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Europe vs. Booking.com: The $billion reckoning

  • Automatic
  • 27 June 2025
  • 2 minute read
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This article was written by Hospitality Today. Click here to read the original article

Consumer groups and hotel associations launch sweeping legal action against Booking.com, accusing the platform of price manipulation, unfair competition, and misleading travelers for over a decade

Jun 27, 2025

Booking.com is facing a major legal backlash across Europe, accused of exploiting anti-competitive practices that inflated hotel prices and misled consumers for over a decade. Consumer rights groups from Belgium and the Netherlands have filed lawsuits seeking compensation, claiming the platform used so-called โ€œdark patternsโ€ and restrictive pricing policies that unfairly profited the company at the expense of both travelers and hotels. These lawsuits add to a growing list of regulatory actions and allegationsโ€”including war crimes profiteering and market abuseโ€”against one of the worldโ€™s dominant online travel agencies.

Key takeaways

  • Legal action filed: The Dutch Consumersโ€™ Association and the Consumersโ€™ Competition Claims Foundation (CCC) have launched legal proceedings against Booking.com, claiming unfair practices since 2013 that potentially affect millions of consumers.
  • Allegations of price fixing & misleading tactics: Booking allegedly prevented hotels from offering better deals elsewhere, misled users with fake discounts and incomplete prices, and created false urgency through scarcity messagingโ€”practices known as “dark patterns” now banned in the EU.
  • Consumer compensation in sight: Consumers who booked hotels through Booking.com (or its affiliates like Agoda) since 2013 may be entitled to compensation, with the CCC managing the case and the Dutch Consumersโ€™ Association coordinating participant registration.
  • Regulatory history of scrutiny: Booking.com has faced mounting legal pressure:
    • A โ‚ฌ530M fine from Spanish regulators in 2024 for violating competition law.
    • A โ‚ฌ413M antitrust penalty (later suspended) for market dominance abuse.
    • A criminal complaint for profiting from alleged war crimes in occupied Palestinian territories.
  • Billions in overpaid commissions: Reports estimate hotels have overpaid Booking.com billions in commissions due to imposed rate parity clauses and aggressive practices favoring high-fee listings.
  • Pan-European industry pushback: Hotel associations in 25+ European countries have united in a coordinated legal offensive, aiming to restore pricing autonomy and recover damages from Bookingโ€™s long-standing dominance.

Get the full story at EuroWeekly

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