The European Commission opened a formal investigation on October 21 into whether Booking.com is taking sufficient measures against fraudulent listings and phishing, as well as regarding the transparency of paid visibility for accommodation providers. The proceedings will examine whether the platform violated the Digital Services Act by failing to adequately assess or effectively mitigate the risks associated with such practices.
At the centre of the investigation are fake listings for non-existent properties, offers that do not comply with the relevant requirements, as well as cases in which fraudsters impersonate legitimate accommodation providers. The Commission will also examine phishing attempts involving booking and guest data, as well as how Booking.com shares data with accommodation providers and the safeguards in place within its messaging systems.
Another part of the investigation concerns accommodation providers that pay a higher commission to appear higher in search results. The Commission is examining whether this visibility is clearly identified as advertising and whether travellers can see who is paying and why the specific listing is being shown to them.
Booking.com says that it is cooperating constructively with the Commission and remains committed to working with regulators, law enforcement authorities and industry stakeholders to protect travellers and accommodation providers. The company was designated a very large online platform under the Digital Services Act in April 2023, which subjects it to stricter risk assessment and mitigation obligations for users.
The Commission reviewed Booking.com’s risk assessments for the 2023-2026 period, its transparency reports and the information provided to it following regulatory requests before deciding to open the proceedings. For the time being, no decision has been made that the platform violated the legislation.
The case is also of interest to property managers, as it concerns both the security of communications with guests and the way accommodation providers gain paid visibility on one of Europe’s largest booking platforms. If a violation of the Digital Services Act is established, the platform could face a fine of up to 6% of its global annual turnover.
