Switzerland probes Booking.com, Expedia and HRS on hotel rate parity
Photo Credit: Booking.com's Germany site displays a Geneva hotel Booking.com
Skift Take
You can expect that the online travel agencies eventually will have to alter their hotel rate parity practices -- in Europe, at least.
Switzerland has followed in the footsteps of the UK and began a probe of the rate parity practices of several online travel agencies, including Booking.com, Expedia and Hotel Reservation Service.
Switzerland's Competition Commission announced December 11 that it launched an investigation into the practices of the three online travel agencies, all of which sell hotel rooms in Switzerland.
Amsterdam-based Booking.com, which is a subsidiary of Priceline, is the largest online hotel booker in the world. Expedia Inc., including Expedia.com, Hotels.com and Venere, ranks second. HRS is a Germany-based OTA.
Switzerland's Competition Commission stated it suspects that the OTAs best-rate guarantees -- Bestpreisgarantien -- with hotels, and additional contract terms pertaining to
