2024-07-31 01:04:42
“This practice has affected hotels in Spain and other online accommodation booking agencies that compete with this platform. Its terms and conditions create an unfair inequality in commercial relations with hotels in Spain,” the CNMC said in a statement.
“By better positioning hotels with more bookings on the Booking.com platform, other online accommodation booking agencies were prevented from entering the market or expanding,” the regulator added.
The CNMC states that Booking.com’s market share in Spain was around 70-90% during the period covered by the investigation.
As reported, the European Commission (EC) included “Booking.com” in the list of digital companies subject to the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DTA) requirements in May.
“Booking.com” has been given six months to prepare for compliance with DTA requirements.
The EC has so far designated “Apple”, “Google” and “Meta”, as well as “Alphabet”, “Amazon”, “ByteDance” and “Microsoft” as gatekeepers of digital commerce, which must comply with DTA requirements since March 7.
The Digital Markets Act imposes obligations on large online platforms that act as gatekeepers to the digital market, i.e. platforms whose dominant position online makes it difficult for consumers to avoid using them. The aim of these duties is to ensure a fairer business environment and more services for consumers.
The DTA allows the EC to designate digital platforms as so-called gatekeepers if they provide an important gateway between businesses and consumers through the platform’s core services.
2024-07-31 01:04:42