The court dismisses the claim of Booking.com against the FAS in the case of “abuse of dominant market position”

The Moscow Arbitration Court dismissed the claim of the Dutch company Booking.com BV (the owner of the hotel booking service of the same name) against the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (FAS), transfers Interfax with reference to the court’s filing cabinet.

Booking.com asked to invalidate the decision and order of the regulator in the case of “abuse of monopoly position” in the Russian market.

Earlier, on August 26, FAS fined Booking for 1.3 billion rubles. Thus, the court sided with the authorities, who recognized the service as a violator of antimonopoly legislation due to the imposition of the so-called price parity requirement on hotels.

Claims against the Dutch power company presented back at the end of last year. A complaint about the service was filed by Opora Rossii. She accused Booking that the service requires hotels to give the best prices only to him: even if the client booked a room directly, the hotel has no right to provide him with lower rates.

The service itself occupies a leading position in the Russian market – it accounts for about 70% of all bookings. In Rosturizm in July this year reported on plans to launch a Russian analogue of Booking.com – a national service for booking services. It is expected to be operational at the end of 2024.