Duff on Hospitality Law

Good Monday morning from Seattle . . . For those of you who have served in the armed forces, thank you for your service. Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, May 23, 2025, is below. This week’s Update features stories for everyone – leisure, corporate / managed and group. I hope you enjoy.

• • Accor to Launch New Event / Meeting Direct Booking Tool. Accor this past week announced plans to launch a new direct booking tool targeting clients seeking meeting / event space and associated guest room blocks. The initial version of the platform (to be available later this year) will allow bookings of small room blocks (up to 30). The second, more robust version (which be available in 2026), will allow the booking of meeting / event space and larger room blocks. The platform will also allow users to connect with Accor’s loyalty program, ALL Accor.
  • Swiss Regulators Cut Booking.com Commissions. In an unusual ruling, the Swiss Price Supervisor determined that the commissions charged by Booking.com to Swiss hotels are “excessive” and ordered Booking.com to reduce its commissions by up to 25%. The ruling takes effect 3 months after becoming final and will remain in effect for three years. According to the Supervisor, the ruling is intended to improve the competitiveness of Swiss hotels. Not surprisingly, Booking.com has stated that it intends to appeal the determination, arguing that Booking is one of multiple channels that Swiss hotels can choose to use. Note that the ruling has a very narrow application – it applies only to hotels physically located in Switzerland. As much as hoteliers around the world like to see a similar result in their jurisdiction, such a ruling is highly, highly unlikely (maybe impossible).
  • Travel Features Prominently in Google’s Recent AI Announcements. At this past week’s Google I/O 2025 developer conference, Google announced several AI enhancements to its industry-leading search engine and related products. As with most AI announcements, Google’s demos of the new enhancements were heavily oriented to the travel industry. Among its many announcements and demonstrations, Google announced a new AI-enhanced search upgrade – AI Mode. With AI Mode (which expands on Google’s existing AI Overview), users can provide the search engine detailed queries that require the search engine to complete multiple simultaneous searches. Users who wish to receive personalized responses from AI Mode can grant the tool access to their Gmail accounts and prior website searches. Other related announcements included a new AI agent that allows AI Mode to complete web searches on behalf of the user. Initial uses of the agentic tool included event ticket purchases, restaurant reservations and local appointments (all completed via third party partnerships with Ticketmaster, Stubhub, Resy and Vagaro). Hotel bookings were not featured in the demos, but the application is obvious and cannot be too far behind. Google’s new AI Mode is available to U.S. users now, with the agentic tools available later this summer.

Have a great week everyone.

The Canadian Competition Bureau (Canada’s FTC) has initiated an enforcement campaign targeting hotels advertising in Canada. Here’s what you need to know:

Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . .  Our Online Travel Update for the week ending May 9, 2025, is below.  What started initially as a relatively slow week in online travel picked up as the week progressed. Earnings releases captured much of the attention this past week, though Google’s announcement on its delivery of advertising for AI platforms garnered a lot of interest (and just made it into my AI presentation to the AH&LA General Counsel Committee on Thursday). For those of you who didn’t sit in on the earning release calls for TripAdvisor or Expedia, we’ve attached the transcripts for both calls. I hope you enjoy.

• • FTC Issues Additional Guidance on Pending Junk Fees Rule. The much-discussed FTC rule on junk fees takes effect tomorrow, Monday, May 12, 2025. If questions remain about the rule and its application, the FTC’s newly issued FAQs may provide some last-minute assistance. If questions still remain, please let us know. We would be happy to share the materials we presented recently as part of AH&LA’s program on the issue.

• • Expedia’s Tough First Quarter the Result of Heavy U.S. Concentration. Oh, to be Booking.com with a truly global platform. With inbound international travel to the U.S. down (particularly from Canada), Expedia was forced to reduce its full year gross bookings growth and revenue growth forecast. Highlights for Expedia came largely from its B2B and advertising businesses, which enjoyed continued robust growth (14% and 20%, respectively) in the first quarter.  Among the more interesting aspects of the quarterly release were Expedia’s announced partnership with social media platform Instagram and Expedia’s continued discussion around AI. Expedia and Instagram have partnered to allow Instagram users to create itineraries directly from the social media platform’s videos and then to book travel from the itineraries. The new tool is called Trip Matching, and it will be rolled out to U.S. users in the weeks ahead. On the AI front, Expedia continues to work with several generative AI platforms to ensure its listings appear in the platforms’ user outputs. 

• • Google Tests Advertising in AI Generated Search Results. For some time now, many have debated how AI platforms would survive financially; subscription fees alone would never sustain the kind of investments needed to support and grow their AI infrastructure. Enter Google and its Google Adsense for Search.  Google is now allowing AI platforms to connect with Google’s advertising program and deliver advertising as part of the AI platforms’ outputs. One of the first to feature Google’s ads, is AI start up, iAsk. Travel prompts to iAsk can now produce outputs featuring sponsored links from TripAdvisor, Viator, Kayak, CheapOair and American Airlines (one of the first direct suppliers we’ve seen participate in this new AI space). It isn’t clear yet how these links are triggered (e.g., keywords (or their AI equivalents)). 

Have a great week everyone. 

Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . .  Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending May 2, 2025, is below. This week’s Update features stories on many of the large online players, including first quarter earnings reports (and transcripts) for both Booking Holdings and Airbnb. I hope you enjoy.

• Airbnb Looks to Hotels (Again) to Help Sustain Its Growth.  Growth in Airbnb’s traditional core markets (e.g., U.S., Canada, UK, France and Australia) slowed in the first quarter.  According to Airbnb CEO, Brian Chesky, Airbnb will look to international markets and the addition of high-quality hotels to spur continued growth.  “We think almost all hoteliers in the world would love to have Airbnb as a distribution channel,” Chesky said.  Other changes discussed this past week include the removal of subpar listings from the STR platform, the introduction of a new guest ratings system and introduction of total price display (say goodbye to the toggle).   Will last week’s announcements finally mean that Airbnb becomes a legitimate hotel distribution channel (and Airbnb supports enrollments on a portfolio- wide basis), time will only tell.  We’ve heard similar statements from Airbnb in the past. 

• Booking Holdings Benefits from Global Portfolio.  While travel to the U.S. moderated during the first quarter, Booking Holdings’ global portfolio allowed it to benefit from increased travel to other destinations.  For the first quarter, Booking Holdings posted results beating most analysts’ expectations - room nights up 7% YOY, gross bookings up 7% YOY, revenue up 8% YOY and Adjusted EBITDA up 21% YOY.  The first quarter marked the first time that room nights exceeded 300 million.  Like his last quarterly earnings call, CEO Glenn Fogel again dedicated a portion of the first quarter call to the company’s AI initiatives.  In particular, Glenn noted the recent launch of Kayak.ai and the ongoing work on agentic AI developments with several leading generative AI platforms – OpenAI (Operator Agent), Microsoft (Copilot Actions)  and Amazon (Alexa+).   

• Kayak Becoming an AI Facilitator?  For some time now, we’ve featured stories identifying and explaining the many AI challenges ahead for the hotel industry.  Hoteliers seeking to capture the attention (and bookings) of users of these new platforms must now learn how to educate, train and influence these platforms in the face of growing competition from their online competitors.  Kayak CEO Steve Hafner’s recent interview with Travel Weekly provides an interesting glimpse into how these online competitors view these AI platforms and how they are hoping to capitalize on the many opportunities presented. 
  
  
• FTC Suit Against Uber Provides Helpful Reminders to Subscription and Loyalty Programs.   At the end of last month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed suit against Uber alleging that the ride sharing company’s subscription program (Uber One) charged users without their consent, failed to deliver on promised savings and maintained deceptive billing and cancellation practices.  According to the FTC, the practices violated both the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act and the FTC Act.  In the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the FTC specifically called out Uber’s false claim that subscribers to the program could achieve specified savings, Uber’s failure to make information about the subscription program readily accessible, Uber’s charging of members before prescribed dates and Uber’s maze of screens (23) and actions (32) necessary to cancel the subscription.

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.