Hotel and travel booking service Booking has been fined by the Spanish competition authority CNMC. The company must pay just over 413 million euros, equivalent to 4.8 billion kronor.

The company has abused its position in the market over the past five years, the CNMC announced in a press release.

Booking's actions through a "series of unfair business conditions" have negatively affected hotels in Spain and limited competition from other online travel agencies.

The booking giant, based in the Netherlands, dominates the online hotel booking market and is a subsidiary of the American Booking Holdings Group. In Spain, its market share is estimated at between 70 and 90 percent.

Hotels that want to be visible on booking.com must accept Booking's terms and conditions.

The conditions mean, among other things, that hotels are prohibited from offering rooms on their own websites at a lower price than Booking, while Booking can unilaterally lower prices.

Another shortcoming that leads to a distorted competitive situation, according to the CNMC, is that hotels' exposure is affected by their total number of bookings and profitability on Booking. This encourages hotels to opt out of other booking systems, the CNMC believes.

The fact that Booking is subject to Dutch law is another aspect that makes it difficult in the event of any disputes in Spain.

Booking has two months to appeal the authority's decision.

Source: TT-DI.SE