It is the first update containing significant action points in the ongoing investigation by UK regulators (Office of Fair Trading) into alleged breaches of competition law around hotel bookings on the web.
The probe, which has been running for almost three years and also includes the InterContinental Hotel Group, is now being opened up for public consultation.
The OFT says today that both Expedia and Booking.com have given “formal commitments that would relax restrictions so that [rival] OTAs can provide discounts on the rate which room-only hotel accommodation bookings are offered”.
Read full story at: http://www.tnooz.com/2013/08/09/news/expedia-and-booking-com-pledge-to-allow-rival-discounting-as-hotel-rate-parity-probe-widens/