Duff on Hospitality Law

Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . .  Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, April 11, 2025, is below.  This week’s Update features a heavy dose of AI related stories – including Microsoft’s recently announced partnership with Expedia and other OTAs - as well as a helpful overview of the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA), which re-writes certain consumer laws and provides UK authorities new consumer protection enforcement powers, including with regard to junk fees.  Enjoy.

• • UK’s DMCCA Introduces New Obligations and Enforcement Powers. Starting on April 6, businesses operating in the UK will face a number of new obligations and the likelihood of increased enforcement of those obligations.  The DMCCA amends certain portions of the UK’s existing consumer protection legislation and grants the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) new powers to enforce those protections directly (without resorting to courts first).  Key changes address areas critical to hotels and other travel industry businesses, including fake reviews and junk fees (businesses are now prohibited from presenting a “headline” price that does not include mandatory fees).  A summary of these important consumer law changes is available from the CMA here. 
    
    
  • Analysts Cut Estimated 2025 Revenue Growth for OTAs in Half.  Add tariffs to an already weakening economy and you get a reduced growth outlook for Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia and TripAdvisor for 2025. 
    
    
  • Introducing “Copilot Actions,” Microsoft’s New Agentic AI.  This latest addition to the agentic AI footrace comes from Microsoft and works alongside Microsoft’s newly announced Copilot Search (Microsoft’s AI enabled search engine similar to Google’s existing AI Overview).  As part of its announcement, Microsoft identified Expedia, Booking.com and Kayak as its initial travel booking partners.  Unlike other recently announced agentic AI tools (e.g., Open AI’s Operator), Microsoft’s new tool will be available to the general public without the need for subscriptions or additional fees.

Have a great week.

Good Sunday morning from Seatle . . .  Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, April 4, is below.  This week’s Update features a number of follow up stories on topics covered in recent Updates, including Booking.com’s challenges with fraudulent property listings and the major OTAs embrace of agentic AI.  I’ve also included a few stories on corporate travel, including an update on airline adoption of NDC and details of Steve Singh’s latest investment.  As many of you might recall, I predicted (prematurely) that 2024 was going to be a year of great change in the GDS world.  While we saw some changes (and one outspoken proponent of NDC abruptly change course), I still believe the industry will see dramatic changes in corporate and managed travel distribution in the year(s) ahead.  Enjoy.

• • Airlines’ Adoption of NDC Moving Slowly.  Henry Harteveldt’s group, Atmosphere Research Group, released a report last week detailing the airline industry’s transition away from legacy Edifact technology to IATA’s newer NDC technology.  Of the airlines surveyed, only 27% have begun a wholesale transition to NDC for order processing, servicing and settlement capabilities (so-called “Offer and Order”).  Eighty two percent (82%) of the airlines surveyed expect to make the transition by 2029.  According to Harteveldt, whether the industry attains these goals in partially dependent on the GDSs and whether they commit the resources to make needed technology improvements.  Hoteliers hoping to join the NDS parade may have a few years ahead of them.
    
    
  • UK Consumer Group Which? Calls Out Booking.com.  In its recent report, “What Went Wrong with Booking.com?”,  UK consumer group Which? identified several areas of concern contributing to an increasing number of fraudulent STR property listings.  According to the report, Booking.com’s initial denial of and then slow response to the concerns raised in the report have only compounded the concerns.
    
    
  • Expedia’s Considered Adoption of AI.   In a recent interview with CIOdive.com, Expedia’s SVP of data and AI, Shiyi Pickrell, shared details of the company’s considered approach to AI.  Echoing earlier statements of Expedia CEO, Ariane Gorin, Shiyi described AI as a tool to accelerate its existing strategic objectives – better experiences, growth and operational efficiencies.  Employees at Expedia are given access to an AI “playground,” where employees can experiment with 19 large language model AI platforms (including agentic platforms).  Potential use cases identified through use of the playground are then vetted by the company’s responsible AI council (consisting of representatives from technology, security and legal) to ensure each is vetted appropriately. 
    
    
  • Google Launches Hotel Price Drop Tool.  In case you missed the many stories these past few weeks detailing the recent launch of several new Google trip planning tools (many of which feature AI integrations), Google has launched a new hotel pricing tool (similar to Google’s existing Google Flights product) that alerts users when identified hotels reduce prices.  The new tool was released globally last week. 

I hope you have a great week.

Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . .  Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, March 28, 2025, is below.  This week’s Update features stories on a variety of topics including Perplexity’s big booking announcement, HotelTonight’s introduction of Airbnb’s first ever “discounts” and two perspectives on Booking.com’s budding partnership with OpenAI.  I hope you enjoy.

• • Booking a Hotel Now Possible Through an AI Search Engine.  Clunky, yes, but Perplexity’s new booking platform is a big step.  Perplexity announced last week that it has partnered with TripAdvisor and Selfbook to launch the first AI search engine booking platform.  In response to natural language searches, users of AI search engine will receive a list of hotel properties created from content provided by TripAdvisor.  Users selecting one of the roughly 140,000 properties on Selfbook’s booking and payment platform will be able to book and pay for their booking without leaving Perplexity.  Users selecting properties not on Selfbook’s platform will be re-directed to third-party websites like Skyscanner (part of the Trip.com group) to complete the booking.   Today, the booking option is only available to website users, though a mobile solution is on its way.   The jury is still out on whether these AI search based booking options pose a greater threat to existing intermediaries (OTAs) or suppliers (e.g., who is ultimately providing the bookable inventory).  History has shown that the tech savvy intermediaries (armed with billon dollar marketing budgets) are usually the first to leverage these new technologies.
    
    
  • HotelTonight Introduces First Airbnb Discount.  Users of Airbnb’s hotel booking platform, HotelTonight, will receive a credit (10% of the HotelTonight rate) toward a future Airbnb stay.  The credits remain valid for one year following the HotelTonight stay and are automatically applied to users’ Airbnb accounts. 
    
    
  • Two Perspectives on OpenAI’s Relationship with Booking.com.  In two separate stories last week, Skift presented the views of first OpenAI and then Booking.com on the two companies’ budding relationship.  Here are the highlights:
    • • OpenAI is currently working with several clients, including Booking.com, to build industry specific applications based on the same large language model (LLM) that powers ChatGPT. 

• • • • OpenAI has no current plans to specialize in any particular industry (like travel), but it uses travel (like other industries) to improve its general application platform.  Travel is one of the primary use cases used to test updates to OpenAI’s software.

• • • • OpenAI’s agentic products (like Operator) may soon be part of the parties’ growing relationship. 

• • • • According to Booking.com, users of its booking platform are starting to change their search behavior and including AI generated summaries as part of their booking process. 

• • • • Booking.com’s current efforts are largely focused on its trip planner, which it launched in 2023, though it also exploring possible uses of agentic platforms (like OpenAI’s Operator). 

Have a great week everyone.

Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . .  Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, March 21, is below.  This week’s Update features a number of stories on the EU’s renewed interest in pursuing competition compliance, even if in the face of threatened U.S. tariffs.  What this might ultimately mean for Google search and/or Booking.com remains to be seen.   Enjoy.

• • EU Issues Preliminary Findings Regarding Google.  The European Commission issued preliminary findings this past week concluding that Google’s “self-preferencing” of its flight and accommodation business violated the Digital Markets Act (DMA).  With these findings in hand, Google can now prepare a formal response.  Google’s initial response (noting that the findings were “misguided”) claimed that changes already made by Google to comply with the DMA were causing EU travel businesses to lose direct traffic.  Initial published reactions were mixed.  Trivago applauded the findings.  Others, particularly those concerned about the effects of further Google changes on direct bookings, raised concern.  What about Booking.com, you ask?  According to Skift, the EU Commission is monitoring Booking.com’s DMA compliance and speaking to hoteliers and others in the EU travel industry.
    
    
  • “Don’t Write Off AI as Hype,” – Chris Hemmeter.  By now, many of my readers are probably growing tired of the many stories on AI, particularly generative AI and its predicted effects on travel – at all stages of the funnel.  For some time, I too thought AI was a lot of hype (like we’ve seen in the industry in years past) and would ultimately fade away.  My perspective changed dramatically with the first demos of agentic AI like OpenAI’s Operator.  Since then, I’ve tried to persuade clients to take a closer look at AI and its likely effect on client’s existing sales, marketing and distribution practices (not unlike the disruption hoteliers experienced following 2001 with the tremendous growth of OTAs).  My efforts have seen mixed results.  If you don’t believe me, maybe you might believe Chris Hemmeter, a long-time friend, industry savant and managing partner at Thayer Ventures.  In Chris’ presentation last week at the WiT Africa conference in South Africa, Chris explains why he believes generative AI is both an existential threat to travel suppliers and enormous opportunity for industry entrepreneurs.  I hope you take the time to read the story.
    
    
  • AI-Generated Traffic Results in Higher Engagement, But Lower Conversions.  In a report released last week by Adobe, Adobe details the tremendous growth in AI-generated traffic to retail and travel sites (in some instances 1700% increase YOY).  But what about these AI users?  Adobe’s research reveals that these users are more engaged (e.g., more time spent on the website, more pages viewed and a lower bounce rate), but they are less likely to convert – at least right now (but that number is increasing, which according to Adobe, reveals that users are becoming more comfortable with these new tools).   

Have a great week everyone. 

Happy Saturday from Seattle . . .  Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, March 14, 2025, is below.  What started as a relatively quiet week in the travel industry (other than the concerning reports from several major airline carriers that captured much of the travel industry’s attention and reporting), finished with a bang as multiple outlets began warning on Friday of a widespread phishing campaign targeting the hospitality industry via fake Booking.com emails.  I hope you enjoy.

• Microsoft and Others Warn of Widespread Phishing Campaign Via Booking.com.  The campaign, which, according to Microsoft, began in December 2024, uses an increasingly popular social engineering technique called ClickFix to deliver malware designed to steal users’ credentials.  According to Microsoft,  “[T]his phishing attack specifically targets individuals in hospitality organizations in North America, Oceania, South and Southeast Asia, and Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Europe, that are most likely to work with Booking.com, sending fake emails purporting to be coming from the agency.”  The fake emails encourage recipients to respond to negative reviews left on the platform by purported guests.  Recipients of the emails are then re-directed to a fake page that ultimately allows the hackers to collect payment and personal information.  So why are these campaigns targeting Booking.com and not other travel platforms?  The answer isn’t clear, though earlier last week, the UK consumer watchdog Which? reported that the lack of effective checks left Booking.com wide open to fraudulent campaigns (and listings) and urged the platform to do more to prevent fraud on its side.  Even if Booking.com chooses to ignore these requests, the UK’s Online Safety Act (which takes effect this year) may force its hand – at least in the UK.
  
  
• California Legislature Is Focused on Allegedly Abusive Predictive Pricing.  California legislators have introduced five (yes, five) bills aimed at limiting or preventing predictive pricing.  Predictive pricing involves the use of various technologies (including AI) to set different prices for the same products and services (including travel) based on users’ personal information (e.g., browsing history, residence).
  
  
• Another Week and Another Booking Platform Announces Its AI Partnerships.  South Korean online travel agent, Yanolja, announced this past week new partnerships with Google and OpenAI (including OpenAI’s new agentic AI tool, Operator) to offer new products and services to hoteliers and to enhance users’ trip planning experience.
  
  
• Massachusetts AG Releases New Junk Fees Rule.  Massachusetts’ Attorney General, Andrea Joy Campbell, announced the new regulations this past week as part of National Consumer Week.   Like the FTC’s recently issued final junk fee rule (which takes effect this May), the new Massachusetts’ regulation requires hoteliers to present most prominently the total price (rate and mandatory fees) of products and services whenever pricing is presented.  Taxes and other government charges are excluded from total price, though of note, taxes and charges on a hotel that the hotel chooses to pass on to the guest are not excluded.  The regulations also expressly require hoteliers to provide the nature and purpose of the mandatory fees.  The new regulations take effect on September 2, 2025.  This newest regulation underscores the need for uniform regulation of junk fees across the United States, which is a critical component missing from the FTC’s rule. 

Have a great week.

Happy Sunday afternoon from Seattle . . .   Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, March 7, 2025, is below.  The past week was relatively quiet one, with only minor announcements by a few of the largest industry players - Booking.com and Expedia (and Chase Travel?).  I hope you enjoy.

• • Travel Technology Association Launches Podcast.  Our readers know that I often feature stories from the Travel Technology Association’s weekly newsletter – Passport Newsletter.  Last week, the Association announced that it was launching a weekly Podcast featuring Association President, Laura Chadwick, interviewing industry leaders on various policy issues.  The first episode is out and available to download now.    
    
    
  • Booking.com Updates State of AI Adoption.  Speaking at ITB Berlin last week, Booking.com’s, SVP of Accommodations, Matthias Schmid, provided an update on the platform’s growing use of artificial intelligence.  Uses identified by Schmid include identifying and sourcing third-party content (including user reviews) to improve property descriptions, powering Booking.com’s generative trip planner and ongoing experimentation with OpenAI and its agentic AI platform (Operator).   
    
    
  • Banks and Credit Card Companies Continue Their Steady March into Travel.  It’s been a few weeks since we last featured a story on a major bank’s and/or credit card company’s latest travel industry success.  Don’t let our silence fool you.  As evidenced by Skift’s latest research report, the banks and credit card companies are continuing their meteoric rise.  For example, Skift predicts that in 2024, Chase Travel became the third largest B2C online travel booking platform (based on gross booking volumes), behind only Expedia and Booking.com.

Have a great week everyone.

Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . .  Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, February 28, 2025, is below. This week’s Update features a variety of stories from a variety of sources, including some new sources. It is often easy to rely on the industry pillars – Phocus Wire and Skift – both of which do an amazing job of covering the travel world. As our Update continues to evolve, we will continue to look for new sources, new perspectives and new opinions on the stories we believe are most relevant to our readers, including a few perspectives from resources in my own backyard here in Seattle.   

For those of you interested, we are attaching a copy of the transcript from Tripadvisor’s recent earnings release call.  As I noted in last week’s Update, Tripadvisor CEO, Matt Goldberg, used the call to share some interesting details on Tripadvisor’s recently announced partnership with generative AI platform, Perplexity, as well as its collaborations with other AI platforms. 

Enjoy.

• • Another Year and Another Record Broken on Annual OTA Marketing Investments.  Every year we seem to feature the same story.  Another year and another OTA annual marketing spend record is broken.  According to recent financial reporting, Trip.com, Airbnb, Booking Holdings and Expedia Group spent a combined $17.8 billion on marketing during 2024, an increase of a billion dollars over 2023 amounts. 
    
    
  • Amazon Unveils Alexa+.  This past week, Amazon unveiled its latest iteration of its well-known voice assistant, Alexa.  Alexa+ combines the voice assistant with, you guessed it, generative AI, to produce “free flowing conversations.”  Although the many demonstrations circulated online (as least those that I saw) did not feature travel (they did include booking online restaurant reservations), Amazon claims that the new AI enabled assistant will be able to book travel for users and announced that it was launching the new service with travel partners, Booking Holdings, TripAdvisor, Uber and Fodor’s.  The service will start rolling out across the U.S. in the weeks ahead and Amazon Prime members will receive free access to the new assistant.

• • AH&LA Supports Re-Introduction of Federal Junk Fees Legislation.  This past week saw the re-introduction of junk fees legislation in both the U.S. House and Senate.  AH&LA issued statements supporting the legislation.  You may ask why federal legislation is needed at this point with the FTC’s junk fees rule is scheduled to take effect in May.  In one word, pre-emption.  The FTC’s rule does not pre-empt similar junk fee efforts at the state level and allows states to freely adopt their own more restrictive (and often inconsistent) rules. 
    
    
  • Will the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) Be Enforced Against U.S. Companies?  The last few stories in this week’s Update focuses on questions arising in Washington D.C. among President Trump and Republican law makers regarding the EU’s allegedly “select” enforcement of the DMA and DSA against U.S. technology companies.  The effort gained momentum last week with President Trump’s issuance of a new Executive Order stating, among other things, that regulations (like the EU’s DMA and DSA) will “face scrutiny from the Administration,” and U.S. Representative Jim Jordan’s letter to EU Commissioner Teresa Ribera asking her to clarify the DMA’s rules. (In each case, echoing the concerns of U.S. tech companies designated under the DMA as “gatekeepers”).  These concerns come as the EU Commission is reportedly poised to issue fines against Google for its failure to comply with the DMA.  What does this mean for hoteliers hoping to see meaningful EU mandated changes from Booking.com?  Will the fear of retaliatory tariffs convince EU regulators to limit or prevent their enforcement of these new rules against U.S. companies like Booking Holdings?  Like so much these days, no one knows.

Have a great week everyone.

Good Saturday afternoon from Seattle . . .  Our Online Travel Update for the week ending February 21, 2025, is below. If any of our readers still question the profound (dare I say, disruptive) effect that AI will have on online travel (and in particular, distribution), I encourage you to take the time to listen to (or read) the many comments Booking Holdings CEO, Glenn Fogel, in the latest Booking Holdings’ earnings call. A transcript of the call is attached. What should we make of Glenn’s comments? Do they reflect the unbridled optimism of a CEO who is confident in his company’s position to once again leverage the latest and greatest technology (like the many technological developments that preceded AI) to maintain his company’s position in online travel? Or, perhaps the comments were offered in anticipation and defense of the participants’ inevitable questions (and maybe doubts) about the role of online intermediaries in a post AI world? The stories below in this week’s Update seem divided on the issue.    

A few key takeaways from Glenn’s comments . . .

“Adapting to and leveraging new technologies has been in our DNA from the start, and Generative AI is pushing the pace of technology innovation faster than ever.”

“We see the development and use of AI agents [e.g., Operator] and those agents working with other AI agents as a potential way, to more quickly bring together the different elements of travel into a truly connected offering on our platform.”

“We are also excited to be working with leading Generative AI organizations on their Agentic developments. These collaborations reflect our commitment to staying at the forefront of this rapidly developing field and are consistent with our long-standing approach to work with different sources of new customer traffic.”

“ . . . as I mentioned, and we've talked about this in the past, that we're working with all of the major players in the Valley and elsewhere, that we are working together to do things that would be better as togetherness instead of trying to do separately.”

“And I'm just pleased to be in the position we are with all the data we have, with the resource we have, with the people we have, the worldwide network of consumers who trust us, which is also a very big deal.”

I hope you enjoy this week’s Update. 

• • Booking Holdings Reports Strong Fourth Quarter Results.  Glenn and his team had a lot to be positive about beyond Booking Holdings’ AI efforts this past quarter and year.  Some highlights for me were . . .
    • Many key financial metrics were at or above the high-end of previous fourth quarter expectations – room nights, gross bookings growth, revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA.
    • Full year financials reflected similar strong growth – gross bookings (10% YOY growth), revenue (11% YOY growth), adjusted EBITDA (17% YOY growth) and adjusted earnings per share (23% YOY growth).
    • Fifty nine percent (59%) of gross bookings at Booking.com are now “merchant bookings” processed through Booking.com’s payment platform.
    • Additional future layoffs are possible as Booking Holdings continues its previously announced Transformation Program. 
    • Looking forward, Booking Holdings expects a year of “normalized growth” for the travel industry allowing Booking to deliver constant currency gross bookings, revenue and earnings per share growth at targeted (though lower than 2024) levels.
  • Details on TripAdvisor’s Partnership with Perplexity and OpenAI Revealed.  Will AI become intermediaries’ next customer acquisition channel (like Google, metasearch sites and social media are today)?  You bet, at least according to TripAdvisor’s CEO and CFO.  In last week’s TripAdvisor four quarter earnings call, both expressed optimism over the recently announced partnership between TripAdvisor and generative AI platform, Perplexity.  As part of the agreement, Perplexity licenses TripAdvisor data.  According to TripAdvisor CEO, Matt Goldberg, users who come to TripAdvisor via Perplexity are both “incremental” and “high intent.”  Also discussed during the earnings call was TripAdvisor’s recent partnership with OpenAI’s agentic product, Operator, which according to Goldberg allows TripAdvisor “to be best-positioned favorably as agentic AI emerges.”  According to Goldberg, TripAdvisor expects to make more AI announcements in the near future.

Have a great week everyone. 

Good (holiday) Monday morning to everyone . . .  It is President’s Day, which means those of us in the U.S. get to enjoy an additional day off (sort of, but not really) work.  Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, February 14, 2025, is below.  As I promised in our last Update, this week’s Update contains a number of stories providing concrete examples of how AI is being used (and predicted to be used in the near future) in the travel industry.  I’ve also included a story updating the status of the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed it will begin to enforce in April of this year.  For those of you who have asked recently what new regulations are on the horizon – after the FTC’s Junk Fees rule and most recently, the DSA’s KYP requirements – you might want to take a closer look at the new consumer-focused legislation.  I plan to have more information about the Act and its requirements in our next Update.  Enjoy.

• • Here Come the AI Agents.  For the past few weeks, we’ve been featuring stories about OpenAI’s new AI-powered agent, Operator.  Hospitality.net published an article last week that provides a helpful overview of these new tools, including a description as to how these tools could actually aid hoteliers and their direct booking efforts.  As the author notes, timing is everything with these newest technologies and hoteliers now need to move with a sense of urgency (particularly, with OTA’s current and growing head start).
    
    
  • Southeast Asia Leads the Charge in AI Transformation.  With its online travel penetration levels estimated to increase to 74% by 2027 (with the majority of that soon to be coming through mobile), Southeast Asia is expected by many to be at the forefront of AI disruption to the travel industry.  Young travelers in the region are already transitioning to AI-based itinerary planners and concierge apps. 

Have a great week everyone. 

Good Sunday afternoon from Seattle . . .   Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, February 7, 2025, is below.  This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including details on Expedia’s recent quarterly earnings release, news of recent layoffs at TripAdvisor and a heavy does of AI related stories. 

Given recent conversations that I have had with many of you about AI and its likely effects on online travel, particularly around marketing, search, distribution and now, actual transacting or booking, I plan to use our Updates (at least for the foreseeable future) to provide our readers examples of how AI is actually being used in these areas.  For those of you who have read our Updates over the past month (or saw my or the many presentations at the recent annual HEDNA Conference), you now know that AI is no longer an ethereal concept that may one day find its way to the travel industry.  Recent advances in the technology have brought us real world applications that one day soon may be the primary method or platform through which travelers are inspired, travelers search and plan and ultimately, travelers book.  If nothing else, I don’t want to see a repeat of the early 2000’s when hoteliers were so poorly prepared to respond to the phenomenon of the internet, and specifically, the growing control and influence of online travel intermediaries.  Enjoy.

• Expedia Speaks to AI Efforts in Strong Fourth Quarter Earnings Release.    In today’s Update we feature two reports on Expedia’s recent fourth quarter and full year earnings’ release.  We’ve also included a copy of the transcript from the recent earnings call.  Key takeaways for me from the recent release include the following:
  • Expedia posted strong YOY growth, including notably 21% growth in its B2B business (EPS) and 25% growth in its ad revenue.  It would be interesting to know how much of the ad revenue increase is attributable to corresponding reductions in supplier compensation levels. 
  • Expedia is making conscious efforts to introduce AI into each of its key strategic goals for 2025, including by (1) working to ensure that Expedia’s brands appear in travelers’ generative AI searches, (2) exploring opportunities to partner with native AI travel startups to become their supply partner and (3) developing AI partnerships to better power Expedia’s B2B business.
  • Expedia (particularly, its new CFO) is again open to looking at M&A opportunities. 
    
    
• Is OpenAI’s Operator a Game Changer?  One of the most read stories on PhocusWire this past week was its piece on the newly introduced OpenAI agent, Operator.  Website optimization may never be the same again.  I’d encourage all of our readers to read the article.  Demos of the new Operator agent booking travel (and other services) are also widely available on YouTube. 
  
  
• A National Junk Fee Standard Takes a Step Forward.  This past week, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved the Hotel Fees Transparency Act, legislation that is favored by both the online intermediaries (Travel Technology Association) and hoteliers (American Hotel & Lodging Association).  Many of you may be asking why we still need federal legislation when we now have the national FTC rule.  As I’ve discussed with many of you (and as noted in my recent HEDNA presentation), the FTC rule does not preempt other state and local laws that are more protective.  This lack of preemption opens the door to states like California and Minnesota (both of which have enacted junk fee rules) and countless others (20 at last count) to adopt potentially contradictory (and confusing) requirements (e.g., what is more protective – California’s requirement to display only total price or the FTC’s requirement that total price be displayed most prominently).

Have a great week everyone.