Booking.com Faces Class Action by 10,000 European Hotels Over Its 'Best Price' Pledge

Booking.com is facing a class-action lawsuit from more than 10,000 European hotels arguing that the accommodation mega-site used its muscle to distort the market to their detriment over a 20-year period.

- Deborah Cole

The Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes in Europe (Hotrec), which represents the industry within the EU and is bringing the legal action, recently extended a deadline for hotel owners to join the suit to 29 August because of high demand. The lawsuit, expected to be one of the largest ever in the European hospitality sector, is backed by 30 national hotel associations, including Britain's.

"Over 10,000 hotels have already joined the pan-European initiative to claim compensation for financial losses caused by Booking.com's use of illegal 'best price' (parity) clauses," Hotrec said. It alleges the "best price" pledge on Booking.com was extracted from hotels under pressure not to offer rooms at lower prices on other platforms, including their own websites.

The hotel industry says the Netherlands-based platform also used the clauses to prevent customers making what it called "free-rider" bookings - using its services to find a hotel but then booking directly with the management, cutting out Booking.com.