Booking's acquisition of ETraveli in doubt
According to the European Commission, the acquisition would “strengthen Booking’s dominant position, increasing its bargaining position towards hotels"
The Commission’s preliminary objections to Booking Holdings’ acquisition of Sweden-based Etraveli Group found that "competition is already limited in the hotel OTA market and Booking appears to be unconstrained by competing OTAs, hotels and end customers.”
Key takeaways
- Etraveli operates several OTAs such as GoToGate and MyTrip, which offer hotels, as well as flights and rental cars, but air business is the main reason Booking wants the deal;
- Booking.com only launched flights just before the pandemic, and expanding its flights business is the company's prime motivation behind the deal;
- The acquisition would likely only improve Booking’s hotel business around the edges, as Etraveli already sources its hotels from Booking.com.
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