Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel has strongly accused the new EU rules that allow hotels to offer lower prices on their websites than on Booking, putting the online travel group at a “competitive disadvantage”. He did not even rule out the possibility of leaving the EU precisely because of what he described as these silly regulations.
“If the regulations are not fit for purpose, then you are at a competitive disadvantage,” he said during the Financial Times’ TNW technology conference in the Netherlands last Thursday. “I believe in offering customers the best prices. Any regulation that prohibits us [from doing that] I think is a stupid regulation.”
Asked whether he was considering moving the $135 billion company’s headquarters outside the EU because of concerns about the bloc’s increasing control of technology groups, Mr Fogel said: “I never say no to anything that is possible.”
The threat follows a series of regulatory failures for the company in the EU, with the bloc seeking to challenge the market dominance of the world’s biggest tech companies through new legislation and a range of antitrust practices.
Booking last month became the first European-based company to be designated an “online gatekeeper” under the EU’s landmark Digital Marketplaces Act (DMA), which imposes additional burdens on the company, such as being forced to avoid promoting its own services before its competitors.
Mr Fogel, who runs Booking Holdings as well as Booking.com’s largest subsidiary, expressed concern that the platform is taking hits, both nationally and at the European level. Spain’s antitrust authority in February imposed a provisional fine of €486 million against Booking for alleged anti-competitive behaviour.
Last year, Brussels regulators blocked Booking’s €1.63 billion takeover of Swedish group Etraveli over concerns that it would harm competition. Booking has appealed the decision to the EU courts in Luxembourg. However, the Brussels decision contradicts the UK’s previous approval of the deal.
Mr Fogel’s attack on EU regulators comes as they prepare to use their new powers under the DMA to take on the biggest US tech companies.
In the coming weeks, European competition authorities are expected to indict Apple for allegedly undermining competition in its mobile app store. The EU is also considering taking action against Google’s parent company, Alphabet, for its favourable treatment of its own app store and against Facebook owner Meta’s use of personal data for advertising.
“We were born here. We were born in the Netherlands. We have a great shop here. But I urge [the EU] to maintain that. Brussels and the member states need to think very carefully. How do we create a climate to ensure that Europe is a leader in technology?” asked Fogel.
The European Commission declined to comment on Mr Fogel’s remarks, but clarified: “With the DMA, business users who depend on gatekeepers’ platforms to reach their customers will now have unprecedented opportunities.”
He added: “Gatekeepers can of course continue to compete, but they cannot place restrictions on their business customers. So-called ‘best prices’ cannot come at the expense of fair competition.”
