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.