Russian watchdog opens investigation into Booking.com

Russia’s Federal Anti-monopoly Service (FAS) has opened an investigation into hotel reservation website Booking.com, the regulator said yesterday.

The FAS said that the company had asked hotels and hostels to offer the same prices on rival reservation websites as on Booking.com.

Booking.com did not immediately respond to a request for comment. If found to be in breach of Russian anti-monopoly laws the company could face a fine of between 1 per cent and 15pc of its revenue generated in Russia.

The Russian investigation follows a case against the company in the European Union, where it last week committed to bring its practices in line with EU consumer law.