Bucharest, May 28, 2025 – After years of illegal competitive practices, European hoteliers begin lawsuit against Booking.com
The Federation of the Hotel Industry of Romania (FIHR), the employers' organization in the Romanian tourism sector, is joining a large-scale European lawsuit against Booking.com, requesting compensation for anti-competitive practices that were declared illegal by the European Court of Justice. As a member of HOTREC, the European confederation of hotels and restaurants, FIHR invites all hotels in Romania to register to recover part of the commissions collected by Booking.com based on the contractual "parity clause" for the period 2004-2024. In order to register in this lawsuit, hotels can contact FIHR by 15.07.2025 and join thousands of hotels in Europe, represented by 25 European hotel associations, receiving access to the platform through which this lawsuit will be launched.
This action follows the decision of the European Court of Justice of 19 September 2024 (C-264/23), which confirmed that the "parity clauses" used by Booking.com in its contracts with hoteliers infringed European competition law. These clauses stifled competition, giving competitive advantages to the Booking.com platform, which collected higher commissions than those charged by other platforms and tour operators, restricting hotels from offering better prices on their own websites or on other platforms and thus limiting their direct sales and autonomy, as well as collaborations with other providers such as online platforms. Subsequently, taking advantage of the dominant position thus gained, they applied higher commissions that cost hotels millions of euros over the last two decades and also affected other accommodation providers on the Romanian market.
"European hoteliers have long endured unfair conditions and inflated costs. Now is the time to stand together and demand compensation. This class action sends a strong message: abusive practices in the digital marketplace will not go unanswered.", says Alexandros Vassilikos, president of HOTREC.
"This is a unique opportunity for Romanian hotels to join a European movement for a fair and transparent digital market. As HOTREC members, we support this initiative and encourage hotels in Romania to contact us to join the joint lawsuit of European accommodation providers against Booking.com. It is time to act with unity and determination. FIHR will support any player in the local hospitality industry who needs advice to join this initiative", adds Simona Constantinescu, president of FIHR.
In accordance with the general principles of European competition law, hotels in Europe are entitled to claim compensation from Booking.com for the financial losses they have suffered. Affected hotels could be eligible to recover a significant portion of the commissions paid to Booking.com between 2004 and 2024, which could represent a substantial financial return, plus interest.
The legal action is being coordinated by Stichting Hotel Claims Alliance and will be filed in the Dutch courts, led by a team of leading competition lawyers and economists, who successfully obtained the ECJ ruling of 19 September 2024 against Booking.com. This ensures a unified and efficient approach to enforcement at European level.
The action is supported by the national hotel associations from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The German Hotel Association had the first initiative and success in court, showing that the dominant power that Booking has must enter a regulated and transparent area.
In 2021, Booking.com unilaterally broke off negotiations on appropriate compensation with the German Hotel Association (IHA) and initiated legal proceedings against several hundred German hotels at the District Court of Amsterdam. An interim result of this (ongoing) process is the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 19 September 2024, which confirmed the conclusions of the German Federal Cartel Office that the parity clauses imposed by the platform infringe EU competition law. This has led to claims for damages from hotels across Europe, which are to be claimed in the collective action supported by HOTREC.
