A Dutch foundation is suing Booking.com, its parent Booking Holdings, and sister platform Agoda in the District Court of Amsterdam on behalf of consumers in the Netherlands. It alleges that Booking.com’s price parity clauses raised hotel prices and that the platforms used misleading “dark patterns,” and it claims €965M. On October 28, 2026, the court rejected jurisdiction challenges by Booking Holdings and Agoda.
Latest development Oct 28, 2026
On October 28, 2026, the District Court of Amsterdam rejected jurisdiction challenges by Booking Holdings and Agoda. It held that Dutch courts may hear the competition claims against Agoda alongside those against the Dutch Booking.com companies. They may also hear the consumer law claims, because the alleged harm occurred in the Netherlands. The case returns on November 25, 2026.
Why it matters
The case tests whether consumers, not only hotels, can recover for Booking.com’s parity clauses, which the foundation says raised hotel prices across Europe. The jurisdiction ruling lets a Dutch foundation pursue a Singapore-based platform and a U.S. parent company in Amsterdam.
Background
Booking.com, which runs its platform from Amsterdam, used price parity clauses in its contracts with hotels for years. Until July 1, 2015, wide clauses barred hotels from offering better terms on any other sales channel. Narrow clauses then barred lower prices on the hotels’ own channels until Booking.com dropped them by December 2, 2024. Germany’s Federal Cartel Office found the narrow clauses unlawful in 2015, and the Federal Court of Justice upheld that decision in 2021.
Stichting Consumenten Competition Claims filed a collective action under the Dutch Act on Collective Damages Claims (WAMCA) on November 13, 2025. Its first claim covers people living in the Netherlands who booked a hotel room in Europe since January 1, 2013. It includes bookings through Booking.com, other online travel agencies, and hotels’ own websites. It alleges that the parity clauses breached EU and Dutch competition law and raised room prices for all of them. A second claim, for Dutch residents who booked through Booking.com or Agoda, alleges misleading design practices known as “dark patterns.”
The foundation seeks declarations and an order to end any remaining parity obligations. It claims damages of €869M on the competition claim and €96M on the dark patterns claim, plus interest. Booking Holdings contested the court’s jurisdiction over the consumer law claims. Agoda, a Singapore-based sister company of Booking.com that runs a booking platform mainly in Asia, contested jurisdiction over all claims against it, relying in part on a Singapore forum clause. The Dutch Booking.com companies and the European subsidiaries did not contest jurisdiction over the competition claims.
After a hearing on September 22, 2026, the court rejected both challenges on October 28, 2026. It held that the claims against the Dutch Booking.com companies can anchor the competition claims against Agoda, and that Agoda’s Dutch-language website targets consumers in the Netherlands. The foundation is not bound by Agoda’s forum clause because it sues in its own right. The court has not yet ruled on the foundation’s admissibility, and the case returns on November 25, 2026, for the parties to address how it should proceed.
Timeline 5 events
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Scheduled orderParties address the Amsterdam court on how the case should proceed
The court referred the main action to its docket of November 25, 2026, for written statements from the parties.
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JudgmentAmsterdam court rejects Booking Holdings’ and Agoda’s jurisdiction challenges
The court held that Dutch courts may hear all the foundation’s claims against both companies and ordered each to pay €1,495 in costs.
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HearingAmsterdam court hears Booking Holdings’ and Agoda’s jurisdiction challenges
The foundation had meanwhile amended its claim, dropping the consumer law claims against the European subsidiaries.
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OrderAmsterdam court schedules a hearing on the jurisdiction challenges
The interim judgment set an oral hearing on the challenges filed by Booking Holdings and Agoda.
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FilingConsumer foundation files collective action against Booking.com and Agoda
Stichting Consumenten Competition Claims sued 12 Booking group companies and Agoda in the District Court of Amsterdam over parity clauses and alleged dark patterns.