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Thousands of European hotels sue Booking.com for "abusive" practices

2025-08-08 15:11:02Biznes SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Thousands of European hotels sue Booking.com for "abusive" practices
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Booking.com is facing a lawsuit from more than 10,000 European hotels who say the platform has distorted the market to their detriment over 20 years, The Guardian reports.

The European Hotel, Restaurant and Café Association (Hotrec), which represents the industry within the EU and is bringing the legal case, recently extended the deadline until August 29 for hotel owners to join the lawsuit due to high demand.

The lawsuit is expected to be one of the largest in the European service sector and is being supported by 30 national hotel associations.

"Over 10,000 hotels have joined the European initiative to seek compensation for financial losses caused by Booking.com's illegal use of 'best price' clauses," Hotrec said in a statement.

According to her, the "best price" clause on Booking.com was forcibly obtained by hotels through great pressure not to offer rooms at lower prices on other platforms, including their own sites.

The hotel industry says the Netherlands-based platform used the clauses to prevent customers from making reservations using its services to find a hotel, but then booking directly, without the need for Booking.com.

"The filing of the lawsuit continues to grow and the response so far demonstrates the strong will of the service industry to challenge unfair practices in the digital marketplace," Hotrec said.

The lawsuit, which experts say will be an uphill battle, seeks damages for the period 2004-2024 when Booking.com used the clause to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act.

Booking.com called Hotrec and other hotel companies' statements "inaccurate and misleading," adding that it had not received "an official notice of legal action."

According to her, the European Court of Justice's decision did not rule that "best price" clauses were anti-competitive, but "simply stated that such clauses fall within EU competition law and their effects must be investigated on a case-by-case basis."

The company referred to a statement about its “commitment to fair competition” where it said that “previous parity clauses served to support competitive pricing, not restrict it.”

Regardless of the situation, Booking.com seems to be inevitable for hotels due to the online presence and visibility that small and independent structures have difficulty achieving.

The corporation is worth $170 billion, three times more than Volkswagen.


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