Italy’s Competition Watchdog Ends Investigation into Booking.com

Italy’s antitrust regulator, AGCM, has concluded its investigation into the online travel platform Booking.com, determining that commitments offered by the company were sufficient to address the competition concerns initially raised. The decision, announced Thursday, comes months after the probe was launched in March to examine whether the platform abused its dominant position in the hotel booking market, according to Reuters.

The inquiry centered on Booking.com’s management of its Preferred Partner Programme. The AGCM had raised concerns that the programme’s practices could distort competition, particularly by influencing hotel pricing policies. The watchdog suggested that such actions might restrict consumer choice and inflate costs in the market for online hotel booking services across Italy.

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Per Reuters, Booking.com proposed a series of measures to alleviate these concerns. Among the key commitments, the company assured that hotel prices offered through other online channels would not influence the platform’s decisions when managing or promoting hotels in its Preferred Partner Programme.

The regulator deemed these assurances sufficient to mitigate the potential harm to competition, thereby deciding to close the investigation. While the AGCM will continue to monitor the market, this outcome signals a step forward for Booking.com in addressing regulatory scrutiny of its business practices.

Source: Reuters