Porto, May 28, 2025 (Lusa) - The Portuguese Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism (APHORT) announced on Wednesday that it would join the European class action against Booking.com, the global digital accommodation booking platform, due to commercial practices considered anti-competitive.
Booking.com, considered one of the largest accommodation booking websites in the world, is facing a historic European class action lawsuit brought by hotels in several countries, including Portugal, due to practices considered abusive and anti-competitive.
In a press release, APHORT stated that wat is joining "a historic European class action against Booking.com, following the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on 19 September 2024, which concluded that the parity clauses imposed by the platform on hotels violate European Union (EU) competition law".
National hotel associations in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom support this action. Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania and Switzerland.
The initiative also has the support of HOTREC, the European hospitality confederation, and more than 25 national associations in the sector across Europe.
"As an association that represents and defends the interests of the hotel sector at national and European level, APHORT wants, with this support, to give Portuguese entrepreneurs - whether or not they are our members - who may have felt harmed by Booking's actionsto assert their rights, recover losses and contribute to a fairer online market," explained Inês Sá Ribeiro, APHORT's government relations director, explained in the same press release sent to the media.
In 2021, Booking.com unilaterally decided to end compensation negotiations with the German Hotel Association and brought legal proceedings against several hundred German hotels before the Amsterdam District Court.
One of the results of the proceedings was the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union on 19 September 2024, which confirmed the conclusions of the German Competition Authority, recognising that parity clauses violate EU competition rules.
APHORT says, in short, that "the use of anti-competitive parity clauses by Booking.com has caused significant financial damage to hotels in Portugal and across Europe".
According to the general principles of EU competition law, Portuguese hotels are now entitled to claim compensation for the damage suffered.
"The establishments affected may be entitled to recover a substantial part of the commissions paid to Booking.com between 2004 and 2024, plus interest," APHORT said, inviting business owners to register at www.mybookingclaim.com and join the claim by 31 July this year.
Stichting Hotel Claims Alliance is coordinating the class action and will be brought before the courts in the Netherlands, allowing for a joint and effective approach at the European level, adds the same press release available on the official website of the APHORT association.
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