The European Commission has opened an investigation into whether Amsterdam-based Booking.com has breached data protection rules by failing to tackle fake adverts.
It will also examine whether the company told users when advertisers had paid to rank higher in search results, as transparency rules require.
A third part of the inquiry concerns phishing scams affecting users after hackers gained access to Booking.com’s reservation and guest data.
Scams and possible penalties
If the Commission finds that Booking.com broke the rules and the company refuses to change its policies, it could face a fine of up to 6% of its turnover.
Scams reported on the website rose by 500% between 2022 and 2024, while fraud totalled €4.2 billion in 2024.
Henna Virkkunen, the European commissioner for tech sovereignty, said people in Europe should not have to worry about being scammed when they book a holiday.
Booking.com said it was cooperating fully, that user safety and data protection were top priorities, and that it would keep working with regulators, police and industry partners to fight online fraud.
If this story has you on guard, take the same care when you start hunting for a flat to rent in Amsterdam.
