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The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has outlined what accommodation booking companies need to do to ensure that they comply with consumer law.
It comes after the watchdog identified “serious concerns” about commonly used practices in the sector. Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda, Hotels.com, ebookers and trivago have recently been the subject of CMA enforcement action due to serious concerns around issues like pressure selling, misleading discount claims, the effect that commission has on how hotels are ordered on sites, and hidden charges.
The CMA said it is “committed to ensuring compliance with consumer protection law across the online hotel booking sector” and to “help deliver” compliance and as such has drawn out “key principles” to be followed.
The CMA said if online hotel booking sites diligently apply these principles, those businesses will be less likely to breach consumer protection law in particular the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
The principles cover the following areas:
Practice 1 – Failure to disclose the effect of payments on search results
Practice 2 – Misleading reference prices
Practice 3 – Misleading presentation of prices
Practice 4 – Statements about popularity and availability and price
The CMA said: “Online accommodation booking platforms can be a very valuable source of information for people looking for hotels and other short-term accommodation. It is crucial that these platforms operate in a way which is fair and not misleading to consumers.
“The CMA expects all online accommodation booking platforms to comply with consumer protection law. These principles should help any such platform to comply with the law and address the CMA’s concerns.”
Online hotel booking companies that don’t meet their obligations under consumer law by the 1 September 2019 risk facing enforcement action by the CMA.
