Legal actions against Booking.com

Legal challenges against Booking.com have intensified, moving from regulatory complaints to large-scale collective litigation.

In September 2026, the Austrian Hotel Association (ÖHV) filed a complaint with the European Commission, alleging that Booking.com violated the Digital Markets Act. The association claimed the platform used its gatekeeper status to impose terms that act as a ‘dictate’ rather than a negotiation. Specific allegations included unauthorized price reductions, manipulation of search visibility, lack of fee transparency, and arbitrary account suspensions.

By October 2026, the legal pressure expanded into a massive collective lawsuit filed in the Netherlands. More than 15,000 hotels across over 30 countries are seeking several billion euros in damages. This litigation targets the platform’s use of ‘price parity clauses’ between 2004 and 2024, which hoteliers argue prevented them from offering lower prices on their own websites and stifled competition. The Stichting Hotel Claims Alliance (SHCA) estimates that hotels may be entitled to claim 30% or more of the total commissions paid to the platform during that period.