Hotel booking sites probed by consumer watchdog

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Hotel booking sites are to be probed by the UK's competition watchdog to see if consumers are being misled by them.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was "concerned about the clarity, accuracy and presentation of information on sites".

The investigation will examine areas such as hidden charges, search results, and discount claims.

The CMA has written to companies across the whole sector. Leading booking sites include Expedia and Booking.com.

The watchdog says 70% of people who shopped around for hotels use such sites.

It is seeking evidence from both the websites and hotels, and would also like consumers to get in touch with it and share their experiences.

It will look into how search results are ranked, and whether this is linked to the commission that hotels pay sites.

The CMA also wants more information on whether extra charges, such as taxes and booking fees, are clearly displayed.

Another area being looked at is the way sites display how many rooms are left or how many people are viewing a particular hotel.

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The CMA is concerned this is used for "pressure selling", creating a "false impression of room availability or rush customers into making a booking decision".

'Commercial considerations'

Nisha Arora, a senior director at the CMA, told the BBC's Today programme: "We are concerned about the clarity and accuracy of these sites. Rather than helping consumers they may actually be making it more difficult for them."

She explained that the suggestions offered by such sites were not ranked solely on the preferences entered by the user.

"When you put in your criteria - which room you want, when you want to stay - they are listed in a certain order. This is not just influenced by consumer preference but by commission - commercial considerations - and consumers might not be aware of this."

Of specific interest to the CMA are the messages that claim to state the last time at which a similar room was booked, and the message that claims a number of others are looking at the same hotel.

Ms Arora said the CMA wanted to hear how the sites gathered the information for these claims.

The investigation into hotel websites follows a year-long CMA probe into price comparison sites.

In that investigation, the regulator found that consumers needed to hunt for deals as they do on the High Street when using switching websites for energy, holidays or insurance.

The CMA concluded that price comparison websites worked best for car insurance and worst for broadband.