CMA hotel booking action: MSE says "people will only truly trust these firms when they play fair"

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced it’s taking enforcement action against a number of hotel booking sites to address its concerns about hidden charges, discount claims, pressure-selling and hotel rankings. However, it hasn’t named the sites concerned, revealed how many are affected or given any details on the action it’s taking.

Guy Anker, deputy editor of MoneySavingExpert.com said: "As our recent investigation showed, hotel prices on booking and comparison sites can often be misleading. While the full extent of the CMA’s action is unclear we hope it’ll clamp down hard on sites that outrageously fail to show the true cost upfront and that claim false discounts or pressure sell by wrongly suggesting the hotel is almost sold out.

"Booking online and especially via comparison sites is often the speediest way to find cheap rates. But people will only truly trust these firms when they play fair."

Earlier this month, an MSE investigation found that five brokers and four comparison sites don’t always include taxes, resort fees and more in a customer’s initial search. In one example, evidence revealed the full cost was £275 more than first shown. See more on this investigation here.