For the past four years, the EU must offer companies, there are no tourist services in the Crimea. The Portal Booking.com but “business” is still free room in the offer. The EU avoided sanctions?
In the meantime, the company has responded: Booking.com be displayed in the search for a property in the Crimea no results. On the website it says: “Unfortunately, it is not possible at this time to make on our website, vacation bookings for the Crimea.” Reports that the international Online Portal for the 16. July does not offer tourist services in Crimea, beaten in Russia, high waves. Many of the members of the Russian state Duma took advantage of this, to once again condemn the sanctions imposed by the EU.
The punitive measures were imposed after the illegal annexation of the Ukrainian Peninsula of Crimea by Russia four years ago. They prohibit European companies, tourist services in the Crimea. Formally Booking.com offered since 2014 its services “exclusively for business”. But the whole time the search for an accommodation worked. It was only blocked if the user indicated aware, to travel as a private person. Now the Management of the Dutch company Booking.com B. V. has changed it apparently.
“Travel only for business purposes”
“As a global company Booking.com works diligently to always comply with the applicable laws,” said the press office of Booking.com at the request of the DW. Since the company is offering its Service and its site from the Netherlands, have Booking.com therefore adapted its website and the reservation process. Further, the company explains: “we want to make sure that travelers can book accommodation in Crimea, but only if you are on business travel.”
This means that the Dutch hold in contrast to most other international booking services, services in the Crimea. If you selected in the search form, the field “business trip”, you can actually choose from more than 1,000 accommodation options from simple hotel rooms to luxury hotel. Is not checked, the words “business trip”: One can deceive Booking.com so with an additional set check mark and continue to a property in the Crimea for a holiday book.
Offers from Yalta to Booking.com
But to what extent is this in line with the sanctions? Thomas of the law firm CMS advises in Düsseldorf and Moscow clients in Russia and Eastern Europe business. He says, as long as a company offers is clearly not the travel services, but only services for business travelers, it is to be on the safe side. However, no opportunities will be created to circumvent sanctions. “If a Portal is designed in such a way that its services are systematically used by tourists rather than business travellers, adjacent to a deliberate circumvention of sanctions,” he told DW.
Comment function turned off
Interestingly, thousands of reviews of Hotels related to the Crimea in Booking.com mostly only on holiday trips of tourists. Now the administrators of the Online portal have deleted all of the reviews of the Hotels in the Crimea and, in General, the comment function is switched off.
Maybe you want to protect the low countries in this way, because the reviews have shown quite clearly that the customers have used the Portal for the booking of tourist travel. Hard to imagine that the Management of Booking.com to for years knew nothing. The press service of the company is insured already a year ago, at the request of the DW, Booking.com stick strictly to the sanctions. But it is only now rank the Portal, holiday bookings and business travel even more clearly separate from each other. But, in fact, bookings are for private purposes.
High penalties possible
In contrast to Booking.com all of the major competitors of the Dutch booking portal reject since 2014, with the Crimea to cooperate. HRS, the market leader for hotel bookings, explained to the DW: “In fact, it is so that we can offer due to the political uncertainties in principle, no hotel rooms with more on the Crimea. As we observed with our customers – mainly business travelers – for this Region, there is no demand, we have decided for this step.”
The caution of most of the companies in this sector. Violations of sanctions can result in the EU member States with high penalties. As the DW learned from the Dutch Ministry of foreign Affairs, threaten the Netherlands, where the headquarters of Booking.com B. V., fines of up to 870.000 euros and even prison sentences of up to six years.