The Competition and Market Authority has decided to accept, making them binding, the commitments presented by the companies of the Priceline group Booking.com and Booking.com Italy. This concludes, against these companies - explains a note from the Antitrust - the investigation launched on 7 May 2014 also against Expedia to verify possible restrictions on competition connected to the use, by the main online hotel booking platforms (the so-called OTA online travel agencies), of clauses, in contractual relations with their partner hotels, of rate parity and other conditions (also in terms of number of rooms available).
However, the proceeding is still pending against Expedia. The commitments – continues the note – will apply, starting from 1 July 2015, to all reservations made by consumers with reference to hotels located in Italy and will have a duration of 5 years. The same commitments were presented to the national competition authorities of France and Sweden.
