14 DAY TRIAL // Let’s be honest about it, the online accommodation booking websites have hard a time lately for obvious reasons, as the number of people traveling from one place to another has collapsed throughout the year.
And Booking.com is one of the victims, though right now, official data to determine how strong the impact of the pandemic has been on such services is not available.
But Booking.com has another thing to worry about right now. Russia has publicly criticized the company for anti-competitive practices, claiming that it violated the anti-monopoly law by asking “hotels and hostels to offer the same prices on their own and rival reservation websites as on Booking.com,” according to a report from Reuters.
The federal anti-monopoly service, or FAS, claims Booking.com has abused its dominant position on the market, and now the company could face a fine of up to 15 percent of its annual revenue in the country.
Things would eventually return to normal
Booking.com has already responded to the claims, explaining the decision wouldn’t stop it from working with Russian partners and struggling to help the sector recover to pre-pandemic levels.
However, Booking officials are confident things would slowly return to normal once the pandemic is over, though it’s pretty clear this won’t happen overnight.
“People will gradually feel more comfortable going to a hotel [after the pandemic], Bookings Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel recently said in an interview with CNBC.
In the meantime, the new wave of infections across the world has caused more traveling restrictions in more and more countries, with many governments once again setting partial lockdowns for several regions. A few days ago, Apple decided to close all of its stores in the United States, and several other companies are making similar decisions as they’re trying to reduce the risk of infections for both staff and customers.