On 13 May 2024, the Commission designated Booking Holdings as a gatekeeper for its online intermediation service, Booking.com. As of 14 November, Booking must ensure its online intermediation service, Booking.com, complies with all relevant obligations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Booking must now allow hotels, car rentals, and other relevant service providers to offer better prices and conditions on other online channels, including their own websites, than those offered on Booking.com. Booking is also prohibited from implementing any measures that would restrict this freedom of relevant service providers. Furthermore, hotels and other travel services will have real-time and continuous access to data provided or generated by the use of Booking.com, offering new insights to these providers. At the same time, users can now choose to transfer the data they provided to and generated on Booking.com to alternative platforms. This will allow travel service providers to develop more innovative deals and tailored offers, to the benefit of European customers and businesses.  

On 13 November, Booking also published a compliance report detailing the measures it has taken for Booking.com to comply with the DMA. The public version of the report is accessible on the Commission's DMA webpage. It has also published an audited report on its consumer profiling techniques that is also accessible on the Commission’s DMA webpage.

The Commission will now carefully analyse whether the measures adopted for Booking.com are effective in complying with the DMA obligations. The Commission's assessment will also be based on the input of interested stakeholders, including in the context of a public compliance workshop on 25 November 2024, where Booking is invited to present its solutions.

If the Commission considers that Booking’s solutions are not compliant with the DMA, it can take formal enforcement actions using the entire toolbox at its disposal.

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Booking Holdings Designated as Gatekeeper under Digital Markets Act

Booking Holdings has been designated as a gatekeeper for its online intermediation service, Booking.com, by the Commission. As of 14 November, Booking must ensure compliance with all obligations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Booking is now required to allow service providers to offer better prices and conditions on other online channels, provide real-time data access, and allow users to transfer their data to alternative platforms. This aims to foster competition and innovation in the travel services sector.

Booking has published a compliance report and an audited report on consumer profiling techniques, available on the Commission's DMA webpage. The Commission will assess the effectiveness of Booking's measures and stakeholder feedback, potentially leading to enforcement actions if non-compliance is found.



Booking Holdings Designated as Gatekeeper under Digital Markets Act

Booking Holdings has been designated as a gatekeeper for Booking.com and must now comply with all obligations under the Digital Markets Act, allowing for more competitive pricing and data access for service providers.