Over 10 000 European hotels are taking legal action against Booking.com to claim compensation for financial losses caused by the OTAs alleged “forced price fixing”.
This follows the judgment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in September 2024, which found that the platform’s parity clauses breached EU competition law.
Over the past 20 years, these parity clauses restricted hotels from offering lower rates on their own websites, limiting direct sales.
Under the general principles of EU competition law, hotels are entitled to claim compensation from Booking.com for the financial losses suffered. Affected hotels may be eligible to recover commissions paid to Booking.com from 2004 to 2024, plus interest.
The legal action is supported by the Association of Hotels, Restaurants & Cafés in Europe (HOTREC) and more than 30 national hotel associations.
