Various hotel booking websites have 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 the order in which hotels appear on the websites, and hidden charges.
The CMA took action in 2018 because it had concerns that practices such as giving a false impression of a room’s popularity or not displaying the full cost of a room upfront could mislead people, stop them finding the best deal and potentially break consumer protection law.
All companies under investigation by the CMA have co-operated with its work and voluntarily agreed to make the following changes:
- Search results: making it clearer how hotels are ranked after a customer has entered their search requirements, for example telling people when search results have been affected by the amount of commission a hotel pays to the website.
- Pressure selling: not giving a false impression of the availability or popularity of a hotel or rushing customers into making a booking decision based on incomplete information. For example, when highlighting that other customers are looking at the same hotel as you, making it clear they may be searching for different dates. The CMA also saw examples of some sites strategically placing sold-out hotels within search results to put pressure on people to book more quickly. Websites have now committed not to do this.
- Discount claims: being clearer about discounts and only promoting deals that are actually available at that time. Examples of misleading discount claims may include comparisons with a higher price that was not relevant to the customer’s search criteria. For example, some sites were comparing a higher weekend room rate with a weekday rate or comparing the price of a luxury suite with a standard room.
- Hidden charges: displaying all compulsory charges such as taxes, booking or resort fees in the headline price. Sites can still break that price down, but the total amount the customer has to pay should always be shown upfront.
Not all organisations engaged in all of these practices, but all have nonetheless agreed to abide by all the principles set out in the undertakings.
The CMA will now monitor compliance with the commitments made by the booking websites. All changes must be made by 1 September 2019 at the very latest, though the websites have already started making improvements.
The CMA also intends to write to other hotel booking websites including online travel agents, metasearch engines and hotel chains setting out clear expectations for how they should be complying with consumer protection law. The CMA also expects these sites to make necessary changes by 1 September 2019. If it finds sufficient evidence that others could be breaking consumer protection law, it will consider taking further enforcement action.
