National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) has initiated disciplinary proceedings against Booking.com. presiding body Kani Fernandez studies on the imposition of penalties for possible restrictive practices of competition prohibited by European law.

After two complaints filed Spanish Association of Hotel Managers and Hotel Association of Madridan investigation is underway into a number of practices that could lead to abuse of Booking.com’s dominant position in the intermediary services offered by various online travel agencies to hotels, known by the English acronym OTA.

These methods will consist of imposing unequal conditions on hotels located in Spain and implementing commercial policies that could have an exclusionary effect on other online travel agencies as well as other online sales channels.

Investigated behavior will also include actions that will exploit the situation. economic dependence which hotels located in Spain would have in relation to the booking portal. “This fact will constitute an act unfair competition it could distort free competition affecting the public interest,” CNMC said in a statement.

In view of the aforementioned complaints and the information collected through reserved information“The CNMC Competition Authority considers that there are reasonable indications that Booking.com BV has committed possible violations of Articles 2 and 3 of Law 15/2007 of July 3 on the Protection of Competition (LDC) and Article 102 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (S/0005/21).

In any event, the filing of a case “does not prejudice the final outcome of the investigation” and from that point on, a maximum period of 18 months begins for the case to be investigated and resolved by CNMC.