These clauses discriminate consumers within the European Economic Area (EEA) based on their place of residence, in breach of EU antitrust rules. At the same time, the Commission closed proceedings opened in 2017 against four tour operators.
Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “This time of the year, many people are booking their summer vacation and are looking for the best deals on offer. Meliá prevented tour operators from freely offering hotel accommodation everywhere in Europe.
"As a result, consumers had access to different offers and different prices based on their nationality. This is illegal under antitrust rules. Consumers should be able to make full use of the Single Market and to shop around for the best deal.â€
In February 2017, the Commission opened an antitrust investigation into hotel accommodation agreements concluded by Meliá and tour operators, to assess whether they contained clauses that illegally discriminated between customers, based on their nationality or country of residence.
The Commission investigation showed that Meliá entered into contracts with tour operators that restricted active and passive sales for hotel accommodation.
More specifically, Meliá's standard terms and conditions for contracts with tour operators contained a clause according to which those contracts were valid only for reservations of consumers who were resident in specified countries.
These agreements may have partitioned the European Single Market by restricting the ability of the tour operators to sell freely the hotel accommodation in all EEA countries and to respond to direct requests from consumers who were residents outside the defined countries.
As a result, consumers were not able to see the full hotel availability or book hotel rooms at the best prices with tour operators in other Member States.
The Commission has concluded that Meliá's illegal practices deprived European consumers of one of the core benefits of the Single Market, namely the possibility to have more choice and get a better deal when shopping.
Meliá cooperated with the Commission beyond its legal obligation to do so. It expressly acknowledged the facts and the infringement of EU competition rules and cooperated on the provision of evidence. Therefore, the Commission granted Meliá a 30% fine reduction in return for this cooperation. ■