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Australia: Booking.com’s meteoric rise sparks travel industry concern

By  |  January 14, 2015

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released a public competition assessment on Wednesday, detailing its reasons for approving Expedia’s $703 million purchase of Wotif.com Holdings. It approved the transaction in October, but until now it has not given details of the full reasoning behind the decision, which was criticised by some hotels concerned it would lead to them paying higher commissions to online travel agents in this market.

Several European countries have been investigating the issue. Last month, Italy, France and Sweden agreed to a preliminary undertaking from Booking.com that would allow hotels to offer lower rates through other online travel agents, but not through individual hotel websites. A German court decision last week cleared the way for German regulators to push Booking.com and Expedia to remove their rate parity clauses in that country.

Full Content: Sydney Morning Herald

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