Hotels will be able to set a lower price for their services regardless of Booking. The Dutch company informed the Antimonopoly Service of the execution of the order. Booking.com BV has made changes to the general conditions for the provision of services and the privileged program and stopped applying parity of prices and rooms to Russian hotels, the FAS told Izvestia.
In December 2020, the department completed consideration of the antitrust case against Booking, initiated as a result of the appeal of the all-Russian public organization of small and medium-sized businesses “Support of Russia”. The FAS concluded that the company had abused its dominant position in the hotel promotion market. Booking imposed the conditions of an agreement on hotels, hotels and hostels, which provided for the mandatory provision and observance of parity of prices and rooms, as well as the conditions for interaction with closed user groups, the FAS recalled.
The FAS issued an order to the company to terminate the application of parity of prices and numbers. The company tried to appeal the decision, but in November 2021, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal of the city of Moscow upheld the decision and order of the Antimonopoly Service.
“We were disappointed with the court’s decision, but as a responsible company, our priority is to comply with all applicable laws and regulations in Russia, as we try to do in all countries in which we operate,” Booking told Izvestia.
The aggregator has fulfilled its obligations to hoteliers, Aleksey Kozhevnikov, Vice President of Opora Rossii, confirmed to Izvestia. However, price parity remained with other market participants, so it should be canceled for everyone, he added.
Read more in the exclusive material from Izvestia:
“Don’t make a reservation: Booking has fulfilled the requirements of the Federal Antimonopoly Service to cancel price parity”
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
