A collective claim by European hoteliers against Booking.com has more than tripled in size. The Stichting Hotel Claims Alliance, a Dutch not-for-profit foundation, said on 30 July that 7,696 more hotels had joined its case at the Amsterdam District Court, taking the total to 10,783, according to a statement carried by Hotel News Resource and HOTREC.
The hotels are seeking damages over Booking.com’s price-parity clauses, contract terms that limited their freedom to offer lower prices elsewhere. They say the clauses distorted competition and harmed them between 2004 and 2024. The case was filed on 30 January 2026 on behalf of 3,087 hotels. Booking.com’s terms send disputes with hotels to Dutch courts, and the Amsterdam court has dealt with related proceedings since 2020.
An industry-wide push
The action is supported by HOTREC, the umbrella body for European hospitality, and more than 30 national associations. Hotels could join free of charge until 11 September, and the foundation planned a third and final expansion in the autumn that it expects to bring the total to around 18,000. HOTREC president Alexandros Vassilikos said the scale of the claim “reflects the determination of European hoteliers to defend fair competition.” The statement did not include a response from Booking.com, and no court has yet ruled on the claims.
A dependency the hotels want to break
The case sits against a wider battle over online distribution. A HOTREC study published in September found Booking Holdings and Expedia Group together handled 85.4% of European hotels’ online travel agency bookings in 2025, with Booking.com alone at 66.1%. Half of hotels, 51%, reported that online agencies undercut their own prices, up from 43% in 2023. HOTREC has also called for robust enforcement of the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
The hotels are trying to turn two decades of contract terms into a single bill.
What to watch
- The final claimant count after the autumn expansion.
- Booking.com’s defence and any preliminary rulings from the Amsterdam court.
- Whether the size of the claim pushes either side towards settlement.
