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A California hotel operator has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against against Expedia, alleging that the online travel giant uses fake deals to lure customers in for properties not listed on its sites and then diverts interested customers to book with one of its partner hotels instead.
The class action lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Northern California, accuses Expedia off false advertising, unfair competition, and “bait and switch” tactics.
The complaint was filed by the operator of the Buckeye Tree Lodge and Sequoia Village Inn in Three Rivers, Calif.
The class action lawsuit says Expedia lures customers with online deals for hotels that are not bookable through Expedia.com or its other sites.
When a customer clicks on these “deals” and tries to make a reservation through Expedia, the site falsely shows there is no vacancy and suggests alternative hotels in the area, the complaint alleges.
“Expedia’s website falsely shows that there is no availability at the hotel, but then pushes the consumers to ‘deals’ at Expedia’s nearby member hotels, who pay Expedia a fee for every room booked through its website,” the complaint says. “Expedia’s deceit is brazen. Expedia posts fake telephone numbers for Buckeye Tree Lodge and other Class Member hotels to divert callers to Expedia’s own operators, who then try to book the consumers at Expedia member hotels.”
“Worse, Expedia then targets social media advertisements — for hotels it cannot book— to those consumers, using the brands of class member hotels to divert business from them to Expedia members. Believing Expedia’s representation that there is no availability at a class member hotel, consumers take their business to Expedia member hotels. And the bait and switch is complete,” the lawsuit reads.
Buckeye Tree Lodge and Sequoia Village Inn LLC is the single, named plaintiff. It’s a simple scam, and a “classic bait and switch,” the hotelier claims: “Defendants push ‘deals’ for stays at their members’ hotels and lie about the availability of rooms at non-member hotels.”
And consumers have no way of telling which hotels do business with the websites and which do not, according to the complaint.
Additionally, Expedia employs social media to advertise to customers that they can book rooms at non-member hotels, luring consumers to their site, then redirecting them to other hotels, violating the victim hotels’ trademarks, interfering with their business and profiting unjustly, Buckeye Tree Lodge states.
“The deception starts even before consumers visit the websites. Defendants purchase false and misleading advertisements on internet search engines like Google, to funnel traffic to their websites,” the complaint alleges. “For example, when a consumer uses Google to search for the Buckeye Tree Lodge, the engine’s top result returns an advertisement purchased by defendants to ‘Book Buckeye Tree Lodge’ and promising ‘Incredible Offers on Great Hotels. Buckeye Tree Lodge.'”
“In truth, at all relevant times, defendants had no affiliation with Buckeye Tree Lodge and the class members, and defendants had no way to actually book stays at Buckeye Tree Lodge or at the class members’ hotels on behalf of consumers,” the plaintiff claims.
The lawsuit also names online travel services and websites Hotels.com, Orbitz, and Trivago as defendants.
The plaintiff seeks certification of a national Class and a California subclass, of “all hotels, lodges, inns, motels and providers of overnight accommodations whose names appeared on Hotels.com, Expedia.com, Orbitz.com or Trivago.com with whom Defendants did not have a booking agreement” within the last four years.
The class action lawsuit further seeks a permanent injunction, restitution, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, and damages for false advertising, trademark violations, unfair competition, business code violations, intentional and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage, and unjust enrichment.
The hotel operator plaintiff says the issue qualifies for class action status because there are more than 100 putative Class Members affected by these tactics and the amount in controversy exceeds $5 million.
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 Jan. 12, 2017, a judge 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.
UPDATE 2: 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 3: 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 4: 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 5: 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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16 thoughts onExpedia Class Action Alleges ‘Bait and Switch’ Hotel Booking Tactics
i booked hotel to north carolina and when we got to hotel thay said they where booked . so we whent to a differt hotel
I just checked google.com for Buckeye Tree Lodge. One listed result was through Kayak. I put in the dates 9/21 through 9/24, 2016, and it said
“No matches were found. Try changing your stay.
No luck?
Search all Three Rivers hotels” [This last line is in red on a button to click to go to the other hotels.]
I changed the dates to 9/18 through 9/20,2016. Same result.
I went to Buckeye Tree Lodge’s website at http://www.buckeyetreelodge.com/
and clicked on “Check Availability.” I found that ALL THOSE DATES ARE AVAILABLE FOR RESERVATIONS.
It looks like KAYAK is doing the same scam. You think?
I was on a business trip on the west coast a few years ago after I broke up with my fiancé and decided to take some time to extend my trip and take time for myself to recharge and reflect. I had done some searches online for a hotel often featured in movies and with a beautiful coastal location, booked through Expedia. When I went to check in they didn’t have a reservation for me and said this happens all the time. They called a hotel with a very similar name several miles down the coast and confirmed that my reservation was with THEM. Talk about crushing. The hotel was ok, but still very expensive and not what I would have booked or paid for had I known. I was confused for years thinking that I made the error (although I knew incouldntbhave confused the names, hotel images, etc). I guess this explains it!
I have also used Expedia when traveling I been told for this amount I would get up grands and when I would arrive the hotel wouldn’t even know anything about it. Ask for a refund and get no direct answer but never get a refund or discount
I usually use Funjet when booking trips to Mexico but I was trying a new resort and the room I wanted wasn’t available on Funjet. Expedia said it was available so I paid the $147 a night upgrade and guess what? I got the basic room. I filed so many complaints and talked to so many customer service agents and managers. I was told the system doesn’t use real time. However, they would not issue a refund for the upgrade I didn’t get. They only offered me a $200 credit to use over the $588 refund
Expedia is definitely a bait and switch operation. I am going a a trip to Disney and booked with Expedia and found the same hotel on a different site for 25% cheaper and I called them on their price match and they said because the cancellation policy had 1 word differently they would not match it. I wound up finding it a couple of days later on Disney’s site for the same 25% less and cancelled my Expedia reservation and went straight through Disney.
We rarely travel. I tried for 4 different non Expedia hotels I was interested in on Expedia site, 4 star, ok price, it wouldn’t let me book with any online so I called but when they answered they didnt say the co. Name so I asked who I was speaking with They replied Expedia, said there must be some computer gliche that I can’t book on my own, the hotels I wanted were full but… and really tried to get me to book with another hotel that had a vacancy that was “really close by”. It had awful reviews for cleanliness and customer service, and according to the map it was 30 min out of the way. I refused and looked up the hotel ph. number online and they actually had rooms available & we had a great stay.
I booked through Expedia with a huge, and beautiful hotel the night before my nephews funeral. I got to the hotel late that night and they told me they were full. I stood there crying with my luggage my two extremely tired and emotional children and one angry husband, they wanted to send us to another hotel they promised would be just as nice if not nicer than where I booked. They tried to tell me it was just 2 exits down the freeway. I used to live in that town., it was 17 miles away and in reality about 10 exits! The hotel was old. There was a spider on the ceiling that fell into my bed and we couldn’t find it. The caulking in the bathrooms looked like it was done by a child. A horrible energy saver light bulb flashing horrible light in the toilet shower area which messed with my seizure condition (strobe effect). It was AWFUL. went from my booking a 4 star hotel to a 1 star hell hole. NEVER using Expedia ever again!!!
I work for a very popular hotel chain We see this practice everyday. So many times the guest think they are booking directly with the hotel instead of Expedia
@Katie, You are so right, you must work at hotel where I got into a shouting match with the hotel manager, I went to check in, say they have no room, I book in advance, in Florida to take kids to Disney just happen last month in July, said I cancel. No I didn’t, said we have nothing to do with online booking thru Expedia, I was so upset They pack 8 people in a nice room. We got ripoff, I book online cheaper, so I had to deal direct with the hotel, which out of pocket $156 a night. with Expedia it was $120 a night. The manager was so nice the next night he give us 20% off. we did two nights. I did make a complaint.
I agree. I go to Cleveland at least once a year to go to Cleveland clinic for a check up. I always look online at the different travel sites and I have used Expedia several times to make a reservation. I have noticed that the hotel I wanted to book had no vacancy. I ended up going through the Cleveland Clinic and booking with a hotel that they cooperate with and even though Expedia said there were no occupancies I was able to book a room.