Booking avoids having to pay already imposed in July 2024. As reported by legal sources, the National Court has estimated the precautionary measure requested by the hotels reservation platform to suspend the execution of the sanction, the highest that the agency has imposed, to justify that the Dutch company abused its domain position, at least, between 2019 and until the date of the fine, and restricted the establishments. Marketing of its rooms through its websites or other alternative sales channels at lower prices than those offered in the online reservations giant.
These precautionary measures are usually requested by the companies sanctioned by the CNMC with the aim of delaying an eventual payment of the fines until there is a final sentence. The National Court usually accepts its suspension to avoid causing immediate economic damage to companies while deciding on the matter in question, but also takes into account that there is no damage to the public interest. Thus, magistrates usually require companies a guarantee for the value of the sanction, such as a bank guarantee. Booking already reported that it provisioned 413 million euros after knowing the result of the administrative file of competition, although it appealed to the National Court. In any case, the blocking of the sanction does not imply the advancement of the sense of the future failure. The court adopts the precautionary measure without knowing the facts in question, or the arguments of the parties.
The National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) confirmed on July 30 the imposition of a fine of 413 million euros (initially considered a sanction of 486 million euros) for imposing several non -equitable commercial conditions on the hotels located in Spain that use their reservations intermediation services – as price parity clauses, legal conditions and lack of transparency in information – and restricted the competence of information – and restricted Other online travel agencies offered by the same services. Due to these practices, competition ensures that the platform market share in Spain was between 70% and 90% during the five years investigated.
Booking resorted to the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the National Court on October 30, 2024, although this is not the only legal front he faces. Almost two months after the sanction of the CNMC, on September 19, 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (TJUE) pronounced on the parity clauses that the company applied for years, which prevented hotels from offering their rooms at lower prices, and that could reduce the competition of other platforms and the risk of exclusion of smaller and newly arrived intermediaries.
The truth is that this ruling was issued following a prejudicial issue high by a court in the Netherlands (where Booking is headquarters) that analyzes a demand for the platform against a group of German hoteliers who pursue millionaire compensation for price restrictions. However, the pronouncement of European justice has encouraged the Spanish hotel sector, which also
The Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations (CEHAT) has hired the services of CCS lawyers, which also knows the matter after collaborating with the German office SGP Schneider Geiwitz, which has promoted the claim in Germany, to know the possibilities of success if they go to the courts; While the Spanish Association of Hotel Directors (AEDH) has signed Eskariam, which has the reinforcement of the economic consultant Compass Lexecon and the RēGula legal boutique, to defend the interests of entrepreneurs in the sector. At the moment, both legal teams are doing analyzing the real effects on the market of parity clauses to quantify the damage.
