Spain accuses Booking of monopoly. And he has already warned them that they will have to pay a record fine of 489 million eurosthe largest sanction in the history of Spain imposed by the CNMC, the Spanish competition body.
This fine, which has not yet been made official and would arrive in the summer, has been confirmed by Booking itself, which includes it directly in its latest quarterly results.
The National Markets and Competition Commission began an investigation in 2022 into Booking to check whether it was carrying out anti-competitive practices and, based on the result, it has concluded that the hotel reservation platform is exercising monopoly.
Booking explains that it feels “disappointed with the decision” and that they have “intention to appeal this decision unprecedented if it becomes definitive.”
The 489 million euros would be by far the largest fine from the CNMC in history. In 2021, a cartel of transport companies was fined 127.8 million euros. In 2022, 6 of the main construction companies in Spain were fined 203.6 million euros. In 2023, Amazon and Apple were fined 194 million euros.
One of the arguments that Booking expresses is that These types of decisions should not be at the national levelbut should be framed within the new Digital Markets Law (DMA) that will begin to apply from next March 7.
The DMA establishes requirements and fines for companies with more than 45 million active users in the European Union and a value greater than 75 billion euros. However, Booking has not been designated as a “gatekeeper”, unlike Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft or ByteDance. Due to this, Europe’s demands towards Booking are lower than those of the selected large online platforms.
