Trivago, the hotel booking website, has admitted to misleading Australian and New Zealand-based customers with false advertising, and could now face fines of up to $10m, according to Morning Report.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has taken a successful case against Trivago for actions including falsely claiming that hotel prices advertised on its website are the best prices when in fact it skewed the prices shown to favour advertisers willing to pay a higher cost per click fee, Travel Weekly reports.
“Based on Trivago’s highlighted price display on its website, we allege that consumers may have formed the incorrect impression that Trivago’s highlighted deals were the best price they could get at a particular hotel, when that was not the case,” ACCC Chair, Rod Sims said.
“We allege that because of the design of Trivago’s website and representations made, consumers were denied a genuine choice about choosing a hotel deal, by making choices based on this misleading impression created by the Trivago website,” added Rod.
The Travel Agents' Association of New Zealand (TAANZ) had lodged similar complaints about Trivago two years ago and was disappointed that the Commerce Commission had not begun an investigation. "We'd like to think that now they will take the appropriate steps and measures with the investigation and conclude it in the timeliest manner," said TAANZ chief executive, Andrew Olsen.
Andrew suggested that a possible means of recourse would be to ensure that the company operated according to the applicable laws, and to hand out severe penalties.
Travel agencies in South Africa canvassed by eTNW have not reported any such cases.
