Complaints related to online travel services are now among the most common ones lodged with the European Consumer Centres.
An increasing number of consumers are facing problems concerning misleading information when booking their holiday using an online booking site.
To address these increasing complaints the European Commission, in collaboration with EU consumer protection authorities, launched a co-ordinated screening of 352 price comparison and travel booking websites across the EU in October 2016.
From this exercise it transpired that two-thirds of the websites checked were not reliable as they were not providing clear information to consumers, especially when it came to prices and costs related to the booking process. Furthermore, there were instances where the promotional prices did not correspond to any available service.
Two-thirds of the websites checked were not reliable as they weren’t providing clear information to consumers
The 235 non-compliant websites were contacted by the responsible consumer protection authority, which warned them to conform their practices with EU consumer legislation and hence to display clearly, at an early stage of the booking process, the prices of the services advertised.
Non-compliant websites were also advised to present their offers clearly. The key findings of the screening exercise showed that in one-third of the cases the price first shown is not the same as the final price.
As to advertised promotional offers, in one-fifth of the websites screened, these were found to be fake as they were not really available. Furthermore, in one- third of the cases, the total price or the way it was calculated was not clear and therefore consumers did not know how much the service they were booking was going to cost them.
Consumers were misled in one in four cases as to the availability of hotel rooms, as the websites did not specify that statements such as ‘only two left’ applied strictly to their own website.
Other irregularities identified by the consumer protection co-operation authorities were related to the identity of the provider of the comparison tool, as over 25 per cent of the websites screened either only provided limited information or did not provide any at all. With regards to consumer reviews, 21 per cent of websites were found to be unclear or included elements that could question their truthfulness. Following these findings, the relevant national authorities have the responsibility to contact the concerned companies and ask them to take corrective measures or legal action.
Odette Vella is director, Information, Education and Research Directorate, Office for Consumer Affairs, Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority.
odette.vella@mccaa.org.mt