{"id":8725,"date":"2024-03-28T12:02:13","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T11:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecc-netitalia.it\/?p=8725"},"modified":"2024-03-28T12:33:38","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T11:33:38","slug":"antitrust-investigation-on-booking-for-alleged-abuse-of-a-dominant-market-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecc-netitalia.it\/en\/news\/antitrust-investigation-on-booking-for-alleged-abuse-of-a-dominant-market-position\/","title":{"rendered":"Antitrust investigation on Booking for alleged abuse of a dominant market position"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The Italian Competition Authority<\/strong>, also known as Antitrust, has launched an investigation into <strong>Booking<\/strong>.com (Italy) S.r.l., Booking.com B.V., and Booking.com International B.V. for potentially abusing their <strong>dominant position <\/strong>in the online hotel intermediation and booking services market, violating Article 102 TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Allegations suggest that Booking grants <strong>advantages<\/strong> to hotels participating in its \u201cPreferred Partner Program\u201d and its extension, \u201cPreferred Plus\u201d in exchange for higher commissions and a commitment to maintain competitive prices on booking.com. If Booking detects better prices elsewhere, it unilaterally applies a discount, known as Booking Sponsored Benefit, to align prices on its platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Booking, a <strong>leader <\/strong>in online accommodation brokerage, operates globally under Booking Holdings Inc., with brands like Priceline, Agoda, and KAYAK. In 2023, the group reported a <strong>turnover<\/strong> exceeding USD 21 billion. Booking.com (Italy) S.r.l. operates in Italy, providing support services to the parent company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The investigation focuses on two Booking programs: <strong>Preferred Partner Programme<\/strong> and <strong>Sponsored Discount<\/strong>. The former enhances hotel visibility on Booking\u2019s platform in exchange for higher commissions, while the latter is a discount applied by Booking without consent from hotels to match prices found elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Antitrust Authority suggests Booking actions may hinder effective competition, especially in the online hotel brokerage and reservation market. Booking\u2019s <strong>strategy <\/strong>potentially limits the autonomy of hotels and could result in negative consequences for consumers, such as increased prices and reduced options in online booking services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Italian Competition Authority, also known as Antitrust, has launched an investigation into Booking.com (Italy) S.r.l., Booking.com B.V., and Booking.com International B.V. for potentially abusing their dominant position in the online hotel intermediation and booking services market, violating Article 102 TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[245],"tags":[320,319,321],"class_list":["post-8725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-alleged-abuse","tag-antitrust-investigation-on-booking","tag-dominant-market-position"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecc-netitalia.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecc-netitalia.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecc-netitalia.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecc-netitalia.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecc-netitalia.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ecc-netitalia.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8728,"href":"https:\/\/ecc-netitalia.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8725\/revisions\/8728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecc-netitalia.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecc-netitalia.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecc-netitalia.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecc-netitalia.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}