The European Commission has been actively engaging with Booking.com to enforce the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to enhance fairness and transparency in the digital marketplace. As a result, businesses operating on Booking.com within the European Economic Area (EEA) are now allowed to set their prices and conditions independently, both on Booking.com and their own sales channels.

One significant aspect of this enforcement is the ban on parity clauses, which previously restricted accommodation providers from offering better prices on other platforms. By eliminating these clauses, the DMA encourages hotels and other accommodation partners to attract direct bookings, thereby reducing their reliance on Booking.com and lowering costs for consumers.

Booking.com has been working on compliance measures following regulatory dialogues with the Commission. The platform has removed parity requirements from its General Delivery Terms and has made further adjustments to its ranking and partner programs to ensure transparency. Notably, external prices will no longer influence the eligibility for Booking Sponsored Benefit (BSB), allowing accommodation providers to set their prices freely.

In September 2026, Booking.com will implement additional transparency measures, providing clearer information on its partner programs and how external prices are treated. This includes updates to its Extranet and Partner Hub, ensuring that accommodation providers understand their rights to offer different prices on various sales channels.

The Commission acknowledges the cooperation with national competition authorities in investigating Booking.com’s practices, emphasizing that the voluntary changes made by the platform do not affect ongoing investigations by member states.