Austria: Booking.com must disclose the identity of private hosts after booking
The Austrian Supreme Court has confirmed that platforms such as Booking.com must disclose the identity and contact details of the private accommodation provider to guests immediately after booking. The ruling brings private accommodation closer to the transparency standards that already apply to professional service providers.
The Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) has confirmed Booking.com's obligation to provide users, after booking private accommodation, with the details of the person with whom they have actually concluded a contract. The proceedings against the platform were initiated by the Austrian Association for Consumer Information (VKI) on behalf of the Ministry of Social Affairs.
The decision relates to a problem that is particularly evident among private hosts. While commercial accommodation providers have clearer legal obligations to disclose their identity and address before booking, for private hosts such an obligation was not defined as explicitly.
Contact through the platform is no longer enough
In practice, guests were able to communicate with some private accommodation providers mainly through Booking.com's forms and messaging system. The problem arises when a guest needs to formally claim a refund, compensation for damages or some other contractual right, yet does not have the full identity or address of the other contracting party.
The OGH has now taken the stance that the platform must provide the identity and contact details of the private accommodation provider at the latest immediately after the booking is completed. It is not sufficient to provide the details only when the guest explicitly requests them. In doing so, the court did not accept the argument that data protection alone would prevent such disclosure.
Greater platform responsibility in the booking process
For Booking.com and other intermediary platforms, the decision means that transparency no longer ends with information about the property itself. Clearly identifying the actual contracting party is also becoming important.
This also fits into the broader European direction of online marketplace regulation. EU rules already require the consumer to be informed whether a third party is operating as a trader or as a private individual, while the Digital Services Act further regulates the traceability of platform business users.
An Austrian court ruling does not in itself create an obligation for all platforms across the EU. Nevertheless, it sends a clear signal to the private accommodation sector: intermediation between a guest and a host cannot mean that the identity of the actual contractual partner remains hidden behind the platform's communication system.
