Priceline, Agoda Class Action Says Travel Companies Sent Text Spam

A California man says travel reservation companies Agoda and Priceline have been violating federal law by sending customers unsolicited text messages.

Plaintiff An Phan accuses defendants Priceline Group Inc., Agoda Company PTE Ltd. and Agoda International USA Inc. of sending unwanted text messages without the recipients’ prior express written consent.

Phan says this practice violates the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

According to Phan’s Agoda, Priceline class action lawsuit, Agoda runs a worldwide hotel reservation service that customers can use through the company’s website or through its smartphone app. Agoda is a subsidiary of Priceline, Phan says.

To book a hotel reservation through Agoda, Phan says customers must submit their name, e-mail address, country of residence, and mobile phone number. Once the booking is complete, customers receive a text message reading: “Good news! Your Agoda booking [number] is confirmed. Manage your booking with our free app.”

Phan alleges he booked three hotel reservations through the Agoda website on Nov. 4, 2016 and a fourth reservation on Nov. 10. He says he provided his mobile phone number with each reservation, as the website requires.

With each reservation, Phan claims he got the Agoda confirmation text message. After the Nov. 10 reservation, Phan says he received an additional text message containing the Agoda logo, the text “App download,” and a hyperlink to app-agoda.com.

Phan says these text messages are used for marketing purposes because they encourage customers to use the defendants’ smartphone app. He says he never made any signed authorization to Agoda, Priceline or anyone acting on their behalf that would allow them to use his mobile phone for marketing purposes.

Without prior express consent or an emergency purpose for sending these text messages, Phan claims Agoda and Priceline have been violating the TCPA.

Congress enacted the TCPA in 1991 to curb telemarketers’ practice of using automatic telephone dialing equipment to make unsolicited phone calls to residential landlines. Later amendments to the act and interpretations by the FCC now apply the act’s prohibitions to contacts directed at mobile phones, including text messaging.

The TCPA provides for statutory damages of $500 for each noncompliant text message. Phan further alleges that Agoda and Priceline committed TCPA violations willfully and knowingly, triggering the act’s treble damages provision that increases the statutory damage award to $1,500 per violation.

Phan originally filed this Agoda Priceline class action lawsuit in California state court in November 2016. The defendants have since removed the action to federal court.

He is proposing to represent a nationwide plaintiff Class defined as all persons in the U.S. who received at least one text message from Agoda or Priceline on their mobile phones since Oct. 16, 2013.

He seeks an award of statutory treble damages, injunctive relief, court costs and attorney’s fees, all with pre- and post- judgment interest.

Phan is represented by attorneys Ryan A. Stubbe, Michael J. Jaurigue, Abigail A. Zelenski and David Zelenski of Jaurigue Law Group.

The Agoda, Priceline Unsolicited Text Message Class Action Lawsuit is An Phan v. Agoda Company PTE Ltd., et al., Case No. 5:16-cv-07243, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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If you were contacted on your cell phone by a company via an unsolicited text message (text spam) or prerecorded voice message (robocall), you may be eligible for compensation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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