Because so-called ‘parity clauses’ are prohibited by the DMA, hotels, car rentals and other service providers using Booking.com are now free to offer different prices and conditions on their own website or other channels than they do on Booking.com.

Booking.com is not allowed to increase commission rates or de-list offers of business users if they provide different prices on another website. The EU says this means that other platforms and travel service providers can compete under fairer conditions, leading to innovation and lower prices.

Hotels and other travel services will have real-time and continuous access to data that they and their customers generate through the use of Booking.com, offering these businesses new insights.

Business users can also now choose to transfer the data they generated on Booking.com to alternative platforms. This will allow hotels and other relevant travel service providers to develop more innovative deals and tailored offers, positioning them more competitively on the market.

Margrethe Vestager, executive vice-president for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, said: “As a key player in the European tourism ecosystem, Booking must now comply with the DMA. Their role as intermediator between businesses and customers in accommodation, car-rentals and any other type of travel services will become fairer and more open.

“For example, until now many hotels and rental companies in the EU were obliged to guarantee the best prices on Booking.com.

“Now EU businesses are free to differentiate prices and conditions on any online sales channel they wish to use. This proves that the DMA is an important tool in making online marketplaces fairer for businesses and more open to competition.”