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Newly formed trade body, UKHospitality, will host a series of forums across the UK with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK body responsible for enforcing competition and consumer law.
It will present on two aspects of hotel online bookings: its ongoing consumer law investigation into online hotel booking platforms and its previous competition law work.
Industry members have expressed concern at the power of the largest online travel agencies (OTAs) and the effect of some non-negotiable OTA contract terms.
At the forums CMA members will address these issues in presentations which explain how the terms work, both contractually and in practice. The CMA speakers will also divide the CMA’s current consumer investigation into five main practices:
- Listing/ranking according to commission paid, not relevance to consumer
- Misleading reference pricing/discounting
- Drip pricing
- Scarcity claims
- Best price guarantees
Kate Nicholls, CEO at UKHospitality, said: “We are leading the campaign for a fair market and a more competitive landscape. We are delighted to be working with the [CMA] and to provide feedback from our members to inform discussion.
“We hope to find a balance between digital agencies operating globally and the many hospitality providers, often small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in our industry, who strive to provide the best possible hospitality for their guests.”
Cecilia Parker-Aranha, project director at the CMA, added: “We welcome this opportunity to work with UKHospitality and engage with hoteliers across the UK to explain our recent work in online hotel booking, both from a competition and consumer law perspective.”
