A multi-billion dollar corporation is withholding payments from smaller businesses. Is that not enough reason to publish such an article?

Or perhaps just some group of hotel owners that's tired of not being paid?

Are you saying that Media does not publish articles unless a multibillion dollar corporation or its multibillion dollar competitor needs one? That sounds newsworthy itself!

The prevalence of PR work means that such direct hit pieces are usually at least nudged by a competitors actions, yes.

Cui bono is a fine question to ask, but why let booking.com off the hook for stiffing smaller players?

Does everything have to be second guessed?

A big rich company not paying their due is stuff most journalists would jump on.

The "competitors" who would benefit the most from this article are the individual independent hotels who have to eat the cost of stays booked through booking.com and aren't part of a big chain network that has a big enough legal team to be taken seriously.