Competition in the distribution of hotel nights in the European Union seems to be without significant change compared to 2016. This conclusion emerges from the latest market study issued by the European Commission.

Specifically:

• Online travel agencies ("OTA") account for 44% of nightly sales by independent hotels. This is slightly improved compared to 2016.
• Booking.com and Expedia remain the largest OTAs (Online travel agencies) for hotel bookings. There are no indications of significant changes in the market shares of OTA or the entry of new OTA(Online travel agency).
• The commissions paid by hotels to the OTA (Online travel agency) appear to have remained stable or decreased slightly.
• The amount of the difference in room rate and room availability applied by hotels both between different OTA and between hotel websites and OTA seems to have decreased.
• It appears that some OTA(Online travel agency) use commercial measures, such as improved/reduced visibility on the OTA website. This is to pressure hotels to offer them the best room rates and conditions.
• The relative importance of hotel accommodation sales channels (online/offline, direct/indirect) varies to some extent between Member States. However, there do not appear to be any significant differences between the OTA in terms of the playing field.
• The laws of Austria and Belgium prohibiting OTAs from applying both broad and narrow parity clauses to the supply of hotel nights do not appear to have led to substantial changes in hotel accommodation distribution practices compared to the other Member States covered by the study.

The results of the study

The Commission consulted the EU's national competition authorities ('NCAs') on the design of the market study. At the same time, he discussed with them the results of the study. The results of the study will be taken into account by the Commission and the NCAs in the context of the ongoing monitoring and enforcement work in the area of hotel night distribution. The Digital Markets Act is expected to enter into force in the autumn. It may also have an impact on the competition in the distribution of hotel room nights. The Digital Markets Act aims to ensure that platform markets are enforceable.

Also that platforms acting as gatekeepers offer fair conditions to the companies that use them. The Digital Markets Act prohibits such platforms from using both broad as well as narrow retail parity clauses or equivalent commercial measures. The process of identifying gatekeeper platforms will start once the Digital Markets Act is in place. This will be done six months after its entry into force. It is noted that the market study conducted in 2021. It covers the period between 2017 and 2021. Focused on representative sample of six Member States (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Poland, Spain and Sweden).

The aim of the study on the image of hotel nights

• to gather up-to-date data on hotel accommodation distribution practices following a similar monitoring exercise carried out by the European Competition Network (ECN) in 2016;
• establish whether hotel nights distribution practices differ between Member States;
• identify any changes in hotel accommodation distribution practices. Changes compared to the results of the monitoring exercise carried out by the ECN in 2016;
• find out whether laws prohibiting online travel agencies from using both broad and narrow parity clauses in Austria and Belgium have led to changes in hotel accommodation distribution practices in those Member States. Parity clauses do not allow hotels to offer better terms on sales channels other than the website of the online travel agency with which the hotel has a contract. The broad exchange rate clauses refer to the price and other conditions offered by the hotel on all other sales channels. Narrow parity clauses apply only to rates published by the hotel on its website.

The distribution of hotel nights has been the subject of a series of antitrust and legislative interventions in recent years.

Since 2010, several NCAs have investigated the use of retail parity clauses by OTAs in their contracts with hotels. Broad retail parity clauses do not allow hotels to offer better room rates. Also offer increased availability on any other sales channel. Tight retail parity clauses allow hotels to offer better room rates in other OTAs. As well as in offline bookings. However they do not allow them to offer better prices on their own websites.

As a result of these national surveys, in April 2015, the CEPOLs of France, Italy and Sweden accepted commitments offered by Booking.com with a view to converting the company's broad retail rate clauses into narrow exchange rates throughout the European Economic Area ('EEA') over a period of five years. In August 2015, Expedia also decided to convert its own retail parity clauses from broad to narrow. The decision concerned the whole of the EEA. In December 2015, the German NCA banned the Booking.com's narrow parity clauses. Following an appeal by the Booking.com, this decision was finally upheld by the German Supreme Court.

Between 2015 and 2018, France, Austria, Italy and Belgium adopted laws.

These laws prohibit the use of both broad and narrow retail parity clauses from OTA in the hotel sector.In 2016, a group of ten NCAs and the Commission carried out a monitoring exercise in the area of hotel reservations to measure the impact of changes in the parity clauses applied by the OTA as a result of these regulatory interventions.In February 2017, based on the results of the monitoring process, the European Competition Network decided that it should be give more time in order for remedies already taken in the field of competition to produce effects. It also decided that the competitive situation would be reassessed in due course.

In 2020, Booking.com and Expedia informed the Commission and the NCAs that they will continue not to use broad retail parity clauses across the EEA until at least June 2023.In May 2022, the Commission adopted the new Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation ('new VBER'), which provides a security area for some vertical agreements, as well as the accompanying guidelines on vertical restraints. The broad retail parity clauses used by online platforms are excluded from the security area offered by the new VBER. However, the security area is still provided in other types of parity clauses, including narrow retail rate clauses. The Vertical Restraint Guidelines provide guidance to companies on the application of the new VBER to parity clauses and on the assessment of parity clauses in individual cases not covered by the buffer area.