Two thrid of travel booking websites are misleading – EU

The European Commission and EU consumer protection authorities, after a screening of price comparison and travel booking websites across the EU, found that 235 out of 352 checked portals were not reliable when it came to pricing, very often adding extra fees during the checkout process, which were not shown in the offer. “The internet provides consumers with plenty of information to prepare, compare and book their holidays. However, if the reviews on comparison websites are biased or prices are not transparent, these websites are misleading consumers. The companies concerned need to respect the European consumer rules, just like a travel agent would. Consumer authorities will now require the websites to solve these issues. Consumers deserve the same protection online as offline,” Věra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, said. Other discrepancies included, non-availability of promotional offers, misleading information regarding hotel booking (for example, when the website said, that only two rooms were left, it applied only to said website, not to the actual number of vacant rooms).