Tant que la victime
n'aura pas appris à
écrire, chaque histoire
défendra son auteur.
Tant que la victime n'aura pas appris à écrire, chaque histoire défendra son auteur.
Brussels, 28 May 2025
Today, HOTREC – the Association of Hotels, Restaurants & Cafés in Europe – announces the launch of a pan-European collective action against Booking.com. The initiative is supported by more than 25 national hotel associations across Europe, and it takes collective private competition enforcement to the next level. Hoteliers across Europe will join forces to send a strong message to the dominant online booking portal: they will no longer accept the pattern of unfair trading practices. All European hotels which are/were listed on the Booking.com platform between 2004 and 2024 are eligible and invited to participate in this collective action, under which the participating hotels will jointly seek compensation from Booking.com for excessive commissions charged during the relevant timeframe.
Alexandros Vassilikos, President of HOTREC, stated: “European hoteliers have long endured unfair conditions and inflated costs. Now is the time to stand together and seek redress. This collective action sends a strong message: abusive practices in the digital marketplace will not go unchallenged.”
This legal action follows the judgment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) of 19 September 2024 (case C‑264/23), in which the ECJ confirmed that the parity clauses used by Booking.com violated European competition law. CDC Cartel Damage Claims is working together with Dr Volker Soyez of SGP Schneider Geiwitz Rechtsanwälte and lead counsel in this case, as well as the Dutch litigation specialists of Brande & Verheij LLP. Together we will support and assist the European hotels in their quest for justice.
Dr Till Schreiber et Dr Christian Classen of CDC are responsible for the overall case management and strategic oversight. For more than 20 years CDC has been the pioneer and leader in antitrust damage recovery in Europe. To date, CDC has claimed over two billion euros in antitrust damages for European companies and has been successful in 100% of the cases pursued. Besides pursuing damage claims in its own name, CDC offers services in the field of competition claims enforcement and has a team of highly experienced economists, data scientists and legal specialists.
Download the press release as a PDF file here.
The article was first published with ThoughtLeaders4 Competition Magazine. It is also available ici.
You can download our submission from ici
Download our submission from ici
This is an extract from GCR’s Private Litigation Guide – Third Edition. The whole publication is available at https://globalcompetitionreview.com/guide/private-litigation-guide/third-edition
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