Spain fines Booking.com $448 million for abusing dominant position

MADRID (Reuters) -Spain's anti-trust watchdog fined the online reservation group Booking.com 413.2 million euros ($448 million) for abusing its dominant market position in the country for the last five years.

The regulator, CNMC, said in a statement on Tuesday it was imposing two fines of 206.6 million euros on Booking.com, a unit of New York-listed Booking Holdings.

Booking.com had since 2019 been taking advantage of its 70%-90% market share to impose unfair conditions on hotels, and restricted competition from other providers, CNMC said.

Booking Holdings intends to appeal the fines as it strongly disagrees with the "outcome of CNMC's investigation", a company spokesperson said in an email, adding it considers the issue should be debated under the European Union's Digital Markets Act rules.

The group can appeal the fines in Spain's high court, CNMC said.

The proceedings stemmed from two complaints filed by the Spanish Association of Hotel Managers (AEDH) and the Madrid Hotel Business Association in 2021.

CNMC said the booking website bans hotels from offering lower prices on their own sites than on Booking.com, while unilaterally imposing price discounts on hotel rooms without consulting the hotels.

Booking.com also forces Spanish hotels to sue in the Netherlands in case of conflict, CNMC said.

To keep its high market share, Booking.com offers benefits to hotels who bring it more fees, limiting the ability of alternative service providers to convince hotels to work with them.

($1 = 0.9232 euros)

(Reporting by Inti Landauro, editing by Sarah Young, Louise Heavens and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)