Booking.com's offer to change hotel ranking and discounts in Greece wins a rapporteur's backing

Booking.com may close a Greek competition case by changing how it ranks and discounts hotels; it has not been fined.¹⁴ On 29 October 2026 the Hellenic Competition Commission (Επιτροπή Ανταγωνισμού, Epitropi Antagonismou), Greece's competition authority, announced that the case rapporteur recommends accepting the commitments Booking.com has offered.¹ The recommendation does not bind the Commission, which will decide after weighing the file and the parties' views.¹ The Commission will meet on 28 December 2026 to examine, on the rapporteur's report, whether there has been an infringement and the commitments Booking has offered; it has not said when it will decide.¹

Booking.com has not been fined, and the Commission has not found that it broke the law.¹ The commitments are Booking's own offer to end what the Commission describes as a suspected infringement.¹

What is the Booking.com case about?

The Commission is examining a suspected abuse of a dominant position under article 2 of Greek competition law 3959/2011 and article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.¹² The market in question is online intermediation for bookings of hotel-type accommodation through online travel agencies (OTAs), the websites that sell rooms on behalf of hotels.¹²

The case began with a complaint; the complainant has not been named.¹² The Commission took investigative measures at Greek and international OTAs and at hotels across Greece.¹²

Three Booking.com practices were examined in combination: the default ranking that orders search results, the Preferred and Preferred Plus programmes, and the Booking Sponsored Benefit (BSB) discount scheme.¹² The Commission's concern was that ranking and the Preferred programmes give hotels an incentive to offer better prices and terms on Booking.com than on rival OTAs.¹² Through BSB, which works alongside the ranking system, Booking.com cuts the prices of properties unilaterally, according to the Commission.¹ Taken together, the investigation raised "serious concerns" that these practices can keep competing OTAs from entering or expanding in Greece, in our translation.¹

What has Booking.com offered?

After preparatory meetings with Commission staff, Booking.com proposed commitments to bring the suspected infringement to an end.¹ The commitments apply to Booking's "Greek partners", a term the text does not define, and would stay in force for 10 years from implementation.⁴

Booking.com's commitments to the Hellenic Competition Commission would last 10 years from implementation.⁴

The commitments change three things.⁴

• Ranking. Booking.com would give Greek partners clear information on the criteria and method of its default ranking, and state that the ranking uses no external price data and no availability outside the platform.⁴ The information would appear in updated terms, a banner on the "Ranking Dashboard" of the Extranet (the hotels' back office), Partner Hub articles and an email sent every year or as often as agreed with the Commission.⁴¹¹
• Preferred and Preferred Plus. The Performance Score would no longer be an entry test for Greek partners.⁴ Booking.com may bring in other objective, quality-based criteria, but not external prices, off-platform availability or past booking numbers.⁴ A dedicated Extranet section would explain the programmes.⁴
• BSB discounts. External price scans would no longer be an entry test for BSB for Greek partners.⁴ Partners would see, on a rolling 30-day basis, the share of their bookings with a BSB price cut and the average cut, plus a yes/no flag on each booking.⁴

The rapporteur found the commitments capable and suitable to restore effective competition and end the suspected infringement.¹

How did the market test work?

The Commission put the commitments to public consultation on 8 July 2026, with a deadline of 20 July 2026.² It later extended the deadline to 27 July 2026.¹⁰ The Commission has not published how many comments it received or whether Booking.com changed its offer.¹¹⁰

Is this about price parity clauses?

No. The practices listed in the Greek case are ranking, the Preferred programmes and BSB, not parity clauses that require hotels to offer Booking.com their best prices.¹² Parity is EU background. The European Commission designated Booking Holdings Inc. a "gatekeeper" under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) on 13 May 2024, and the DMA obligations, which leave hotels free to set different prices on different channels, applied from 14 November 2024.¹³ On 19 September 2024 the EU Court of Justice ruled in case C-264/23 that price parity clauses cannot, in principle, be classed as "ancillary restraints".¹⁴

On 28 September 2026 the Greek Commission welcomed separate, EEA-wide transparency measures that Booking.com adopted after DMA talks with the European Commission, and said they did not affect or prejudge the outcome of the pending Greek case.³

What did Booking.com say?

Booking.com welcomed the rapporteur's positive assessment and said the procedure is still running, according to statements carried by Capital.gr and Mononews.⁹¹² Greek business coverage on 29 October 2026, including To Vima and OT (both by the same reporter), Newmoney and Fortune Greece, reported the recommendation as non-binding.⁵⁶⁷⁸

Who is covered, and what happens next?

The case concerns "hotel-type accommodation", and the Commission has not said whether short-let and holiday-rental hosts on Booking.com fall within it.¹ The published commitments text does not define which "Greek partners" are covered.⁴ For hotels, nothing changes until the Commission decides; it meets to examine the case on 28 December 2026.¹