Congress Mulls Bill to Stop Fraudulent Online Hotel Booking Sites
by Anna Gleksman /A bipartisan bill filed on Wednesday is designed to stop scam sites from selling hotel rooms to consumers.
Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL.) and Lois Frankel (D-FL), and Congressman Bill Shuster (R-PA), filed the Stop Online Booking Scams Act, which requires third-party hotel booking sites to make it clear to the consumer that they’re not affiliated with any hotel and to be transparent about what is included in the prices they list.
The bill calls for a fine of $11,000 for each infraction, plus compensation to the consumer and shutting the site down.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) supports the bill; the Travel Technology Association opposes it.
ASTA’s Hotel Distribution Committee member Shaun Balani, who’s CEO of Travel Time/Travel Leaders, believes the bill would be good for brick-and-mortar agencies, by forcing online agencies to fully disclose prices. “Just being made to disclose exactly what is included in their package would, of necessity, either make them raise their prices to cover more, or keep the low prices but be very clear on what is being covered,” he said.
While it will not directly affect agents, it may strengthen their creditability in the marketplace over online booking sites, he noted. But to a large extent, the bill is largely a “solution without a problem.”