COMPETITION PROTECTION IN THE TOURISM SECTOR IN ITALY 351 3.12. Going into the details, the Booking Group committed to changing the rate parity clause from a so-called “wide MFN” to a so-called “restricted MFN”, plus not introducing any equivalent measure. In other words, the restricted MFN clause would apply exclusively to the rates offered by hotels through their direct sales channels (online and offline), and with the exception of the discounts and loyalty programmes offered by hotels to restricted groups of users and corporate customers. According to the text of the commitments, “direct channels” consist not only of bookings made at the hotel in person or through its website, but also “search engines or meta-search sites” (therefore, quite a broad spectrum of application). This way, the MFN clause would no longer operate in its “broad” version (relating to prices offered to otherOTAs, travel agencies and others). Furthermore, the “Best Price Guarantee” would only apply to violations of the “restricted” MFN clause. Such commitments subsequently became the subject of public consultations. Through this participatory mechanism, various operators on the market (mostly other OTAs and hotel groups, in coordination with national associations of hoteliers) presented their observations, expressing concerns about Booking’s proposals. As a result of this consultation, Booking made further changes to the text of the initially proposed commitments. In particular, they excluded all offline booking channels from the application of the MFN clauses (provided that the prices offered through these channels are not made public online) and eliminated references to “restricted groups of users”, thus allowing hotels to offer discounted rates to their customers online, as long as they are not offered to the general public. In addition, the parity clause has also been removed as regards other conditions of the offer, such as the cancellation policy and the number or type of rooms available. In light of the market test and the latest changes, ICA considered the commitments suitable to eliminate anti-competitive profiles linked to the conduct initially contested. Consequently, as anticipated, ICA imposed the adoption of such commitments on Booking, setting an implementation deadline for 1 July 2015, for a total duration of five years42. 42 ICA Decision no. 25422 of 21 April 2015, in Bull. no. 14/2015.
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