MOSCOW, February 4. /TASS/. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia will hold the second meeting to consider the case against Booking.com service on February 25, Vice President of Opora Rossii business association Alexei Kozhevnikov told TASS. The regulator’s press service confirmed this piece of information to TASS.
"FAS agreed the date of the next meeting on the Booking[.com] case; it will be held on February 25," Kozhevnikov said.
The Russian antimonopoly watchdog opened the probe against Booking.com at the turn of the last year on the complaint of Opora Rossii, which caught in the service for prompting Russian hotels to maintain the price parity.
Booking.com holds a dominating position on the market, according to the assessment by GAS. The service’s representative said at the last meeting on January 30 that the company’s share on the Russian market was not above 12%, Kozhevnikov noted.
"This is absolutely not true to facts. The aggregator’s share is definitely dominating, therefore Booking unilaterally dictates their terms for their partner hotels and other players on the online booking market, depriving the market of the competitive environment," he said.
If the fact of competition violation is ascertained, the service may face a penalty of 1-15% of the turnover.