Latest news with #Hotrec
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
European hotels to sue Booking.com over ‘illegal' best price clauses
Thousands of European hotels are taking legal action against claiming they are owed compensation for 'inflated costs' over 20 years. Almost 10,000 hotels in the Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes in Europe (Hotrec) claim that parity clauses stopped them from offering lower prices and better availability on other platforms or their own websites. According to the association, the website's use of 'best price' parity clauses caused 'substantial financial harm' to hotels across Europe. On 19 September 2024, a judgment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) 'found that the rental platform's parity clauses had breached EU competition law', said the group. Hotrec alleged in a statement that these clauses had led to 'inflated commission rates, suppressed direct bookings, and distorted online market competition.' It added that affected hotels may be eligible for compensation for commissions paid to between 2004 and 2024. On 30 July, Hotrec extended the deadline for all eligible hotels to register for the collective action until 29 August 2025. The lawsuit is expected to be one of the largest ever filed in the European hospitality sector, and is supported by national hotel associations from 30 countries, including Britain. 'The collective action has received overwhelming support. Extending the registration deadline will ensure that all interested hotels have a fair chance to participate, despite it being peak season,' said Marie Audren, director general of Hotrec. The Stichting Hotel Claims Alliance is coordinating the legal claim before it is brought before the courts in the Netherlands. Alexandros Vassilikos, president of Hotrec, said: 'European hoteliers have long endured unfair conditions and inflated costs. Now is the time to stand together and seek redress. 'This collective action sends a strong message: abusive practices in the digital marketplace will not go unchallenged.' The Independent has contacted for comment.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
European hotels to sue Booking.com over ‘illegal' best price clauses
Thousands of European hotels are taking legal action against claiming they are owed compensation for 'inflated costs' over 20 years. Almost 10,000 hotels in the Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes in Europe (Hotrec) claim that 's parity clauses stopped them from offering lower prices and better availability on other platforms or their own websites. According to the association, the website's use of 'best price' parity clauses caused 'substantial financial harm' to hotels across Europe. On 19 September 2024, a judgment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) 'found that the rental platform's parity clauses had breached EU competition law', said the group. Hotrec alleged in a statement that these clauses had led to 'inflated commission rates, suppressed direct bookings, and distorted online market competition.' It added that affected hotels may be eligible for compensation for commissions paid to between 2004 and 2024. On 30 July, Hotrec extended the deadline for all eligible hotels to register for the collective action until 29 August 2025. The lawsuit is expected to be one of the largest ever filed in the European hospitality sector, and is supported by national hotel associations from 30 countries, including Britain. 'The collective action has received overwhelming support. Extending the registration deadline will ensure that all interested hotels have a fair chance to participate, despite it being peak season,' said Marie Audren, director general of Hotrec. The Stichting Hotel Claims Alliance is coordinating the legal claim before it is brought before the courts in the Netherlands. Alexandros Vassilikos, president of Hotrec, said: 'European hoteliers have long endured unfair conditions and inflated costs. Now is the time to stand together and seek redress. 'This collective action sends a strong message: abusive practices in the digital marketplace will not go unchallenged.'
Irish Examiner
6 days ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Thousands of hotels in Europe to sue Booking.com over ‘abusive' practices
is facing a class-action lawsuit from more than 10,000 European hotels, arguing the accommodation mega-site used its muscle to distort the market to their detriment over a 20-year period. 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 to August 29 a deadline for hotel owners to join the suit because of high demand. The lawsuit, expected to be one of the largest ever filed in the European hospitality sector, is also backed by 30 national hotel associations, including Ireland's. 'Over 10,000 hotels have already joined the pan-European initiative to claim compensation for financial losses caused by use of illegal 'best price' (parity) clauses,' Hotrec said in a statement. It alleges the 'best price' pledge on was extracted from hotels under huge 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, which it defined as using its services to find a hotel but then booking directly with the management, cutting out 'Registration [to the legal action] continues to grow steadily, and the response so far demonstrates the hospitality industry's strong desire to stand up against unfair practices in the digital marketplace,' Hotrec said. The litigation, which experts say will be an uphill battle, seeks damages for the period from 2004 to 2024, when did away with the best price clause to comply with the EU Digital Markets Act. Hotrec said the class action, to be heard in Amsterdam, follows a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling from 2024, 'which found that parity clauses violated EU competition law'. 'European hoteliers have long suffered from unfair conditions and excessive costs. Now is the time to stand together and demand redress,' said Hotrec's president Alexandros Vassilikos, calling out 'abusive practices in the digital market' in Europe. called Hotrec and other hotel associations' statements 'incorrect and misleading' in an emailed statement, adding it had not received 'formal notification of a class action'. It said the ECJ ruling did not find that 'best price' clauses were anti-competitive but 'simply stated that such clauses fall within the scope of EU competition law and that their effects must be assessed on a case-by-case basis'. The company referred to a statement about its 'commitment to fair competition', in which it argued 'past parity clauses served to foster competitive pricing rather than restrict it'. It cited a poll in which 74% of hoteliers said made their business more profitable, with many reporting higher occupancy rates and lower customer acquisition costs. However, other industry representatives criticised the company's practices as extractive. 'As they gained control of the market, Booking was able to increase its commission rates and exert much greater pressure on hoteliers' margins,' Véronique Siegel, president of the hotels division of French hospitality sector association Umih, told public broadcaster France Inter. 'For a room that the customer pays €100 for, if you take away Booking's commission, the hotelier receives €75 at best, with which they have to pay their employees and invest.' Despite the friction, appears unavoidable for many hotels, offering an online reach and visibility hard to achieve for smaller, independent establishments. A study by Hotrec and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland found Booking Holding, the website's parent company, controlled 71% of the European market in 2024, compared with 68.4% in 2019. The corporation is valued at $170bn (€147.1bn), three times that of Volkswagen. Rupprecht Podszun, director of the institute for competition law at Düsseldorf's Heinrich Heine University, said was a classic example of how a digital platform could conquer an entire sector, creating a 'winner takes all' dynamic. He said the legal action would probably be protracted and turn on the thorny question of how damages could be measured. 'Judges will have to form an opinion and then it will go through all the appeals — everything at great expense and with all the tricks available under the law,' he told Germany's daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. 'The case is a revolt of the hotels, saying: 'You can't just do what you want with us.'' The Guardian
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Thousands of hotels in Europe to sue Booking.com over ‘abusive' practices
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. 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 to 29 August a deadline for hotel owners to join the suit because of high demand. The lawsuit, expected to be one of the largest ever filed in the European hospitality sector, is also 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 use of illegal 'best price' (parity) clauses,' Hotrec said in a statement. It alleges that the 'best price' pledge on was extracted from hotels under huge pressure not to offer rooms at lower prices on other platforms, including their own websites. The hotel industry says that the Netherlands-based platform also used the clauses to prevent customers making what it called 'free-rider' bookings, which it defined as using its services to find a hotel but then booking directly with the management, cutting out 'Registration [to the legal action] continues to grow steadily, and the response so far demonstrates the hospitality industry's strong desire to stand up against unfair practices in the digital marketplace,' Hotrec said. The litigation, which experts say will be an uphill battle, seeks damages for the period from 2004 to 2024, when did away with the best price clause to comply with the EU Digital Markets Act. Hotrec said the class action, to be heard in Amsterdam, follows a European court of justice (ECJ) ruling from 2024, 'which found that parity clauses violated EU competition law'. 'European hoteliers have long suffered from unfair conditions and excessive costs. Now is the time to stand together and demand redress,' said Hotrec's president, Alexandros Vassilikos, calling out 'abusive practices in the digital market' in Europe. called Hotrec and other hotel associations' statements 'incorrect and misleading' in an emailed statement, adding that it had not received 'formal notification of a class action'. It said that the ECJ ruling did not find that 'best price' clauses were anti-competitive but 'simply stated that such clauses fall within the scope of EU competition law and that their effects must be assessed on a case-by-case basis'. The company referred to a statement about its 'commitment to fair competition', in which it argued that 'past parity clauses served to foster competitive pricing rather than restrict it'. It cited a poll in which 74% of hoteliers said made their business more profitable, with many reporting higher occupancy rates and lower customer acquisition costs. However, other industry representatives criticised the company's practices as extractive. 'As they gained control of the market, Booking was able to increase its commission rates and exert much greater pressure on hoteliers' margins,' Véronique Siegel, president of the hotels division of French hospitality sector association Umih, told public broadcaster France Inter. 'For a room that the customer pays €100 (£87) for, if you take away Booking's commission, the hotelier receives €75 at best, with which they have to pay their employees and invest.' Despite the friction, appears unavoidable for many hotels, offering an online reach and visibility hard to achieve for smaller, independent establishments. A study by Hotrec and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland found that Booking Holding, the website's parent company, controlled 71% of the European market in 2024, compared with 68.4% in 2019. The corporation is valued at $170bn (£127bn), three times that of Volkswagen. Rupprecht Podszun, director of the institute for competition law at Düsseldorf's Heinrich Heine University, said was a classic example of how a digital platform could conquer an entire sector, creating a 'winner takes all' dynamic. He said the legal action would probably be protracted and turn on the thorny question of how damages could be measured. 'Judges will have to form an opinion and then it will go through all the appeals – everything at great expense and with all the tricks available under the law,' he told Germany's daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. 'The case is a revolt of the hotels, saying: 'You can't just do what you want with us.''
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Thousands of hotels in Europe to sue Booking.com over ‘abusive' practices
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. 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 to 29 August a deadline for hotel owners to join the suit because of high demand. The lawsuit, expected to be one of the largest ever filed in the European hospitality sector, is also 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 use of illegal 'best price' (parity) clauses,' Hotrec said in a statement. It alleges that the 'best price' pledge on was extracted from hotels under huge pressure not to offer rooms at lower prices on other platforms, including their own websites. The hotel industry says that the Netherlands-based platform also used the clauses to prevent customers making what it called 'free-rider' bookings, which it defined as using its services to find a hotel but then booking directly with the management, cutting out 'Registration [to the legal action] continues to grow steadily, and the response so far demonstrates the hospitality industry's strong desire to stand up against unfair practices in the digital marketplace,' Hotrec said. The litigation, which experts say will be an uphill battle, seeks damages for the period from 2004 to 2024, when did away with the best price clause to comply with the EU Digital Markets Act. Hotrec said the class action, to be heard in Amsterdam, follows a European court of justice (ECJ) ruling from 2024, 'which found that parity clauses violated EU competition law'. 'European hoteliers have long suffered from unfair conditions and excessive costs. Now is the time to stand together and demand redress,' said Hotrec's president, Alexandros Vassilikos, calling out 'abusive practices in the digital market' in Europe. called Hotrec and other hotel associations' statements 'incorrect and misleading' in an emailed statement, adding that it had not received 'formal notification of a class action'. It said that the ECJ ruling did not find that 'best price' clauses were anti-competitive but 'simply stated that such clauses fall within the scope of EU competition law and that their effects must be assessed on a case-by-case basis'. The company referred to a statement about its 'commitment to fair competition', in which it argued that 'past parity clauses served to foster competitive pricing rather than restrict it'. It cited a poll in which 74% of hoteliers said made their business more profitable, with many reporting higher occupancy rates and lower customer acquisition costs. However, other industry representatives criticised the company's practices as extractive. 'As they gained control of the market, Booking was able to increase its commission rates and exert much greater pressure on hoteliers' margins,' Véronique Siegel, president of the hotels division of French hospitality sector association Umih, told public broadcaster France Inter. 'For a room that the customer pays €100 (£87) for, if you take away Booking's commission, the hotelier receives €75 at best, with which they have to pay their employees and invest.' Despite the friction, appears unavoidable for many hotels, offering an online reach and visibility hard to achieve for smaller, independent establishments. A study by Hotrec and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland found that Booking Holding, the website's parent company, controlled 71% of the European market in 2024, compared with 68.4% in 2019. The corporation is valued at $170bn (£127bn), three times that of Volkswagen. Rupprecht Podszun, director of the institute for competition law at Düsseldorf's Heinrich Heine University, said was a classic example of how a digital platform can conquer an entire sector, creating a 'winner takes all' dynamic. He said the legal action would probably be protracted and turn on the thorny question of how damages could be measured. 'Judges will have to form an opinion and then it will go through all the appeals – everything at great expense and with all the tricks available under the law,' he told Germany's daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. 'The case is a revolt of the hotels, saying: 'You can't just do what you want with us.''
