Part of Booking.com records seized after 15,000 hotels claim they overpaid commissions

A portion of the administration of Booking.com has been seized at the request of more than 15,000 hotels seeking compensation for allegedly excessive commissions. The hotels accuse the platform of blocking access to old invoices needed to calculate how much they overpaid, Het Financieele Dagblad reports.

The dispute centers on a pricing rule Booking used for years that barred hotels from offering cheaper room rates through other channels.

Hotels argue the restriction weakened their competitive position and forced them to pay inflated commissions to Booking.

The compensation case, backed by Koninklijke Horeca Nederland, formally moved forward Wednesday in Amsterdam.

In 2024, the European Court of Justice ruled in favor of German hotels that challenged a pricing rule used by Booking.com. The court said the pricing rule prevented hotels from offering lower rates on other platforms.

The same type of pricing rules are now also banned under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, and Booking removed the rule in 2024.