EU high court: Online bookings must clearly communicate an obligation to pay

LUXEMBOURG (CN) — The EU’s top court said Thursday that online hotel systems must have “easily legible and unambiguous” reservation buttons if customers are on the hook for charges. 

In a case referred to the European Court of Justice by a German court, the unnamed defendant argued that it wasn’t obvious on the German website for Booking.com that he was required to pay for his four hotel rooms after he didn’t show up for his holiday because the wording of the button was imprecise. 

Reservation websites must “ensure that the consumer, when placing his or her order, explicitly acknowledges that the order implies an obligation to pay,” the Luxembourg-based court wrote in its decision.

The Goldener Anker hotel billed B. — as the man is identified in court documents — 2,240 euros ($2,400) after he and his group of friends didn’t turn up for their five-night stay in Krummhörn-Greetsiel, a port town on the North Sea coast, in 2019. The defendant had reserved the four hotel rooms via Booking.com, a Dutch online travel agency. 

On the German version of the website, B selected the button “buchung abschließen,” or “complete booking,” to confirm his lodging, after entering his travel dates and personal information. When he later ignored the bill, the hotel brought proceedings before the local court, Bottrop District Court. 

That court asked the Court of Justice whether the wording on the button adhered to European Union regulations governing consumer protection. Consumers in the 27-nation bloc enjoy a high level of protection against fraud or shady business dealings and, according to the 2011 Consumer Rights Directive, companies are required to inform consumers “in a clear and prominent manner” before they are obligated to pay for an order. 

The German judges wondered if the button should read “zahlungspflichtig bestellen,” or “order with obligation to pay,” instead. In German, the word “booking” doesn’t necessarily mean there is an obligation to pay. It can also refer to a preorder or a reservation.

The three-judge panel said the exact formulation of the text can vary, but noted that such buttons “must be labelled in an easily legible manner.”

Whether the wording of the button on Booking.com’s website conforms to regulations is left to the national court to decide.

“The referring court will in particular have to verify whether the term ‘booking’ is, in the German language, both in everyday language and in the mind of the average consumer … necessarily and systematically associated with the creation of an obligation to pay,” the judges wrote.

The case now returns to the Bottrop District Court for a final ruling. 

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