Booking.com Fined Approximately €7 Million in Hungary for Misleading Ads and Psychological Pressure
Booking.com Fined Approximately €7 Million in Hungary for Misleading Ads and Psychological Pressure
Booking.com Fined Approximately €7 Million in Hungary for Misleading Ads and Psychological Pressure
The travel platform Booking.com has been fined in Hungary by the Competition Authority the equivalent of nearly €7 million for commercial practices deemed unfair, including misleading advertisements and psychological pressure exerted on consumers, and has been ordered to cease such practices.
The amount of the fine was calculated by taking into account the company’s revenues obtained on the Hungarian market in 2018, according to the latest reported data.
According to the Competition Authority, the hotel booking procedure is unfair to customers, erroneously promoting the free cancellation facility and exerting aggressive psychological pressure on them to determine them to book as quickly as possible.
The Competition Authority specified that in the television and internet advertisements promoting the service, the company placed a particular emphasis on the free cancellation of accommodation. However, this is valid only to a limited extent for many accommodations, and consumers are forced to pay a higher price if they wish to perform such a free cancellation – meaning the price of the fee was included in the price of the accommodation in question.
According to the cited source, regarding the accommodation offers available on the Booking website and in its mobile application, alerts were posted at every step of the offer verification process (for example, “32 people are still looking”; “Someone is considering booking this accommodation”, “Highly sought after! Booked 17 times in the last 24 hours”, etc.). These give the consumer the impression that the accommodation they are looking for is very popular and has limited availability.
This practice favors psychological pressure and disrupts the consumer’s decision-making process, the Hungarian institution explains, specifying that it acted according to the decision of the European Commission.
The platform was fined for unfair commercial practices, including misleading advertisements regarding free cancellation and using psychological pressure to force quick bookings.
How was the fine amount determined?
The €7 million fine was calculated based on Booking.com’s 2018 revenue within the Hungarian market, according to the latest available data.
What specific “psychological pressure” tactics were identified?
The authority cited alerts such as “32 people are looking at this property” and “highly sought after” as tactics that disrupt the consumer’s decision-making process by creating a false sense of scarcity and urgency.
