Booking.com sued for misleading consumers using dark patterns

Dutch advocacy group Consumer Competition Claims (CCC) and the Consumentenbond have filed a class-action lawsuit against Booking.com for misleading customers by illegally using so-called dark patterns.

According to Bert Heikens, Chairman of the CCC, consumers have been paying too much for their hotel rooms for years. For example, hotels renting out hotel rooms via Booking.com aren’t allowed to offer lower prices and better conditions through other sales channels. As a result, consumers have paid too much for their hotel rooms over the years.

Heikens says that the digital travel agency has been violating competition rules and consumer law since January 2013.

“Through illegal agreements and conduct, Booking.com is preventing hotels from offering lower prices and better conditions,” Heikens states in a press release. He also refers to the Spanish competition regulator, which imposed a fine of €413 million on Booking.com for abusing its dominant market position in July 2024.

Sandra Molenaar, Director of the Consumentenbond, accuses Booking.com of using illegal dark patterns to mislead consumers, including fake discounts, incomplete prices, and made-up scarcity.

“With these kinds of dark patterns, Booking.com has manipulated the choices consumers made, and that’s not allowed according to Dutch and European rules,” she adds.

All consumers who have booked a hotel room at least once via Booking.com since January 1st, 2013, have suffered damage. They can register for the class-action lawsuit. This also applies to consumers who have booked through other websites for online hotel bookings, such as Agoda and Expedia, or via the website of a hotel itself. These consumers are also victims of unlawful action by Booking.

The amount of damage customers have suffered depends on the number of bookings, room prices, and destinations. According to the CCC and the Consumentenbond, all Dutch people together have suffered hundreds of millions of euros in damages.

Participation in the class-action lawsuit is based on “no cure, no pay.” In the event of success, participants pay a maximum of 25 percent of the result achieved for them.

The lawsuit is funded by Bidwell, a process financier.