The investigation was started on the basis of some reports made by two associations of Italian hoteliers, AICA and Federalberghi, who complained about a complex Booking strategy, aimed at limiting the autonomy of accommodation facilities in determining the commercial conditions for the customer, through, among other things, the application of discounts - visible on the platform - unilaterally applied by Booking on the price of the room, and the request for increasingly higher commission to improve one’s positioning in the search results on the platform. As part of the hearings with the main competing OTAs, Lastminute and Expedia/Hotel.com, held in December 2023, elements were acquired regarding the context in which competition between these operators develops: Lastminute has a strategic partnership in place for the sale of packages on Booking; Expedia has developed a different business model from Booking. Furthermore, it was underlined that the price to the final consumer represents the main variable on which competition between OTAs develops and, finally, that the consumer tends to resort directly to the portal of the large OTAs which, in addition to having a significantly broader inventory, propose loyalty systems that give the consumer the perception of incurring lower costs. The case concerns the market of online intermediation and booking services for overnight stays offered by OTAs to hotel and para-hotel accommodation facilities (so-called OTA hotels). OTA hotels represent an intermediation and booking channel of absolute importance, both Europe wide and in Italy. In fact, according to data provided by the Hotrec survey, over 68% of bookings made online in Europe (and 76% in Italy) took place via OTA, compared to 27% (23% in Italy) directly on the hotel website. Tourist service intermediation platforms constitute a typical example of a two-sided market, which connects two different groups of users (in this case, hotels and end customers), in such a way that the demand from one group affects demand from the other. These markets are characterized by important network effects, as the value attributed by users to the platform depends on the number of subjects from the same group (direct network effects) and/or from the other group (indirect network effects) who use it. According to ICA, the market has at least a European dimension as OTAs reach structures and consumers at an international level. However, it cannot be excluded that the geographical scope of the relevant product market can be identified in relation to online hotel booking services offered to hotel and parahotel accommodation facilities located in Italy, as in Italy there is a prohibition 160 ROSARIA GAROZZO
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