Duff on Hospitality Law

With the U.S. holiday, this past week was definitely a quiet one.  Enjoy.

• • Stories Continue to Emerge About Booking.com’s Ongoing Fraud Challenges.  For several weeks now, we’ve included several stories about Booking.com users being asked (fraudulently) to provide bank card details to preserve their previously made bookings.  To date, most of these stories have come out of Asia.  Now we have a story out of the UK, where Booking.com users are now receiving emails from Booking.com encouraging them to cancel their cards because of suspicious activity.  To date, Booking.com has blamed the systems of their supplier partners for the apparent fraud.  That may now be changing.
    
    
  • Hubli Offers Real Time Meeting and Event Inventory. Those of you who have seen my group sales presentations know that I dedicate a portion of the presentations to online meetings and events.  I remain convinced that one of the large leisure booking platforms will one day master group bookings – either through its own in-house creation or acquisition of another smaller niche player.  While the large leisure platforms remain on the sidelines, the smaller platforms press ahead with their own solutions.  This week, Hubli announced that it has launched direct API connectivity (“Venue Connect”) that allows properties to offer real-time meeting and event inventory.  According to Hubli founder and CEO, Ciaran Delaney, Hubli is already working to build direct connections with several supplier partners.