More than 10,000 hotels across Europe have filed a class-action lawsuit against Booking.com, accusing the Netherlands-based travel giant of imposing unlawful “best price” clauses that restricted competition and hurt direct bookings, the Hotel Claims Alliance and industry groups said.
The lawsuit seeks compensation for the 20 year time frame of 2004 through 2024, alleging that Booking.com forced hotel partners to agree to contract terms preventing them from offering rooms at lower rates on their websites or through rival platforms, even though Booking.com dropped those clauses after a September 19, 2024 ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) called them unnecessary and anti-competetive.
Industry coalition HOTREC, representing hotels from 36 countries, says hoteliers “suffered long under unfair conditions and excessive costs. Now it’s time to stand together and demand redress,” according to President Alexandros Vassilikos.
More than 30 national associations — including Germany’s IHA and Italy’s Federalberghi — are backing the litigation in a Dutch court. Booking.com is headquartered in Amsterdam, subject to oversight by the Hotel Claims Alliance.
In light of Booking.com’s market dominance, controlling around 71% of Europe’s online hotel booking market in 2023, with as much as 72.3% of the market in Germany, many hotels rely on the platform for exposure. But regulators and hoteliers have increasingly criticized the company’s commission structure and pricing practices.
In response, Booking.com has dismissed the legal claims. A spokesperson described the allegations as “misinterpretation of previous rulings,” calling suggestions of artificially inflated prices “nonsense.”
Meanwhile, consumer groups in the Netherlands, including Consumentenbond and CCC, have launched parallel litigation, arguing that Booking.com has charged excessive hotel prices amounting to hundreds of millions of euros in consumer damages since 2013.
Hoteliers have until August 29, 2025, to register for the collective action, which seeks reparations for billions in lost revenue and market disadvantage dating back two decades.
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