Trivago “tricked” users

AUSTRALIA’S Federal Court has ruled hotel comparison site Trivago breached Australian Consumer Law when it made misleading representations about hotel room rates via its website and through TVCs.

The court ruled that from at least Dec 2016, the Expedia Group-owned Trivago presented a false claim to consumers that it identifies the cheapest rates available, when in fact it deployed an algorithm to promote the hotels paying the company the highest cost-per-click fee further up the search ranking.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chairman Rod Sims said the site knowingly “tricked” its users into believing the most visible search results on its site were also the most economical.

“By prominently displaying a hotel offer in ‘top position’ on its website, Trivago represented that the offer was either the cheapest available offer or had some other extra feature that made it the best offer when this was often not the case,” he said.

The court also determined the company created a false impression of savings when it used strike-through prices and different coloured text, often comparing standard room rates with luxury room prices at the same hotel.

“Trivago wasn’t comparing apples with apples when it came to room type for these room rate comparisons,” Sims said.

“We brought this case because we consider that Trivago’s conduct was particularly egregious,” he added.

The court also found that Trivago misled users by promoting itself as providing impartial price comparisons.

A court hearing on penalties will be held at a later date.