The European Commission has announced that it will grant hotels listed by Booking in Europe the right to set prices that suit them, on their own website or on other channels.
Good news for hoteliers. Since Thursday, November 14, hotels listed by Booking in Europe are now free to offer on their own website, or on other channels, better rates than those of the Dutch reservation platform, announced the European Commission.
Booking was named in May among the tech giants subject to new, tougher competition rules in the EU, alongside Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, under the new digital markets regulation ( DMA).
Concretely, this means that hotels, car rental companies and other tourism service providers “can now offer different (and possibly better) prices and conditions on their own website or other channels than on Booking.com », Explained the Commission in a press release.
“Booking will not have the right to increase commission rates or delist offers” from companies that offer different prices on a site other than Booking, she said. “This means that other platforms and service providers will be able to compete on fairer conditions, stimulating innovation and reducing prices,” assures the European executive.
Fines for violating the rules
Furthermore, hotels and other tourism services will have “real-time and continuous” access to the data that they and their customers generate through the use of Booking. “Business users can now choose to transfer the data they have generated on Booking.com to alternative platforms” in order to “develop more innovative and personalized offers.”
To demonstrate its full compliance with the DMA, Booking presented the measures taken in a report accessible on the Commission's website. The Commission will “carefully analyze” this document and “evaluate” whether the measures implemented actually meet the obligations. In the event of a violation of the DMA rules, the Commission can impose fines of up to 10% of the company's global turnover, or up to 20% in the event of a repeat offense.
Brussels could go in extreme cases as far as forcing the company to sell certain activities or prohibiting it from making certain acquisitions. “As of today, Booking.com meets the requirements of the Digital Markets Act,” said the Dutch company. “Consultations with the European Commission and relevant stakeholders have shaped our compliance solutions,” she said.
