Brussels, 15/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 15 December, the European Commission announced the launch of a consultation of the market players by the French, Swedish and Italian competition authorities, in the framework of an investigation into Booking.com, an online hotel reservation platform.
The focus of the three national authorities is the parity clauses featured in the contracts concluded between Booking.com and the hotels, which could have anti-competitive effects. These clauses oblige the hotels to offer bedrooms on Booking.com for the same or a better price than the one available on all other online and off-line distribution channels. The authorities of the three countries in question are concerned these clauses may harm competition between Booking.com and other online travel agencies and hinder new booking platforms from entering the market.
In response, Booking.com has proposed to abandon the parity requirement in respect of the prices the hotel makes available to other online travel agents. This would enable hotels to offer different room prices to different online travel agents. However, the hotel would still have to offer the same or better room prices to Booking.com as are offered on the hotel's own online and off-line booking channels. These commitments are intended to apply throughout the European Economic Area.
The national competition authorities may make these commitments legally binding if the consultation of the market players, which will run until 31 January 2015, confirms the relevance of the measures proposed.
The European Commission is coordinating the national investigations. According to a spokesperson to the European institution, Ricardo Cardoso, other national authorities which are also carrying out investigations are being kept fully abreast of events and are following the consultation closely, and are waiting to see what the results will be. When asked about a possible default use of this modus operandi in the future, Cardoso said that a case-by-case approach was required. “We'll see how this works in the future”, he said. The authorities of the three countries in question are also continuing their own investigations into the parity clauses of other online travel agents. (EL)