Alman Otelciler Birliği, Expedia'yı mahkemeye veriyor...

Alman Otelciler Birliği, Expedia'yı mahkemeye veriyor...

Berlin, 01 Nisan 2016 - Alman Uluslar arası Otelciler Birliği (IHA), Expedia'nın parite uygulaması konusunda sabrının sonuna geldi. Expedia'nın üye bir otele, bu konuda baskı yapması sonucu, IHA konuyu mahkemeye taşımaya karar verdi.

IHA İdari Direktörü Markus Luthe, sektördeki pek çok kurumun; Expedia'nın, iki rakibinin uzun bir süre önce bu konuda engellenmesine rağmen, uygulamaya devam etmesine halen izin verilmesinden rahatsızlık duyduğunu belirtti. Alman Federal Kartel Ofisinin kararının takiben (Aralık 2013) Booking.com ve HRS'in otellerle olan kontralarında, parite şartlarının bulunmasına ya da herhangi başka bir yolla bu şartları talep etmeleri girişimlerine izin verilmiyor.

Bununla beraber, 2016'ın ikinci çeyreği başlamasına rağmen, Federal Kartel Ofisi tarafından, Expedia hakkında devam eden soruşturmalar halen neticelenmedi. Expedia, parite şartlarını ya da müsaitlik paritesini kabul etmeyen otelcilerin gözünü korkutmaya çalışıyor ve otelin sistemdeki görünürlüğünün engellenmesine cürret ediyor. (ücreti gözükmeden, otel görseli olmadan listeleme gibi)

Saygılarımızla,

TÜROB-Merkez

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German Hotel Association takes Expedia to Court

Berlin (April 1, 2016). The German International Hotel Association (IHA) has come to the end of its tether with Expedia with regard to rate parity. Following an attempt by Expedia to put pressure on a member hotel, the IHA has now decided to pass the matter on to court.

IHA Managing Director Markus Luthe states in his blog what many in the sector have found so annoying: Expedia is still allowed to do what its two main rivals have long-since been banned from doing. Following a decision by the German Federal Cartel Office, neither HRS (since December 2013) nor Booking (since December 2015) have been allowed to used parity clauses in their GTCs nor in contractual agreements with hotels, nor indeed are they allowed to demand such commitments from hotels in Germany in any other way.

Meanwhile, the second quarter of 2016 has begun and investigations into Expedia by the Federal Cartel Office have still not been concluded. This is even more astonishing since the competition authorities' arguments against Expedia should run entirely parallel to those against HRS and Booking and so should be capable of being brought to quick conclusion.

"Germany's number three appears to want to take advantage of this situation," Luthe writes on his blog and further says: "The company is attempting to intimidate hotel partners that refuse to grant Expedia rate or availability parity (on competing booking portals or on the hotel website) and is doing this with particular audacity."

Disadvantage is visible

The IHA reports how Expedia wrote to a member hotel several times since the beginning of 2016 and complained about uncompetitive rates and availability and not only threatened but ultimately implemented a reduction to the hotel's visibility.

"Expedia regularly compares its own offer with than from rivals. For the individual hotels, the result impacts on their representation on the Expedia pages. If comparisons reveal a non-competitive offer on the Expedia pages over a longer period, this can impact on the listing result and the visibility of individual hotels can be severely restricted. .... At the moment your hotel appears on our pages, though in the case of further derogations, it may be the case that your hotel be given less visibility (listing without picture)."

In order to sanction the hotel, Expedia indeed removed all hotel images and hotel ratings (see screen shot). As is clear from the screen shot, the hotel in question in the Rheinhotel Dreesen, owned by IHA Chairman Fritz Dreesen.

The IHA is doubly annoyed by the OTAs behaviour for another reason too. As Luthe also reports, on 1 August 2015, Expedia amended its GTCs in line with those of Booking - which had meanwhile been forced to change its GTCs by the German Federal Hotel Office - and it issued a "Declaration of Waiver" to its contract partners in writing stating: "Expedia will not agree or enforce any undertaking purporting to require that accommodation providers offer room rates on Expedia's websites which are as low or lower than those offered by other online travel agents."

In the case at hand, the hotel immediately wrote to Expedia demanding that it cease and desist. Since the OTA failed to respond, the IHA has now issued a claim before the Regional Court in Cologne on behalf of its member. / kn