Booking, the Antitrust starts investigation for abuse of dominant position

The Antitrust has initiated preliminary proceedings against Booking.com (Italia) Srl, Booking.com BV and Booking.com International BV to ascertain an alleged abuse of a dominant position in the market of online intermediation and hotel booking services, in violation of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

In particular, according to the Competition and Markets Authority, Booking would give the hotels that are part of the Preferred Partner Program (and its extension Preferred Plus) advantages in terms of visibility of their offer in search results, in exchange for higher commissions high and the commitment to offer “competitive” prices on Booking.com, i.e. no higher than those that the facilities apply on their own website or on the platforms of other online travel agencies (the so-called OTAs). At the same time, when the booking platform, after extensive and sophisticated monitoring, finds that a facility offers better prices on other online sites, it reserves the right to apply, without the facilities’ consent, a discount (the so-called Booking Sponsored Benefit) to align Booking.com’s offer with the best among those available online.

«Taken as a whole», according to the Antitrust note, «this strategy seems suitable to hinder the development of effective competition in the market, at least nationally, of online hotel intermediation and booking services, to the detriment of other Otas with negative effects on accommodation facilities and, ultimately, on consumers in terms of higher prices and less choice in online intermediation and booking services”.

On Thursday 21 March, AGCM officials carried out inspections in the Italian offices of Booking with the help of the Special Antitrust Unit of the Guardia di Finanza. In the past, Booking had problems with the Italian tax authorities, which were then resolved with an agreement reached in November 2023. On the tax front, on the other hand, numerous OTAs have been the subject of the attention of Italian investigators in recent years.

The reply from the booking platform is not long in coming: «We can confirm that we are fully collaborating with the Guardia di Finanza and the Competition and Market Guarantor Authority, who carried out inspections in our offices in Italy yesterday», reads the note Booking official.