Flight Centre: Australian High Court finds agent competed with principal and breached cartel laws

J. Clarke, here. 

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Flight Centre Travel Group Limited

High Court of Australia,  B15/2016, here.
ACCC's Press Release, here. 

Online-Distribution: Hotrec gratuliert Frankreich und Österreich

Hotellerie.de, hier. 

Le numérique sous l'angle du droit de la concurrence

I. De Silva, Vidéo ici.

(Assez bizarre...Complètement ignorées les décisions allemandes en matière de rate parity - parité tarifaire).

Online RPM and MFN Under Antitrust Law and Economics

P. Akman, D. Sokol, here. 

Federalberghi: Booking "vìola palesemente le regole"

Corrierecomunicazioni.it, qui.

With Occupancy High, Hotels Seek to Avoid Online Booking Services

NYTimes, here. 

Expedia and Bookings.com now have to compete on hotel rates: ACCC

Smh.com, here.
See also here.

"The cheaper hotels can [now] put a billboard out the front saying 'rooms at this rate' "

Online booking platforms, MFN clauses: To regulate or not to regulate?

Concurrences.com, here.

My rather messy ASCOLA presentation

Here.
As correctly pointed out by @mclucey, my handwriting is just appalling, sorry!

First Draft! Online Platforms, Rate Parity, and the Free Riding Defence

S. Vezzoso (this blog's author), here.

Abstract: A two-sided platform business is a new type of intermediary to be found in a growing number of economic sectors. As to the hospitability industry in particular, recent innovations in the field of digital technologies prompted the rise of so called Online Travel Agents (OTAs) and the demise of the traditional merchant model.

Recently national competition authorities (NCAs) in the EU investigated so called rate parity clauses in the contracts between the three largest OTAs and their hotel partners. These are contract clauses laying down the hotelier’s obligation to display the same room prices across sales channels. The parallel investigations conducted by the NCAs revealed an array of serious anticompetitive effects stemming from rate parity obligations. While the German NCA concluded that there was insufficient evidence of the efficiency gains of these clauses, and therefore decided to prohibit them, the French, Italian and Swedish NCAs implicitly recognised that some level of protection against free-riding was necessary, and accepted commitments to reduce the scope of the rate parity obligation.
The hotel online booking cases were closely followed in the EU and beyond, since they could help clarify a number of key assessment issues concerning a category of commercial practices already widely spread in online markets. In-depth analyses of the NCAs’ findings are now needed, especially in view of the promotion of an effective antitrust-based platform regulation. In particular, this article explores some of the challenges related to the application of the traditional free-riding defence to rate parity obligations.

Summary of Discussion of the Hearing on Across-Platforms Parity Agreements

OECD, here. 

Die Hotel-Branche soll die Zimmerpreise von Buchungsplattformen wieder unterbieten dürfen, kündigt Wirtschaftsminister

Tiroler Tageszeitung, hier. 

Online Platforms, Competition Rules and Consumer Protection in Travel Industry

M. Colangelo, V. Zeno-Zencovich, here.

OLG Düsseldorf lässt einstweilig abblitzen

Hotellerie.de, hier. 

Balancing the effects of online vertical restraints

M. Mandorff, Presentation here. 

Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market

UK House of Lords, here.

Nice, informative read. The irony is, though, that given the actual pace of technological and other developments, some parts of it already feel a bit old.

Strategia per il mercato unico digitale in Europa

G. Pitruzzella, here. 

Potential Antitrust Implications of MFN Clauses

J. McKeown, M. Meckstroth, here. 

HRS kritisiert fehlende Gleichberechtigung

Tophotel, hier.