Booking.com Tries to Make European Regulators Happy, Ends Up at Disadvantage
Skift Take
Booking.com likely faced penalties and findings that it infringed on competition laws if it hadn't come to terms with regulatory authorities in France, Italy and Sweden. This agreement appears to disadvantage Booking.com versus its competitors -- unless authorities compel them to sign similar pacts.
Booking.com unveiled a tentative agreement to appease antitrust regulators in France, Italy, and Sweden in a move that would modify its "rate parity" clauses with hotels.
In so doing, it appears as though Booking.com, the largest online hotel booking site in Europe -- and the world -- could be put at somewhat of a disadvantage versus competitors because of Booking.com's market dominance.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing December 15, the Priceline Group announced that its Booking.com unit has reached "proposed commitments" with national competition authorities in those three countries, which were working closely with the European Commission, that would alter the existing "most favored nation" provisions in its contracts with hotel contracts.
By mid-afternoon December 15, Priceline Group's stock price closed down 2.3 percent to $1,078.64 on Nasdaq in New York.
Under these existing price parity agreements, a hotel is required
