On Oct. 27, 2014, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas dismissed with prejudice a complaint accusing a group of online travel booking companies of colluding to set hotel room rates. The putative customer class had alleged that the online travel companies, including Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity and Priceline, colluded with hotels like Marriott and Hilton to fix room prices, thereby engaging in a resale price maintenance conspiracy. The complaint alleged that the companies struck agreements with hotels that ensured that online retailers didn't discount room reservation rates. The hotels allegedly refused to let competing online retailers sell room reservations if they wouldn't fix and maintain prices.
In dismissing the complaint with prejudice, the court noted that plaintiffs described the alleged conspiracy in vague terms and used a vague and contradictory timeline of events, leaving open the possibility that the companies' actions were legitimate and could be explained by common economic experience. The court had previously dismissed a prior complaint on similar grounds. Though plaintiffs' amended complaint provided new allegations and dropped a group of hotel chains from the suit, the court ultimately found the changes insufficient to suggest a conspiracy had actually formed.
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