Booking Holdings—Amsterdam court confirmed Booking.com's price-parity clauses violated EU law; hotel class action grew past 10,700 claimants seeking billions
On March 4, 2026, the Amsterdam District Court ruled that Booking.com's price-parity clauses (used 2004-2024, which barred hotels from offering lower rates through other channels) violated EU competition law, following a September 2024 CJEU preliminary ruling to the same effect. The case, brought by the Stichting Hotel Claims Alliance (SHCA) on behalf of participating hotels, moved to a damages phase. SHCA's collective action grew from 3,087 hotels at its January 30, 2026 filing to 10,783 hotels by a July 30, 2026 expansion filing, with a further expansion targeting roughly 18,000 hotels planned for autumn 2026. Hotels are seeking damages estimated at 30% or more of commissions paid to Booking.com over 2004-2024, amounting to several billion euros, backed by HOTREC and more than 30 national hospitality associations.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antitrust & Competition | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Consumer Protection | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.643 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
HOTREC: over 10,000 European hotels now part of collective action against Booking.com price-parity clauses
HOTREC and the Stichting Hotel Claims Alliance announced that 10,783 hotels had joined the collective damages action against Booking.com's price-parity clauses following the Amsterdam District Court's March 4, 2026 ruling that the clauses violated EU competition law.