Duff on Hospitality Law

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.

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 Sunday morning from Seattle . . .  Our weekly Online Travel Update (my last for the next 3 months) for the week ending August 2, 2024, is below.   Last week was a busy week in the online travel industry with second quarter earnings releases, junk fee updates and important competition announcements in the EU and UK.  Enjoy.

• • Highlights From Booking Holdings Second Quarter Earnings Release.  I won’t go into financial details from this past quarter’s release (that’s for the far more qualified analysts), but I will note a couple of my takeaways from the recent earnings release call (see attached transcript).  First, a definite focus on loyalty (Booking.com’s Genius program) and the noted increase (15% increase YOY) in Genius benefits (aka discounts).  It wasn’t that many years ago that I recall CEO Glenn Fogel dismissing the need for a loyalty program.  I chuckled when Glenn described the best part of the program – Booking pays nothing for it (suppliers pay for it all).  Second, Glenn’s and CFO Ewout Steenbergen’s opening remarks and the following analyst questions completely ignored Booking.com’s ongoing regulatory challenges in the EU – the DMA, recent Spanish fines, pending investigation in Italy, etc.  Not a single question about the anticipated effects of these ongoing developments.  What?  Third, how little was said (other than Glenn’s general optimism about and support for the platform) about Booking Holdings’ B2B programs – Booking.com, Getaroom and Rocket Travel. 
    
    
  • Are We Closer to a National “Junk Fee” Standard?  It appears so, yes.  This past week saw the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation give its approval to the Hotel Fees Transparency Act of 2023.  The bi-partisan bill now moves to the full Senate for consideration and a vote.  If approved, the Senate version of the bill would then be reconciled with the previously passed House version (which passed out of the House back in June) and forwarded to the President for signature.  Before passing out of the Senate Committee, the bill was amended (at the urging of the Travel Tech Association and its members) to add language providing distribution platforms limited protection (a presumption) in the event hoteliers fail to provide accurate junk fee information.
    
    
  • Spanish Authorities Levy Fine Against Booking.com.  Much of last week’s attention (and industry reports) was focused on the Spanish competition authorities’ decision to fine Booking.com £413.24 and to impose certain “behavioral” modifications for abusing its market position over the past 5 years.  The practices that led to the fine include (1) imposing direct channel rate parity obligations while reserving the right to unilaterally adjust booking prices, (2) providing hoteliers inadequate information about participating in Booking.com’s Preferred, Preferred Plus and Genius Programs and (3) using the total number of reservations as a factor in determining a hotel’s ranking on the platform.  The modifications imposed by the Spanish authority are intended to address the “abusive” behavior.  Booking.com intends to appeal the fine arguing that the DMA is the proper forum for raising and uniformly resolving these types of issues across the EU (and not on a state by state basis). 

I hope everyone enjoys the remainder of their summer.  See you again in the fall. 

Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . .  Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, July 26, 2024, is below. It was a relatively quiet week this past week in the online travel industry, at least until Google’s (not surprising) announcement. Enjoy.

• • Google Changes Direction Again. So much for those many sessions (including my own) at recent industry conferences regarding marketing in a post-cookie world . . . Google announced this past week that it is abandoning entirely its previously announced decision to end all use of third-party cookies. The announcement comes after multiple prior announcements by Google delaying the planned demise. So why the change?  While Google’s announcement didn’t go into great detail, previous delays by Google (particularly the most recent) have been attributed to ongoing regulatory review of Google’s planned alternative – the Privacy Sandbox – by both privacy and competition regulators.  So, what is next? Again, the announcement did not go into great detail, except to say that users will soon have a choice regarding their web browsing practices. Google’s proposed alternatives are now under review by regulators.
    
    
  • Booking.com Found to Have Unlawfully Scraped Airline Website. In a unanimous decision out of a Delaware federal court this past week, a jury found that Booking.com unlawfully scraped data from travel supplier (and sometimes instigator) Ryanair. Booking.com’s activities were found to violate the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. While the damages awarded to Ryanair were nominal ($5,000), the decision should provide a basis for Ryanair (and possibly other travel suppliers) to pursue injunctive relief against future similar behavior. Booking.com plans to appeal the decision.

Have a great week.

Good Sunday morning from Seattle... Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, July 19, 2024, is below. This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including news on the latest fines to be levied on Booking.com. Enjoy.

• • Recent Prime Day Travel Offerings Re-Kindle Amazon Rumors.  Regular readers of our weekly Update will recall the multiple stories we’ve featured over the years regarding Amazon’s rumored Interest in travel. Hailing from Seattle (like Amazon), I am asked often about Amazon’s interests at industry events and conferences.  As we noted in last week’s Update, Amazon again this year featured a limited offering of travel services as part of its annual Prime Day sale. Unlike prior years, this year’s offerings enjoyed their own dedicated “Prime Day Travel Deals” website page. Is this the beginning of a dedicated effort in travel? Only time will tell. In my opinion, absent a major acquisition by Amazon of an existing industry player, Amazon will only continue to play on the industry sidelines for the foreseeable future. 
    
    
  • Kayak Adds Features to Its Business Booking Platform. As competition in the corporate / managed travel space continues to escalate (see last week’s story on Marriott’s latest offering), Kayak announced this past week improvements to its Kayak for Business platform.  Users of the business platform will now have access to certain airline offerings (via API integration) and use of payment functionality.  Participating airlines include American, United and Southwest. 
    
    
  • Hungry Levies Record Fine on Booking.com. The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) announced last week that it had imposed a record fine on Booking.com for its failure to promptly cease certain previously identified commercial violations. The fine arises out of proceedings that commenced in 2018 when the GVH questioned Booking.com’s commercial practices – misleading free cancellation promises, psychological sales tactics and inaccurate payment information. In some instances, Booking.com took over four years to implement the required changes.

Have a great week everyone. Only two Updates remain before my upcoming departure. 

Good Saturday afternoon from Manson, Washington...I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday week/weekend, at least those of you in the United States. Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, July 5, 2024, is below. As you can seek, it was a quiet week. Enjoy.

• • HOTREC Releases 2024 Distribution Study. European hospitality association (representing hotels, restaurants and cares), HOTREC, released its annual hotel distribution study this past week.  Key findings of the study include (i) over the past year, OTAs have increased their share of the European market by an average of 10% (while direct channel distribution has decreased), (ii) small hotels rely Most heavily on OTAs, (iii) Booking.com enjoys a 71% share of the European hotel market, while Expedia is far behind at 15% and (iv) OTAs undercut hoteliers’ rates in 4 of 10 use cases examined. The association is cautiously optimistic that Booking.com’s recent gatekeeper designation under the DMA will produce meaningful results for European hoteliers in the months ahead.  A complete copy of the 2024 study is linked to our story below.
    
    
  • Kayak Launches Premium SME Offering. Kayak for Business has announced the launch of a new premium offering targeting small and medium sized businesses.  The new offering includes group bookings, 24/7 agency support and access to negotiated corporate rates.  Users will pay a flat $20 per trip fee.  The service can also integrate with a variety of additional services, including expense management and duty of care providers. 

Good Sunday morning from somewhere over Colorado . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, June 21, 2024, is below. It was another relatively quiet week in the online travel space, except, that is, if you are Booking.com (or its parent, Booking Holdings). It has been a tough couple of weeks for the large OTA. Enjoy

• • When All Other Strategies Fail. It has been a tough couple of weeks for Netherlands based Booking.com. As the fallout of Booking.com’s recent gatekeeper designation under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) continues to unfold (including this past week’s announcement that it was abandoning all parity provisions for European hotels), an exasperated Glenn Fogel had little left to say other than that the EU’s rules were “dumb.” I’m sure we’ve all had weeks like that.

Have a great week everyone. I look forward to seeing many of you at the HSMAI event in Charlotte this week.