Booking's Etraveli Deal Blocked, Giving Expedia an M&A Edge
Europe's General Court upheld a 2023 decision prohibiting Booking Holdings' roughly €1.63 billion ($1.9 billion) acquisition of Etraveli, the Swedish flights specialist and Booking partner. The court reasoned that flight bookings are a low-margin customer-acquisition channel that feeds travelers into Booking's high-margin hotel business, reinforcing its grip on the core market where the European Commission found it has a dominant position. Meanwhile, Expedia Group acquired Tiqets and Cartrawler this year to strengthen its B2B partner business, while Booking has fewer M&A options in Europe. The ruling affects the wider M&A scene in European travel and other sectors.
Impact and considerations
The ruling sets a regulatory boundary for European travel M&A: deals where a dominant player acquires a low-margin acquisition channel to reinforce its core market may be blocked. For corporate travel buyers, this could mean diverging consolidation paths among OTAs and B2B distribution, with competitors such as Expedi…
Key points
- Europe's General Court upheld a 2023 decision prohibiting Booking Holdings' roughly €1.63 billion ($1.9 billion) acquisition of Etraveli.
- Etraveli is a Swedish flights specialist and a Booking partner.
- The court reasoned that flight bookings are a low-margin customer-acquisition channel feeding travelers into Booking's high-margin hotel business, reinforcing its grip on the core market where the European Commission found it has a dominant position.
- Expedia Group acquired Tiqets and Cartrawler this year to strengthen its B2B partner business.
- The ruling affects the wider M&A scene in European travel and other sectors beyond Booking and Etraveli.
- The article notes companies such as Uber would find it tougher to advance their superapp strategy in Europe if regulators deemed them to have a dominant position in particular markets.
Sources and time
- Primary source
- Skift
- Other sources
- 0
- First source publication
- 10 Sept 2026, 23:06
- Page published
- 11 Sept 2026, 00:01
- Last updated
- 10 Sept 2026, 23:06
- Original links
- Skift Feed：With Booking's Etraveli Deal Still Blocked, Expedia Has the Edge in M&A (opens in a new tab)Primary source · en · Published 10 Sept 2026, 23:06