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A judge has dismissed a class action alleging Expedia cost hotels bookings by erroneously listing them as having no vacancies, but offered the plaintiffs another chance to plead their case.
Lead plaintiffs Buckeye Tree Lodge and Sequoia Village Inn LLC alleged in their class action lawsuit that the popular travel booking website used fake deals for hotels not available through the site to lure customers in, then directed them to partner hotels.
The hotels say Expedia falsely claims that the hotels advertised in the fake deals have no vacancy.
Expedia asked U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria to dismiss the claims. The judge agreed that the plaintiffs’ claims for unjust enrichment as well as intentional and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage claims should be dismissed.
However, the judge gave the plaintiffs one “last chance” to preserve the claims saying the plaintiffs could try to proceed under claims for violations of the Lanham Act and California business profession code, and claims of unfair competition, false advertising, false affiliation and trademark infringement if they filed an amended complaint.
Buckeye Tree Lodge alleged in its class action lawsuit that they became aware of Expedia’s false marketing when a frustrated customer called the hotel asking why it was always “sold out” on the website.
Judge Chhabria noted that while the hotels could not base their claims on frustrated customers, the class action could be able to proceed if the hotels could establish that they lost bookings because customers thought they were “sold out” due to Expedia’s marketing.
Calling Expedia’s alleged fake advertising “filthy if it’s true,” Judge Chhabria also found that it did not meet the requirements of the plaintiffs’ claim for interference with protective economic advantage.
“You have a claim for unfair business practices and two Lanham Act claims. There are provisions of the law designed to get at the conduct you’ve alleged in the complaint. The only question is, is this tort one of those provisions of law?” noted the judge in a hearing. “When you have a universe of people, some of whom would have used the service and some whom wouldn’t have, and you have no way to differentiate between the two, there’s no case for interference with economic advantage.”
The class action also lists other travel websites as defendants in the lawsuit, including Hotels.com, Orbitz, and Trivago. They seek to represent a national Class of hotels, lodges, inns, motels and “providers of overnight accommodations” whose names appears on the websites without a booking agreement, as well as a California subclass.
Buckeye Tree Lodge and Sequoia Village Inn LLC is represented by James R. Patterson, Allison H. Goddard and Elizabeth A. Mitchell of Patterson Law Group.
The Expedia Bait & Switch Hotel Booking Class Action Lawsuit is Buckeye Tree Lodge and Sequoia Village Inn LLC v. Expedia Inc., et al., Case No. 3:16-cv-04721, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California.
UPDATE: On May 5, 2017, two hotel operators joined forces in a false advertising class action lawsuit against the travel booking website Expedia. The hotel operators claim that Expedia and several of its affiliated travel booking websites have been unlawfully luring hotel customers by using a “bait and switch” tactic.
UPDATE 2: On Oct. 11, 2017, a federal judge summarily did away with defendant Expedia Inc.’s attempt to limit the claims it’s facing, concluding that “[i]t’s not even a close question” whether the hotel plaintiffs have adequately pled their claims. Therefore, the Expedia hotel booking class action lawsuit will continue.
UPDATE 3: On Feb. 22, 2018, two hotels have filed a motion to certify a class action lawsuit accusing Expedia Inc., Hotels.com GP LLC and Orbitz LLC of engaging in a “classic bait and switch marketing scheme” by redirecting consumers to book reservations at hotels that are unaffiliated with the travel-booking sites, but which provide the companies with a cut of the booking.
UPDATE 4: On March 13, 2019, a federal judge partially certified a Class of hotel businesses that were allegedly harmed by Expedia redirecting customers to hotels that provide a cut of the booking to the travel reservation giant.
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4 thoughts onExpedia ‘Bait and Switch’ Class Action Dismissed For Now
I made my airfare reservation yesterday 6/12/2018 for GSP-HEL roundtrip for total charge of $1,442.31. I received both Delta and KLM airline confirmations right away. I addition the charge has been posted (not pending anymore) on my AMEX.
This morning I received a phone call from Expedia representative (not really sure if not a scammer), and they told me that the fare has just gone higher, now $2,700, and they wanted to charge extra $1,300 on my AMEX. I forbid them to do that.
I called to Expedia Rewards blue Customer Care 877-787-3117 and they confirmed that my reservation is OK and valid with confirmed for total $1,442.31.
However, I am not sure if their reservation and booking departments are in sync. Stay tuned…
I have a recent bait & switch transaction that Expedia pulled on me on June 8, 2017 that I can get no resolution to. The Expedia website advertised the cream of the crop most expensive room on sale for $1014 per night, so we decided to splurge for our birthdays in October and booked this 2 story suite with provate butler and tons of unbelievable amenities. We paid $7,098.00 for 7 nights in this
“Desire” Suite at the Desire Riviera Maya Resort All-Inclusive from Oct. 1-8. However, after we paid in full, they emailed us a confirmation for a “Passion” Suite, which was only $500 or so per night on June 8th. I know this because I was concurrently looking on my laptop while Dan was looking at his. I thought maybe we could get a better deal if I signed up for email alerts.
Needless to say, both Dan and I have emailed Expedia and got the door slammed in our face telling us this is what we booked. I called Expedia last Saturday, was put on hold for a very long time and the woman claimed that she spoke with the hotel, the Desire suite is available and that Expedia was going to honor our deal and to make sure and check my email MOnday for said confirmation. Instead, Dan got an email Tuesday stating that the Desire Suite was available for only some of our dates and that we would have to pay the difference!
We’re extremely upset and would be very interested in joining in and/or starting a Class Action against Expedia.
Thank you very much
Alisa A. Schiebler, Esq.
(480) 510-6849
UPDATE: On May 5, 2017, two hotel operators joined forces in a false advertising class action lawsuit against the travel booking website Expedia. The hotel operators claim that Expedia and several of its affiliated travel booking websites have been unlawfully luring hotel customers by using a “bait and switch” tactic.
I am currently in a dispute with Expedia over what I believe to be false and deceptive advertising. They charged my capital one credit card over $4,000. Saying if I booked a higher price for an internet advertised hotel room rate, over the phone, all i had to do is file a claim to have it adjusted with their “low price guarantee”. They said that the website was down and they were unable to honor the internet price over the phone but not to worry they would adjust it. Since I had called their 800# on the lower rate advertisement, I did as I was instructed but they have refused to honor what I was told on the phone. Since then I was able to go online and book the rooms at the lower internet price but they still will not credit my capital one card so i now have twice as many rooms as I need. The phone representative completely lied to me and misrepresented what the company would do. He even said I would be given a $50. Credit toward my next expedia purchase for my trouble.
I have full documentation to support what I am saying and currently have capital one investigating my claim. Thy also in turn have stated that if they are unable to help me they will be turning this over to Master Card for further investigation.
Since then I’ve done internet research to see if other people have also had same or similiar experience and found literally thousands of complaints against Expedia for very similiar experiences involving hotel reservations and quoting low prices only to charge a higher price than was advertised on their website. Their Facebook page is filled with complaints against them also.
This is 100% wrong!
Please help,
Kathy Eller
813 463 6441
Keller3144@aol.com