FAS REQUESTED BOOKING.COM TO EXCLUDE PARITY

On 12 November 2019,the Federal Antimonopoly Service issued a warning to a private limited company – “Booking.com B.V.” (further on referred to as Booking.com) to stop actions that have signs of violating the antimonopoly law.

Elements of abusing dominance are exposed upon considering a statement of “OPORA RUSSIA” National NGO of Small and Medium Business: imposing disadvantageous contract conditions upon means of accommodations (inns, hotels, hostels, etc.) on mandatory submission and observance of the parity of prices and rooms as well as conditions for interacting with users groups.

Tin accord with the warning, within a month “Booking” must exclude the requirement about the parity of prices and rooms with regard to third persons from agreements with Russian entities that render accommodation services.

FAS believes that applying the parity conditions, when accommodation prices on any resources – online and offline, including resources of other aggregators, tour operators and tour agents, cannot be lower than on  “Booking”, leads to restricting and eliminating competition on the market.