- 26 hotel associations in Europe now support legal action against Booking.com
- European Court of Justice ruled on Booking.com’s price restrictions
- HOTREC, speaking for 47 hospitality groups, backs the claim for damages
- The deadline for hotels to join the lawsuit falls on July 31
- The lawsuit has support from associations in 26 countries, including Greece and Germany
- Booking.com disputes the hotel groups’ interpretation of the court decision
Last year, Europe’s highest court took a good look at Booking.com and its pricing rules for hotels. The outcome? Judges said the platform’s contract terms—those that prevent hotels from offering lower prices on their sites or with rivals—were not vital, could suppress competition, and might limit guest choice. Still, the court stopped short of calling these rules illegal under EU competition law. But for hotels long irked by Booking.com, this sounded like their cue.
Now, hotel groups from 26 European countries have thrown their weight behind a new wave of lawsuits. Legal action against Booking.com could cost the company millions of euros. The move follows years of complaints from hotels and scrutiny from regulators, who saw these price parity clauses as a hindrance to fair trade in the travel industry.
Hotels Rally Together: From Greece to Switzerland
Booking.com tried to defend its stance by pointing to a narrow scope of the court ruling, saying it only applied to litigation around German parity clauses from 2006 to 2016. Company reps argue that, in that case, the court did not call Booking.com’s rules anti-competitive or damaging to the broader market.
But hoteliers aren’t buying it. With HOTREC leading the charge, over two dozen national hotel associations have told their members to sign up and demand compensation. HOTREC’s president, Alexandros Vassilikos, put it mildly: European hotels have put up with unfair contracts and rising charges. According to him, the time to act is now.
Hotels can join the claim until the end of July. Support comes from associations across Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland.