French hoteliers sue Expedia and TripAdvisor

A hotelier union in France, Synhorcat, has filed a legal suit at the Commercial Court in Paris against Expedia and subsidiary websites TripAdvisor and Hotels.com on grounds of “unfair commercial practices”.

Union president Didier Chenet reportedly said that smaller French hoteliers had issues with the way in which the websites acted.

Chenet cited offers being advertised that didn’t exist and booking procedures different from those for other hotels.

He said that while the union didn’t have anything against the internet, it couldn’t let hotel owners be penalised.

Synhorcat European division head Christophe Paluel-Marmont, asserted that travellers were redirected to Expedia when they searched for more information regarding hotels on TripAdvisor, rather than sending them to the hotel’s website.

Furthermore, he said it was wrong that travellers were told that there was no vacancy for a hotel that didn’t have an agreement with Expedia, instead of saying that reservations couldn’t be booked through its website.

The Synhorcat union also accused TripAdvisor of publishing up to 75% “false and misleading” rate reductions.

While admitting the path of dialogue was still open with the websites, the union added it was looking at other sites as well.