On Feb. 18, 2014, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas dismissed an antitrust lawsuit that accused U.S. hotel companies and online travel agencies (OTAs) of conspiring to fix the online prices of hotel rooms. In re Online Travel Company Hotel Booking Antitrust Litig., No. 3:12-cv-3515-B (N.D. Texas Feb. 18, 2014). The plaintiffs alleged that the OTAs and hotels conspired to eliminate price competition by imposing "rate parity" across OTA websites, such that a room at a given hotel would be offered at the same price regardless of whether a consumer purchased it from an OTA site or from the hotel website itself. The court dismissed the claims because the complaint described only the suppression of intrabrand competition—the competition among each hotel's online distribution channels—and did not allege the elimination of competition between the different hotel brands. The court acknowledged that antitrust laws permit hotels to control the prices at which their rooms are sold online, as well as permit OTAs to enter into most-favored-nation agreements ensuring their competitors can't offer a lower price than the published rate. The court also dismissed plaintiffs' state law consumer protection claims, finding that plaintiffs did not adequately allege how they were injured by defendants' "best price" guarantees. Plaintiffs have the opportunity to amend their complaint.
A copy of the decision is available here.
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