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EU: France, Sweden, Italy obtain anti-trust commitments from Booking.com

By  |  April 21, 2015

Hotel reservation website Booking.com has agreed to allow hoteliers in France, Italy and Sweden to charge cheaper Internet prices after a spate of legal challenges, the French competition authority said Tuesday.

Up to now, Booking.com has not permitted hotels who use their site to charge cheaper prices elsewhere.

That was overturned following negotiations between the website and officials from France, Italy and Sweden, prompted by legal complaints from hotel trade associations.

However, hotels will still be barred from charging cheaper prices on their own website, except for customers with fidelity cards.

The changes are due to come into force on July 1.

“We think we have found a satisfactory balance, with a win-win agreement,” said Bruno Lasserre, president of the French competition commission.

 

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

 

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