Expedia Hotel Booking Lawsuit Gets Class Certification

A federal judge has 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.

A class action lawsuit claims that Expedia lures consumers in with false advertisements about properties that they claim are unavailable, and then sends consumers to affiliated partner hotels instead.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria determined that there isn’t any evidence suggesting that Expedia made a “meaningful attempt” to cease deceptive advertisements. The judge found that the hotel businesses that brought the class action lawsuit have enough standing to certify a Class of similar businesses.

The proposed Class definition included all hotels that did not have a contractual agreement with Expedia. However, Judge Chhabria trimmed this definition in his Class certification order. The certified Class now includes hotel businesses without a booking agreement with Expedia that cannot be booked through the travel site but still appear on the website’s advertisements and representations.

Buckeye Tree Lodge and Sequoia Village Inn LLC (a single entity) filed the lawsuit against Expedia in August 2016. The company’s suit was consolidated with claims by 2020 O Street Corporation d/b/a The Mansion on O Street in May 2017.

The hotel businesses claim that Expedia uses their names in advertisements as a way to bait consumers, but then tells consumers that there are no vacancies. Instead, consumers are allegedly directed to hotel businesses that have agreements with Expedia – allowing the company to rake in profits.

“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 original Expedia class action lawsuit claims.

“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.”

These “bait and switch” tactic allegedly constitute false advertising and unfair competition. The businesses, which sought Class certification in February 2018, originally requested injunctive relief to stop Expedia’s schemes along with profits allegedly earned by the company as a result of the fake deals.

However, Judge Chhabria refused to certify a Class that could seek repayment of Expedia’s profits. The court determined that these issues were governed by individual questions of damages that would “overwhelm” any questions common to the proposed Class. Instead, the recently certified Class will seek injunctive relief.

The hotels in the Expedia class action are represented by James R. Patterson, Allison H. Goddard and Jacquelyn E. Quinn of Patterson Law Group APC; Pierce Gore of Pratt & Associates; Charles J. LaDuca, Joel Davidow and Alexandra C. Warren of Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca LLP; and Tony C. Richa of Richa Haffner Law Group PC.

The Expedia Bait and Switch Class Action Lawsuit is Buckeye Tree Lodge and Sequoia Village Inn LLC, et al. v. Expedia Inc., et al., Case No. 3:16-­cv-­04721, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.