Book

Description

Online platforms play an important role in today’s economy and the functioning of the European Union (EU)’s internal market. In the world that is increasingly going digital there has been a lot of debate about how to regulate online platforms as they have produced concerns about negative externalities, fairness, transparency, tax conformity, privacy breaches, pricing pressures and review and rating asymmetries. In travel industry, online platforms for short-stay accommodation apply their algorithms to provide suggestions and price information to travellers when these travellers search for accommodation on their websites. In that respect, it has been recognized in the last few years that there have been changes, challenges and significant legal gaps that imply less choice for consumers and unfair conditions for businesses and business users of online platforms. In December 2020 the Guidelines on ranking transparency pursuant to the Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council were published. This research explores if these Guidelines, together with the mentioned Regulation, help resolve key issues for business users of digital platforms for short-term vacation rental. The finding is that there are important limitations and that there is still room for improvement.