GVH has launched a new investigation into the accommodation booking platform Booking.com

According to the office’s statement, certain of Booking.com’s services are available at different prices depending on the device – such as a mobile application or a desktop computer – that users use, even though the content of the service remains the same.

In addition, the GVH also believes that the company engaged in misleading commercial communication regarding the discounts offered at different levels of the Genius program.

As they wrote, the company is likely to deceive Hungarian consumers with the above practices from January 1, 2022, as it prompts them to make transactional decisions that they would not otherwise make, and this may even cause them additional costs.

They reminded that Booking.com has not been targeted by the GVH for the first time.

In 2020, the competition authority fined the company HUF 2.5 billion for its misleading sales methods to consumers, which was followed by a further HUF 382.5 million post-investigation fine in 2024, as it did not properly fulfill its obligations undertaken in the previous procedure and, in some cases, continued the original unlawful practices.

In the summer of 2023, the national competition authority reviewed the online accommodation brokerage and accommodation market in an accelerated sector investigation after a large number of market feedback.