Italy's antitrust watchdog said
Friday it has opened an investigation into the online hotel
reservation service Booking.com for alleged abuse of a dominant
market position.
In a statement the authority said the probe is against
Booking.com (Italy) srl, Booking.com B.V. and Booking.com
International B.V.
In particular, the service is alleged to give some hotels
advantages in terms of visibility in the search results in
exchange for higher commissions and the commitment to offer
'competitive' prices on Booking.com and to apply discounts on
prices found to be higher than those advertised for the same
establishment on other sites.
According to the Authority, this strategy is likely to hinder
effective competition at least within the Italian market to the
detriment of other online hotel intermediation and booking
services, with negative effects on accommodation facilities and,
ultimately, on consumers in terms of higher prices and less
choice in services.
On Thursday antitrust authority officials reportedly carried out
inspections at the offices of Booking.com (Italy) srl, with
support from the special antitrust unit of the finance police.
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