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Swiss prices must fall: Booking.com exploits its market position

22.5.2025

Translation: machine translated

The Swiss price watchdog has determined that the commission fees for Swiss hotels are "abusively high". These must fall within three months. But Booking.com is fighting back.

Booking.com is one of the best-known online platforms for hotel bookings worldwide. Millions of travellers use the service to conveniently compare, rate and book accommodation. But the company is now under pressure in Switzerland. The price watchdog has ruled: The commissions charged by Booking.com for Swiss hotels were too high - or more precisely, abusively high.

Stefan Meierhans is Switzerland's price watchdog.
Source: preisüberwacher.admin.ch

This assessment is based on a multi-stage review process. The result: According to the judgement, Booking.com uses its dominant market position to charge disproportionately high fees to hotels.

The judgement: commissions must fall

The consequences of this judgement are drastic for Booking.com. According to the Price Control Act, Booking.com is now obliged to reduce its commission rates for Swiss hotels by around 25 per cent on average. The aim of the measure is to strengthen the competitiveness of the domestic hotel industry in a global comparison - and at the same time to indirectly reduce the financial burden on customers. The implementation of the reduction is linked to clear conditions: Booking.com has three months to make the adjustment after the order becomes legally binding. However, the measure is limited in time - initially to three years.

Resistance from Amsterdam

The company is showing little co-operation. Booking.com, with its European headquarters in the Netherlands, rejects the decision and has announced an appeal to the Federal Administrative Court. Booking.com emphasised that the existing commission rates will not change until the case has been clarified in court.
The company described the regulation as an intervention in a voluntary business model: no one is forced to use the platform, it argued. Booking.com further explained that the platform offers the hotels immense value «» - through reach, visibility and high booking figures. The commissions are therefore justified and reflect the market value of the offer.

What does this mean for you now?

For hotels in Switzerland, the decision could lead to financial relief in the medium term - at least if Booking.com is actually forced to lower its rates. Other platforms could also come under scrutiny. However, it remains to be seen whether the courts will support the price watchdog's arguments. If Booking.com is successful in its appeal, the judgement would be overturned - and the commissions would remain as they are. It is also unclear whether hotels would pass on falling commissions to the prices - meaning you would pay less for a hotel stay in Switzerland in future.

Header image: Shutterstock

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Florian Bodoky

Editor

Florian.Bodoky@digitecgalaxus.ch

I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.

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