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Over 10,000 hotels throughout Europe have pooled together to bring a class action against Booking.com, claiming that the high-profile travel site has been forcing the hotel industry into "unfair pricing rules" in place for nearly 20 years. The complaint is currently before a Dutch court because Booking.com has headquarters in Amsterdam.
The focus of the suit is on "rate parity" or "best price" language used by Booking.com, which said the hotels could not offer lower rates from their own website or from other sites. Due to that language, it meant hotels could not make better rates across all the booking engines, which inhibited their ability to attract direct customers.
Such clauses were found to be in violation of EU competition regulations by the European Court of Justice in 2024. The court stated that Booking.com’s platform could function without these pricing restrictions. Following this, and under the newly introduced EU Digital Markets Act, Booking.com dropped these clauses in the European Economic Area.
Hotels are now requesting damages for alleged losses they sustained from 2004 until 2024. The lawsuit is being coordinated by the Hotel Claims Alliance and is supported by over 30 hotel associations, including those from Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.
Hotel industry leaders say the legal action sends a strong message that large digital platforms should not be allowed to abuse their market power. Alexandros Vassilikos, head of Hotrec, the umbrella organization for European hospitality, stated that unfair conditions and exorbitant expenses have long plagued European hoteliers.
Booking.com has denied the allegations; the organization says it hasn't received formal notice of the case, and insists the claims arise from a misinterpretation of EU law, and that the pricing rules were equitable and not detrimental to competition.
Even in the midst of a lawsuit, Booking.com is still a leading booking platform, accounting for over 70% of the European online hotel market in 2023!!
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