The hoteliers in a country where the season for millions of Romanians begins with the Booking website
Katergo beach in Folegandros, one of the Cyclades Islands of Greece, photo: Ellen Rooney / Robertarding / Profimedia Images
Booking.com could be sued in the Netherlands, with requests for damages of millions of euros, by hoteliers from several European countries, including Greece, Austria, Belgium, Croatia or Cyprus, writes Reuters.
26 hotel associations in Europe have announced that they will support their members in such trials, following a decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union last year, which targeted the parity clauses imposed by the platform for hotels, clauses that forced them not to offer lower rates on their own sites or other rival platforms.
“Now is the time to be united and ask for damages”
The case came to the Court of Justice of the European Union after Booking.com asked a court in the Netherlands to rule on the parity clauses, thus causing the national court to request clarification from the European Forum.
The Court of Justice of the European Union has established that these contractual clauses are unjustified and could reduce competition. However, the court stated that these clauses are not considered anticonues, according to EU law.
Such parity clauses, included in the contracts between online reservation sites and hotels, have generated complaints from the competition and attracted the attention of regulatory authorities throughout Europe, worried about reducing consumer options.
Hottc, representing 47 member associations in the hospitality sector in 36 European countries, has announced that it supports the applications made by hoteliers. “European hoteliers have long been incurred in inequitable conditions and exaggerated costs. Now it is time to be united and ask for damages,” said President Hotrac, Alexandros Vassilikos, in a statement.
For his part, Booking.com said that he was not notified of any judicial action at European level initiated by hotels and that, in his opinion, their conclusions about the court decision are incorrect.
“The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union refers strictly to the questions asked by the district court in Amsterdam, in connection with the dispute between Booking.com and some German hotels on the legality of the prices in Germany in 2006-2016,” said a spokesman for Booking.com.
“The court did not conclude that these prices clauses in Germany would be anti -competitive or that they would affect the competition. The Amsterdam Court will now have to make a decision that refers exclusively to these parity clauses in Germany,” he said.
Hotels can join the action for damages until July 31.
The hotel associations that support the approach come from Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway countries, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia Switzerland.
