Press Statement 1/2026

Earlier this week, Stichting Hotel Claims Alliance (SHCA) successfully initiated multiple preliminary evidence-gathering measures relating to its action against Booking.com.

On Friday, 1 May 2026, the Amsterdam District Court granted, upon SHCA’s request, leave to attach – and thereby prevent concealment of – inter alia all the invoices which have been issued by Booking.com to thousands of hotel partners across Europe prior to 2018. On 4 May 2026, the bailiff, supported by IT specialists, commenced the levying of the attachment at the premises of Booking.com’s headquarters in Amsterdam.

At the same time, SHCA has filed a discovery application with the Amsterdam District Court to get access to the relevant data and information. SHCA has also requested Booking executives to be heard in a preliminary witness hearing in order to get clarity about what Booking did with the evidence and why it did so.

Background: SHCA has brought a pan-European collective damages action against Booking.com. The first set of main proceedings was initiated on 31 January 2026 and formally filed with the Amsterdam District Court on 6 May 2026. HOTREC – the European umbrella association for the hotel sector – and more than 30 national hotel associations across Europe support this initiative. More than 15.000 hotels from all over Europe have registered for participation. The action aims to obtain compensation for financial losses which Booking.com inflicted on European hoteliers by imposing anti-competitive best price clauses and charging supra-competitive commissions.

In – what seems to be – an attempt to undermine the enforcement of the hotels’ damages claims, Booking.com has – at some point in or around 2025 and without prior notice – cut off the hotels’ access to historical invoices. Until that point in time, these invoices were fully accessible by hotels through their Booking.com extranet accounts. What is more, financial details from the relevant transactions are still available through the Booking.com platform to travelers that stayed in those hotels prior to 2018.

At the same time, Booking.com argues that hotels need to submit such invoices to substantiate their individual damages claims. And indeed, these invoices may constitute an important input factor for the determination by SHCA’s competition economists of what Booking.com (over)charged the hotels.

Against this backdrop, on 29 April 2026, SHCA’s lawyers filed a petition for the attachment of evidence with the Amsterdam District Court, aimed at preserving inter alia the relevant invoices. Two days later, on 1 May 2026, the court granted the requested leave, and on Monday 4 May the bailiff instructed by SHCA commenced the levying of the attachment.

With this successful initiative, SHCA has prevented Booking.com from concealing the hotels’ historical invoices. SHCA is now seeking disclosure of the relevant data and information, so that it may be used for the enforcement of the hotels’ damages claims in the main proceedings against Booking.com, which are now officially before the Amsterdam District Court.

Stichting Hotel Claims Alliance (SHCA) is a non-for-profit foundation under Dutch law, with its corporate seat at Hoogoorddreef 15, 1101BA Amsterdam, Netherlands. SHCA is registered with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce under RSIN 868022937 and in Germany with the Legal Services Register of the Federal Office of Justice under 2025 0000 8247.