Tourism Booking.com sued by Japanese hotels over outstanding fees

The 11 plaintiffs operate hotels in eight prefectures, including Tokyo, Osaka and Okinawa. The individual amounts sought range from between 100,000 yen or so to around 16 million yen. The hoteliers had signed contracts with Booking.com to receive the fees that site users paid to reserve rooms. The plaintiffs accused Booking.com of deliberately violating the law and said not making the payments constituted embezzlement. At a news conference on Oct. 20 some of the plaintiffs explained the difficulties they have faced since the suspension of payments from Booking.com. "This problem occurred just as demand from foreign tourists was recovering with the end of the novel coronavirus pandemic," said Masahiko Matsuo, 46, president of a company operating hotels in Gifu and Nara prefectures. He called on the company to transfer the overdue payments as soon as possible. Matsuo said his company is owed about 5.1 million yen, adding that it sold off real estate to cover some of its expenses.

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