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Antitrust law - Narrow best price clauses for online hotel bookings are permissible

Added: (Tue Jun 11 2019)

Pressbox (Press Release) - On June 4, 2019, the 1st Cartel Panel of the OLG Düsseldorf ruled that narrow best price clauses for online hotel bookings are permissible (Az.: VI - Kart 2/16 (V).

Hotel rooms are frequently booked online via booking portals. For this reason, some portals commit hotels to always offering the most favorable conditions on their portal. This practice was later modified, with hotels only obliged not to offer rooms cheaper on their own websites than on the booking portal. We at GRP Rainer Rechtsanwälte can report, however, that the Bundeskartellamt prohibited these best price clauses for violating antitrust law.

The OLG Düsseldorf has now overturned the Bundeskartellamt"s decision from December 22, 2015, ruling that the modified "narrow" best price clauses are permissible. In reaching its decision, the 1st Cartel Panel relied on a hotel and customer survey it had arranged. Accordingly, the Court found that the clauses do not restrict competition, but rather are necessary to ensure a fair and balanced exchange of services between the portals and the contracted hotels. The OLG held that the clauses could prevent customers from being dishonestly redirected from a portal to the hotel website.

Lawyers with experience in antitrust law can offer advice.

https://www.grprainer.com/en/legal-advice/antitrust-law.html

GRP Rainer www.grprainer.com/en/ is an international full service law firm. The lawyers counsel on corporate and commercial law, business law, tax law, IT law and IP law and distribution law. The law firm advises international companies, corporations, mid-sized businesses and private clients worldwide. GRP Rainer can be found in Berlin Bonn Cologne Duesseldorf Frankfurt Hamburg Munich Stuttgart, Germany and London, UK.

Submitted by:GRP Rainer LLP
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