Dutch Consumers' Association launches major legal action against Booking.com
The Dutch Consumers’ Association, in collaboration with the Consumers Competition Claims Foundation (CCC), has initiated collective legal proceedings against Booking.com. The platform is accused of inflating hotel prices for years through anti-competitive practices.
The organisations argue that consumers are owed compensation, as Booking.com has allegedly prevented hotels from offering better prices or terms elsewhere since January 2013.
Bert Heikens, chair of the CCC, points out that multiple European regulators have already found Booking.com to be in breach of competition law. Sandra Molenaar, director of the Dutch Consumers’ Association, adds that the platform routinely misleads users by offering fake discounts, providing incomplete pricing information, and creating the impression of artificial scarcity. These techniques are known as 'dark patterns' and are banned under EU and Dutch law.
The total amount of damages is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of euros, with individual losses ranging from tens to hundreds of euros. Anyone who has booked a hotel room directly or indirectly via Booking.com since 2013 may be eligible to join the claim, including those who have booked through affiliated platforms such as Agoda, or even hotel websites affected by Booking’s pricing policies.
The CCC is handling the legal proceedings, while the Consumers’ Association is registering affected consumers. Participation is free initially, but successful claimants may have to pay up to 25% of their compensation in legal fees if the case is won.
© ANP
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