UK Competition Appeal Tribunal Sets Aside OFT Commitment Decision In Online Hotel Booking Probe

On 26 September 2014, the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") quashed the decision of the Office of Fair Trading ("OFT", now the Competition and Markets Authority, "CMA") in the online hotel booking case (see VBB on Competition Law, Volume 2014, No. 2, available at www.vbb.com). The CAT found that the OFT did not properly consider concerns raised by a provider of a price comparison website, Skyscanner, and two other stakeholders in relation to the commitments accepted by the OFT in its contested decision. The commitments provided that specific discount information on hotel rooms would be disclosed only to members of so-called closed groups consisting mainly of customers who had actively opted in to become a member of a group and made a previous booking at the headline rate. Skyscanner raised concerns that the restriction on disclosure of specific price information outside the 'closed groups' could have a negative effect on inter-brand competition as customers would be