The Live Webinar focused on the consequences of recent Dutch case law on the online accommodation sector and also covered the existing and upcoming regulation of (travel) platforms in general.

The business model of many online platforms in the travel market is to charge a 'service fee' to both the lessor/host and the lessee/consumer. However, a recent case in the Netherlands has cast doubt over the legality in the Netherlands of this model and there is currently much debate regarding travel platforms that charge this 'double-fee'. Various claims companies are now active in this field and there are some 30,000 to 50,000 claims from consumers for repayment of service costs against travel platforms. If these claims are successful, the reimbursement of these incorrectly charged service fees could cost businesses up to millions of euros.