Booking.com - why aren't people upset about them?

Not sure if they will accept comments from outside their countries but still worth a try.

At the same time it might be good to contact the authorities in our own countries and advise them what is happening in France,Sweden and Italy.

This is the time when it is good to have a group of contacts in our own countries to e-mail and ask them also to email to put pressure on the organisation.

No you can of course send an email to all of them I mean they will ask for your business address in the country and when you are not in the country will the take your comments on board.

All three asked for comments from hotels, but I didn’t see anything saying that they would only accept comments from businesses in those countries. If you have something to say I would send your comments anyway. They may want it to be submitted in the respective language though.

For anyone writing letters to the competition authorities, bear in mind that their biggest concern is determining whether or not Booking’s rate parity clause and their recent proposal will inhibit competition and consequently prevent customers from getting the best possible price. Any arguments and supporting data that you provide should probably address this concern.

Long rants involving a lot of “I hate Booking.com” will probably not affect the authorities’ decisions, even if those rants are highly compelling and poignant.

One example: Booking’s rate parity clause mandates that an accommodation provider cannot offer more advantageous rates on their own website because they are required to match a 3rd party vendor’s rates. That 3rd party vendor charges commissions that have to be covered by their prices, whereas a direct booking has no such commissions. Therefore, those rates offered on the company’s own website are artificially inflated and the end customer will be forced to pay more than necessary.

Booking’s proposal would allow other OTAs to have lower rates that Booking, but those sites also include commissions that have to be covered in the selling price. By offering a lower price to a competing OTA the accommodation provider would be forced to undercut their own rates if they cannot also offer similar rates on their own website, which is prohibited by Booking’s proposal. This would be a disadvantageous pricing strategy and therefore an unlikely one, effectively inhibiting any competition. As a result, the end customers would be forced to pay artificially inflated prices across all possible booking channels.

Many of you could explain this far more eloquently and with fewer words than I could, and it would be great to hear what other approaches you would suggest as well. I think that this type of comment is what the authorities are looking for and the most likely to convince them to reject Booking’s rate parity clause and proposed amendment, but I would love to hear other suggestions too.