Ecoclub Headlines

The special antitrust unit of the Financial Police paid a visit to the OTA's Italian HQ in the context of an investigation of whether the online booking giant is abusing its dominant position by (a) forcing Hotels not to offer lower prices through other promotion channels and (b) discounting their rooms when the OTA detects Hotels have indeed offered lower prices (despite having agreed to with Booking in return for extra promotion) through other channels so as to match these lower prices. No one is of course forcing a Hotel to promote itself via a specific OTA or to offer low prices, or to agree to offer the "best" prices through the OTA in return for extra promotion. Thus this investigation is likely to be a result of complaints by competing OTAs. Perhaps the playing field will become more competitive when (because it is just a matter of time) another giant, think of search engines and social media or indeed a new AI service, enters the booking game. Travellers should also remember this rule of thumb: the smaller the hotel the better the chances of getting a better deal by communicating directly with the hotelier, something that is not always liked by tax authorities, for obvious reasons. Thus tax authorities are generally happy with transparent intermediaries taking their cut and reporting it to the tax authorities, as long as they do not overdo it.