Expedia and major hotel companies were already facing two federal lawsuits alleging that they conspired to stifle competition. Now they’re also being investigated by Utah’s attorney general.
In documents filed last week in Utah, the attorney general’s office revealed it’s investigating whether Marriott, Hilton and other hotel companies and Expedia violated antitrust laws.
Utah-based TravelPass Group, a tech company that matches customers to available hotel rooms, claims the hotels and Expedia worked together to limit the results of Google searches, which hurt competition and kept prices high.
TravelPass sued Expedia and the hotels in Texas last year. The allegations are also the subject of a 2018 class-action lawsuit in Illinois. Both cases are pending.
Expedia, Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Caesar’s, Wyndham and Choice Hotels say they have no comment on the cases.
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