News & Stories
Rome. The Administrative Court of the Lazio region has cancelled the 500,000-euro fine imposed upon TripAdvisor LLC and TripAdvisor Italy Srl by the Italian Cartel Office last December for the publication "of deceptive information regarding the sources of reviews".
Paris/Rome/Berlin. Yesterday, in Paris: the French National Assembly definitely voted for the "Macron law". French Prime Minister Manuel Valls will validate the law today, at noon. For local hoteliers, it means freedom. After months of uncertainty, they now know for sure, that it is illegal in France for an OTA to impose rate parity online and offline. This is a revolution and will turn the OTA-hotel relationship upside-down.
Amsterdam/Berlin. The German International Hotel Association, hotelleriesuisse and European HOTREC have told hoteliers that they will contravene national law if they accept the new GTCs of Booking.com from July 1 as well the GTCs of Expedia.
Paris. After Booking.com, which was summoned to give up most of its so-called "unfair" commercial practices, it is now Expedia's turn to be facing France's frustration towards OTAs.
Amsterdam/Berlin. Booking.com surprised the German hotel industry with the announcement that it will voluntarily relinquish its parity clauses. The German International Hotel Association states that this is only half the truth and hits out against the OTA.
Brussels. The massive criticism by the HOTREC European umbrella organisation regarding the draughts of the Package Travel Directive had encountered open ears in Brussels during the final stages of the consultations. The directive now encompasses fewer hotel offers than had been feared.
Paris/Rome. Is this a remake of David and Goliath? Are European hoteliers really winning against the giant Booking.com? Well, it’s discussable. While many welcome the news with satisfaction, experts keep on warning about the power Booking.com will still have over hoteliers. Many are not fooled by this settlement. For them, Booking will certainly penalize hotels giving other online agencies better prices and at the end hoteliers will have to side Booking again in order to maintain a decent RevPar. The cartel offices of France, Italy and Sweden with their decision different to the German cartel office some weeks ago got the ball rolling again. The background and details about the special agreement for Booking.com.
Bonn. After HRS, it's now Booking.com's turn to attract the attention of competition authorities. The German Federal Cartel Office has issued a warning to the booking platform due to its continued use of the best-price clause. This puts HRS and Booking.com on the same page; proceedings against Expedia are still ongoing.
Vienna. Austria's Supreme Court has decided that combinations with the prefix "Mc" in the hospitality and catering industry are the preserve of the fast food chain McDonald's. McDonald's lawyers expect the case to have a precedential effect on German jurisprudence too.
Duesseldorf/Cologne. Last Friday, the Higher Regional Court in Duesseldorf dismissed the appeal of HRS against a ruling of the German Federal Cartel Office. Legally substantiated, best rate clauses have finally been prohibited in Germany. However, it remains open, when the cartel office will comment on the general business terms of Booking and Expedia. Until then, there will be distorted competitive relationships among the OTAs in Germany.