Booking.com hit by Spanish antitrust investigation – POLITICO

Spain’s competition watchdog has launched a new antitrust investigation into online travel platform Booking.com, focusing on unfair commercial terms and policies.

The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) said on Monday it would examine whether Booking.com imposed unfair commercial conditions on Spanish hotels and whether its policies may have had « exclusionary effects » on other agencies. online travel.

The investigation follows complaints from the Spanish Association of Hotel Managers and the Regional Association of Hotels in Madrid. If Booking.com’s actions are found to constitute an abuse of dominance, it faces fines of up to 10% of its worldwide revenue.

« We have and will continue to partner with CNMC on their issues regarding Booking.com Spain, » the company said. “Booking.com has always and will continue to work with our accommodation partners in the travel ecosystem, which has only recently seen signs of recovery as we enter an uncertain future with the global economic environment. We continue to work tirelessly to secure and meet the much needed demand from our accommodation partners, helping them fill their rooms every day.

The CNMC has 18 months to reach a final decision on whether the company violated competition rules.

This article has been updated.