Hotel customers should get bigger discounts after the Office of Fair Trading forced two of the biggest online travel agents and the world’s largest hotel company to pass on commissions to guests.
The deal also means that InterContinental Hotels Group, Expedia and Booking.com avoid possible multimillion-pound fines.
The OFT said in July that the three companies had broken the law because the online travel agents had agreed with IHG not to discount prices using commissions from the hotel group for booking rooms. They all denied this.
None of the companies need now admit wrongdoing or face fines. Under OFT companies can be fined up to 10% of their global revenues for breaking its rules. IHG’s revenues in 2012 were $1.84 billion (£1.18 billion).
The OFT said it would hold one month’s consultation on the commitments made by the three companies and they should come into effect a month later. Ann Pope, senior director at the regulator, said it wanted to ensure the commitments “offer an immediate and effective means of injecting some meaningful price competition into the online offering of room-only hotel accommodation”.
The new deals will apply to UK residents booking hotels across the European Union and will kick in only if they are signed up to a loyalty scheme and have been to that particular hotel at least once before.
