Four hotels in Singapore have been fined more than $1.5 million for violating competition laws.
Singapore’s Competition and Consumer Commission found the four hotels shared information on the discounts that corporate customers asked for during confidential negotiations.
The four hotels are Capri by Fraser Changi City Singapore, Village Hotel Changi and Village Hotel Katong, and Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Hotel, which are all located within 15 minutes’ of Changi Airport.
Capri’s previous owner Ascendas Frasers and new operator Frasers Hospitality Pte Ltd were fined $793,925, and $216,526 respectively.
The Village hotels received a fine of $286,610, while Crowne Plaza was fined $225,293.
The CCCS used transcripts of WhatsApp messages between the hotels’ sale reps as evidence of collusion.
"The exchange of non-public commercially sensitive information between competitors is harmful to competition and customers in the market," said the competition commission’s chief executive Toh Han Li.
"If a business receives such information from its competitor, it should immediately and clearly distance itself from such conduct and report it to CCCS."
