<\/p>\r\n
<\/p>\r\n
Opinion: why hotels should win \u2014 and why it isn\u2019t enough<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n TL;DR<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 On 30 October 2026, 18,135 European hotels completed their filing in a collective action against Booking Holdings over price parity clauses used from 2004 to 2024. I hope they win, and I hope Booking pays. But compensation will take years, and it won\u2019t return the direct demand hotels lost \u2014 that has to be won back now, on Search, Maps and AI.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n I\u2019ll be clear from the start: I support this claim, and I hope the court orders Booking Holdings to compensate the hotels.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Booking.com is not just another sales channel. The European Commission designated it a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act in May 2024. In Spain, the competition authority found it held 70\u201390% of the market for online hotel booking services. When a company with that position tells hotels they may not sell cheaper on their own website, it isn\u2019t negotiating. It is setting the rules of the market.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n For two decades, those rules decided what a hotel could charge on its own website. In my view, the hotels that lived under them deserve to be compensated, and the practices behind them deserve close scrutiny so they never come back in another form.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Booking disagrees. It calls the claims \u201cincorrect and misleading\u201d and argues its parity clauses had no anti-competitive effect. That\u2019s for the court to decide. What follows is why I think the hotels have the stronger case \u2014 and why winning in court still won\u2019t be enough.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The Stichting Hotel Claims Alliance (SHCA)<\/a>, a Dutch non-profit foundation, filed its third and final group of claimants before the Amsterdam District Court on 30 October 2026. The numbers tell the story of a sector that has run out of patience:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The claim centres on price parity clauses<\/strong> in Booking.com\u2019s terms between 2004 and 2024. Until 2015, \u201cwide\u201d clauses stopped hotels offering lower prices on any other channel. From 2015, \u201cnarrow\u201d clauses still stopped them offering lower prices on their own website. SHCA estimates total damages could reach several billion euros, plus interest.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Why Amsterdam? Because Booking.com\u2019s own terms give Dutch courts exclusive jurisdiction over disputes with hotels. The action is backed by HOTREC<\/a>, the European hospitality association, and more than 30 national associations. A first hearing is expected in 2027.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This claim doesn\u2019t come out of nowhere. Courts and regulators in several countries have already ruled against Booking\u2019s parity clauses:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhere I stand<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
What the claim is about<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\n
Not the first ruling: a pattern across Europe<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n