotel had argued the ban was justified on hygiene grounds and said the garment made other guests uncomfortable. A lower authority had fined the hotel managers €100 each, and the managers appealed.

In a late-June ruling made public this week, the court rejected the hotel’s hygiene argument, saying it did not hold up: the judges noted burkinis are made from the same materials as other swimwear and that routine water checks found no irregularities. The court also said the hotel’s approach effectively required the women to “conform,” rather than applying non-discriminatory rules.

The court upheld the fines and ordered the defendants to pay additional procedural costs (20 euros each). It also said the ruling would not automatically create a nationwide precedent, but that indirect discrimination can be permissible only under certain conditions.

The decision has been highlighted in the context of wider European debates over Muslim dress and rising political pressure in some countries to restrict clothing perceived as religious.