EU Commission to Prevent Booking Holding From Purchasing of eTraveli
Booking Holdings is set to lose the €1.67 billion deal with Sweden’s eTraveli Group, a very important transaction that has been left stranded for nearly two years. This is expected to happen due to the European Commission deciding against it.
According to Skift, the official decision might be announced by the end of the month, but Booking Holding is expected to appeal it. Booking.com would then announce an extension of its partnership with eTraveli Group through 2028, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The Financial Times first reported the news last week and pointed out it as a “rare” decision by the European Commission, which usually clears most deals.
Booking is interested in eTraveli’s flight technology to build Amsterdam-based Booking.com’s flight business. eTraveli Group, on the other hand, has several consumer brands, including MyTrip, GoToGate, FlightNetwork and SuperSaver.
“Given the strategic importance of flights to our connected trip offering, we believe it is critical to bring Etraveli’s flight expertise and technology in-house while also unlocking some of the limitations that exist in our current commercial agreement,” Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel said last year before EU Commission would be against acquiring the deal.
However, the EU Commission is anticipated to oppose the partnership, citing competition in online hotel sales, where Booking.com is a leader, as a concern. In the commission’s view, the eTraveli deal would strengthen Booking.com in hotel sales because an increasing number of flyers would be offered hotel deals when they purchase airline tickets.
The EU Commission has not been convinced even by Booking.com offering concessions such as using the Kayak brand to show customers hotel deals from competitors. There have also been a series of signals leading to this decision since last October when regulators decided to apply a more strict approach to the deal.
The EU travel technology companies urged the EU Commission to review its short-term rental regulations and consider registration schemes and data sharing, with some other recommendations such as introducing harmonised registration schemes, using them to support data exchange and ensuring clear and proportionate rules.
Short-term rentals (STR) are increasingly popular as a tourism accommodation option as they represent 29 per cent of the sector in 27 EU countries.
“In our view, such challenges require a regulatory framework that clarifies and carefully balances the roles and responsibilities of the different actors involved in online platforms, property owners, and the remit of public authorities and that aims at standardising data sharing approaches across the EU, among others,” the EU travel tech pointed in this regard.
Data from EU travel tech shows that before the COVID-19 pandemic, countries like Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the United Kingdom accounted for 72 per cent of STR’s gross bookings.
In 2019, more than 554 million nights were spent in the EU in accommodation booked through the four largest online travel platforms.
