Hotel booking sites watchdog investigation calls for changes

First published by Author on August 10, 2018 in the following categories: Investigations Pricing and tagged with advertising | cma

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the hotel booking sites watchdog, has called for changes in to the way rooms and ranked and displayed online.

According to the investigations initiated by the CMA , concerns are being raised about potentially false or misleading discounts, and false representations about room availability to pressure people into making booking decisions.

With the majority of people using online booking sites nowadays, any potential infringement of competition law must be closely scrutinised.

Hotel booking sites watchdog raises a number of concerns

The CMA, as the hotel booking sites watchdog, say they have a number of concerns that include:

• Potentially misleading or false impressions about the number of people looking at the same room, and how many rooms are left, potentially forcing people into rushed decisions;
• Clearer information about discounts offered;
• Search rankings based on factors such as how much commission a hotel is paying to the site instead of how the hotel is more suitable for the customer;
• Lack of clarify over additional charges like booking fees and taxed that appear later in the booking process.

Interestingly, these are all factors that have been raised as concerns in similar online platforms as well as the hotel booking industry, such as the insurance and car hire sector. It would therefore come as absolutely no surprise to us at all if it is found that these practices have been taking place, and if this is the case, the CMA must ensure appropriate fines are issued on the perpetrators.

The Travel sector has been investigated in the past.

Hotel booking sites watchdog calls for action

The Hotel booking sites watchdog is understood to be asking for organisations involved in the investigation to sign legal agreements to make sure that the sort of behaviour they expect is taking place is nipped in the bud before the need for more formal legal proceedings.

A spokesperson for the CMA has said:

“We are now demanding that sites think again about how they are presenting information to their customers and make sure they are complying with the law. Our next step is to take any necessary action – including through the courts if needed – to ensure people get a fair deal.”

Although the names of the organisation that are under the microscope of the booking sites watchdog have not been formally named, it’s understood that they include popular sites such as Expedia and Booking.com.