A class action lawsuit filed Monday is alleging co-ordinated anti-competitive practices by several of the world’s largest hotel brands.
The suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois claims the years-long antitrust scheme by major hotel chains has cost consumers billions.
Attorneys at law firm Hagens Berman claim Choice Hotels, Hilton, Hyatt Corp, InterContinental, Marriott and Wyndham conspired not to compete against each other when bidding for online advertising when a search term contained a competitor’s name.
For example, the lawsuit says, when a consumer search query was made for the name Hyatt, the other companies would refrain from bidding for ads appearing based on those keywords.
That effectively made it more difficult for consumers to compare prices, Hagens Berman said.
It alleges the companies ‘also forced their hand with online travel agencies to keep them from bidding on branded keywords as well.’
"This leaves hotel chains with free reign to keep prices high, with no threat of consumers seeing competing ads. Millions of consumers have collectively been upcharged by billions of dollars since 2015," it said.
It is seeking customers to join the class action lawsuit who booked hotels via an initial Internet brand name search in this fashion from 2015-2017.
The law firm claims it potentially affects 60% of all hotel inventory in the US.
