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Ryanair hails Booking.com EU decision
Ryanair has responded to the decision to block OTA giant Booking.com’s latest expansion attempt.
The European Commission blocked its planned travel acquisition of eTraveli.
The €1.6 billion travel acquisition deal was denied due to competition concerns.
It would be ‘dangerous to see such a dominant position increasing,’ said Commissioner for Justice and Competition Didier Reynders.
Booking.com is the top hotel OTA in Europe, boasting a 60% market share, while Sweden based eTraveli is the number two OTA for flight bookings.
It welcomed the European Commission’s decision to block the deal, claiming Etraveli’s ‘advanced screenscraping technology’ would result overcharging for.
“Consumers booking airline tickets are often lured into websites of OTAs advertising “low fares”, only to later pay significantly higher fees for baggage, seat reservation and other services” Ryanair said.
“Many OTAs withhold customers’ payment and contact details out of fear a customer may find out the airline received much less for the booking than the customer paid.“
“The European Commission’s decision in the Booking.com / Etraveli case is therefore good news for consumers.”
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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