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EU commission designates Booking.com as a digital gatekeeper under DMA

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Re: EU commission designates Booking.com as a digital gatekeeper under DMA

#41

Post by personomas »

belorn wrote: post #25
jeltz wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what are the concrete problems with the DMA? I do not know it well enough but as a EU citizen and small business owner I am generally very happy with other EU regulations.

From the keypoints of the DMA, this change should require that: Booking.com can not prevent hotels from providing booking through other sites. booking.com can not prevent hotels from advertising special deals without giving booking.com a cut. booking.com must give hotels tools to independent verify advertisements that hotels are paying for. Booking.com must give hotels access to booking data in real time, and must pr…

I'm not going to get into the specifics of DMA on this one case. DMA is like a labyrinth of legal disaster, I'm not even going to get started lost in it right now.

Re: EU commission designates Booking.com as a digital gatekeeper under DMA

#42

Post by Rinzler89 »

moi2388 wrote: post #31
gorbypark wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think in this case booking.com was founded in Amsterdam and were purchased by an American company at some point and they aren't there just for tax reasons. I guess it is possible it is the reason they stay there, though!

No this happens a lot. The only reason is tax benefits. They do need an office with alike 10 employees and a flower in it though (to ensure there are actually people there lol), but that’s about it. So they either stay in NL, or do some sandwich with London or Dublin. It helps that the main Dutch party VVD is completely corrupt and only in there to enrich themselves.

>the main Dutch party VVD is completely corrupt and only in there to enrich themselves

I dunno what your yardstick is in NL, but everywhere else I lived and have friends, every major political party is there only to enrich themselves and their lobbyists, and not to aid the people voting for them.

Canada, Portugal, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, you name it, same shit everywhere: privatize the winnings socialize the losses, while praising the GPD went up 0,2% while your salary staid the same and housing went up 10%.

Re: EU commission designates Booking.com as a digital gatekeeper under DMA

#43

Post by rightbyte »

personomas wrote: post #37
rightbyte wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is destroying business. Middle men like Hotels.com etc are destroying business by adding a hidden extra booking fee from the consumers.

No DMA will and does destroy business.

I am fine with that.

Re: EU commission designates Booking.com as a digital gatekeeper under DMA

#44

Post by gruez »

personomas wrote: post #41
belorn wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the keypoints of the DMA, this change should require that: Booking.com can not prevent hotels from providing booking through other sites. booking.com can not prevent hotels from advertising special deals without giving booking.com a cut. booking.com must give hotels tools to independent verify advertisements that hotels are paying for. Booking.com must give hotels access to booking data in real time, and must pr…

I'm not going to get into the specifics of DMA on this one case. DMA is like a labyrinth of legal disaster, I'm not even going to get started lost in it right now.

In other words, "just trust me bro"?

Re: EU commission designates Booking.com as a digital gatekeeper under DMA

#45

Post by gruez »

rightbyte wrote: post #24
personomas wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the Regulation (in this case) is the predatory practice, which is destroying companies. There's a reason the EU doesn't have many successful companies. DMA is the problem, it's not "that hotels are allowed to provide cheaper prices themselves". DMA does not regulate (or provide) that "hotels are allowed to provide cheaper prices themselves" because hotels were always allowed to do this. Even I admit that DMA has…

> This is destroying business. Middle men like Hotels.com etc are destroying business by adding a hidden extra booking fee from the consumers.

Would you rather be forced to scour a dozen hotel sites individually to find a place to stay? Arguably "Middle men like Hotels.com etc" are providing a valuable service by allowing consumers to comparison shop in one place. Unless you think such sites should be government funded, it's only fair that they charge a fee for their service.

Re: EU commission designates Booking.com as a digital gatekeeper under DMA

#46

Post by xescure »

gorbypark wrote: post #8
Rinzler89 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That goes for a lot of companies operating out of NL though. They're there mostly for tax and stock issuing reason, but tend to be majority owned and managed by some US VC/PE/investment group or other kinds of foreign entities who need a EU HQ. It's what makes the NL jobs (and housing) market so hot.

I think in this case booking.com was founded in Amsterdam and were purchased by an American company at some point and they aren't there just for tax reasons. I guess it is possible it is the reason they stay there, though!

It was not founded in Amsterdam, but rather in Enschede by a student at the University of Twente.

Re: EU commission designates Booking.com as a digital gatekeeper under DMA

#47

Post by jeltz »

personomas wrote: post #37
rightbyte wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is destroying business. Middle men like Hotels.com etc are destroying business by adding a hidden extra booking fee from the consumers.

No DMA will and does destroy business.

But does it destroy any non-predatory businesses? If other people here are correct it should be trivial for Booking to comply since they are already almost compliant.

Re: EU commission designates Booking.com as a digital gatekeeper under DMA

#48

Post by jeltz »

jaigupta wrote: post #26
nickfromseattle wrote: post #23

I didn't see any comments on implications. Can anyone TLDR?

They will have to increase transparency (rankings algo, pricing etc), allow data portability for users (and hotels), and avoiding self-preferencing of its services over competitors and face stricter regulatory oversight from EU.

Seems like good things to me.

Re: EU commission designates Booking.com as a digital gatekeeper under DMA

#49

Post by rurban »

carlosjobim wrote: post #35
yvely wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regulating predatory practices is not the same as destroying a company. And if it happens to be the same, then that's probably a good thing. I have my problems with many things EU, but that hotels are allowed to provide cheaper prices themselves is just good for both the hotel and the guest.

There is nothing predatory that I know of booking.com's practices. I know that hackers have a categorical hostility towards any large company (but not towards large governments or large banks of course), but could you explain what Booking.com does wrong? Are they supposed to provide a central search engine with availability and reviews and a large customer base for free to any hotel owner? And when any guest makes a…

Ask any hotel manager if he likes booking.com or if he prefers independent or direct booking. It's a racket
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