THE online hotel reservation platformBooking.com has said that it could be fined a whopping €486 million for anti-competitive practices in Spain.
It would be the largest financial penalty ever imposed by Spain’s competition watchdog, the CNMC.
The CNMC launched an investigation in 2022 to determine whether the Dutch subsidiary of U.S. Group Booking Holdings– which dominates the online hotel booking market- has exploited its position.
The company warned about the possibility of the sanction on Thursday during an announcement of its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2023.
The CNMC probe into Booking’s activities started in October 2022 after it received complaints from the Spanish Association of Hotel Directors and the Hotel Business Association of Madrid.
Both groups accused the platform of a series of practices that could amount to an ‘abuse of Booking’s dominant position’ with respect to the intermediation services it offers to hotels.
Hotels have accused…
