Hotels listed by online travel giant Booking.com in Europe are now free to offer better rates elsewhere, the European Commission said Thursday as new rules on the platform came into force.
The EU in May added the Dutch platform to its list of digital companies big enough to fall under its landmark Digital Markets Act (DMA), giving it six months to prepare for compliance with the tougher competition rules.
The rules aim to level the playing field in the digital market, ensuring EU users have more options when choosing products such as web browsers and search engines.
In practice, this means that "hotels, car rentals and other service providers using Booking.com are now free to offer different (including better) prices and conditions on their own website or other channels than on Booking.com," said a commission statement.
"Booking is not allowed to increase commission rates or de-list offers of business users if they provide different prices on another website," the statement added.
"This means that other platforms and travel service providers can compete under fairer conditions, leading to innovation and lower prices."
DMA rules also mean hotels and other tourist services will have continuous, real-time access to the data they and their customers generate by using Booking.com -- and can transfer it to other platforms if they wish.
"This will allow hotels and other relevant travel service providers to develop more innovative deals and tailored offers," said the commission.
Booking.com outlined the steps it has taken to fall in line with the DMA in a report made public on the commission's website, which the EU executive said it would "carefully analyse" to assess compliance.
With the DMA, the EU can impose fines of up to 10 percent of a company's total global turnover. This can rise to 20 percent for repeat offenders and in the most severe circumstances, the EU can order the break-up of companies.
"As of today, Booking.com operates in compliance with the Digital Markets Act," the company said a statement. "Consultations with the European Commission and relevant stakeholders informed the design of our compliance solutions."
Booking.com, whose parent company Booking Holdings is headquartered in the United States, is a dominant player in Europe with a market share of more than 60 percent.
It joined six other market "gatekeepers" that are already required to comply with the DMA: Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok owner ByteDance.
