Booking.com Faces Italy Probe Over Rankings That May Favor Fees

Italy’s competition regulator has launched a new investigation into Booking.com over the way hotels are ranked and displayed on its platform.

The announcement came after officials carried out inspections at the company’s Italian offices together with a special antitrust unit of the financial police.

The case focuses on Booking.com’s Preferred Partner program and similar tools that give some hotels stronger visibility in search results. These programs also add labels that can make properties look more attractive to travelers. Hotels that join usually pay higher commissions in return for that extra exposure.

Regulators are questioning what travelers are being told

Italy’s antitrust authority says the issue is not only that some hotels get better placement, but that users may be given the wrong impression about why.

According to the regulator, preferred hotels may appear to have earned that visibility because they offer better quality or better value, when the real reason may be that they pay more to Booking.com.

Italy had already challenged Booking.com before

This is the second recent Italian investigation into Booking.com’s competitive practices. In March 2024, regulators opened a separate case looking at whether the company’s partner programs and pricing mechanisms could distort competition between hotels.

That earlier case was later closed after Booking.com offered commitments to address the concerns. But the new investigation shows regulators are still not fully satisfied with how the platform’s influence works in practice.

Booking.com says the programs are optional

Booking.com says its partner programs are voluntary and comply with consumer protection rules. The company argues that they help balance the interests of accommodation providers while still giving travelers a broad choice of options.

Booking.com is already facing wider legal and regulatory pressure in Europe. The company won partial court support in its hotel pricing clause fight, which showed that disputes over the company’s influence on hotel competition are far from over.

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