The Hellenic Chamber of Hotels (HCH) has officially allied with more than 25 national hotel associations across Europe to support a collective legal action against online travel giant Booking.com.
This action follows a Court of Justice of the European Union ruling (CJEU) on September 19, 2024, which found that the platform’s parity clauses violated EU competition law.
Under these parity clauses, hotels were forced to match or exceed the commissions and rates set on competing platforms, inflating commission costs and suppressing direct bookings.
Over the past two decades, parity clauses have put Greek hotels at a serious competitive disadvantage. They have limited price competition between Booking.com and other online platforms and leading hotels to pay increased commissions. The clause policy has also restricted hotels from offering better prices or availability on their own websites, limiting their direct sales and autonomy.
According to the general principles of European competition law, hotels in Greece have the right to claim compensation from Booking.com for the financial losses they suffered and may be entitled to recover a significant part of the commissions they paid to Booking.com during the period 2004 to 2024, plus interest.
“This is a substantial opportunity for Greek hoteliers to exercise their legal rights and seek redress for the damages they suffered, while contributing to the formation of a fairer digital environment in the tourism services market,” said the HCH and Hotrec President Alexandros Vassilikos.
Hotels in Greece are invited and encouraged to register here. The HCH will send guidelines and detailed information to members. The deadline for is July 31, 2025.
The legal action is supported by the national hotel associations of Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland.
