EU court confirms ban: Hotel portal Booking is not allowed to take over eTraveli

Hotel, flight, taxi - many people book trips online with just a few clicks. The leading hotel portal Booking wants to become even stronger when it comes to flight bookings. There are concerns about this.

Luxembourg. The booking portal Booking is not allowed to take over the competitor eTraveli even after a ruling by the EU court. The judges in Luxembourg confirmed a corresponding decision by the EU Commission in 2023. The merger would significantly hinder competition, they said.

The EU Commission feared higher costs for hotels and possibly for consumers and therefore banned the merger. Booking is the dominant hotel portal in the European Economic Area, eTraveli is one of the most important flight portals in Europe, the Brussels competition authorities wrote in 2023 as justification. Online flight brokerage after the merger could lead to significantly greater use of the booking platform because customers could also want to book a hotel after booking a flight.

Already flights on the booking page

Customers are already finding flights via Booking. Even before Booking announced the planned takeover, the site was purchasing limited flights from eTraveli.

Booking had argued that the merger would lead to greater efficiency. However, the EU Commission came to the conclusion that this could not offset the negative effects. The court confirmed this assessment. The judgment can still be appealed to the highest European court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ).