Travel and tourism companies selling products online will be under closer observation as the ACCC promises to crackdown on ‘drip pricing‘ practises.
Announced this morning, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it had joined an international initiative that includes sweeping a range of websites and mobile apps for any misleading prices.
The initiative will particularly focus on honing in on drip pricing practises – the act of introducing fees and charges incrementally during the booking process, resulting in a much higher price than initially advertised.
The Australian watchdog said it would closely monitor websites in the travel, tourism and leisure sectors after a recent court ruling found both Jetstar and Virgin Australia guilty of making false or misleading representations about airfares.
Other areas of travel will also be targeted such as accommodation providers, cruise companies, ferries, trains, buses, vehicle hire, car parking and entertainment ticketing.
“Since the ACCC began its work on drip pricing, a number of businesses in the travel, accommodation and ticketing industries have adjusted their online pricing practices to improve disclosure of fees and charges.”
Rod Sims, ACCC Chairman
“Today’s sweep may identify further websites and mobile apps which need to improve their pricing practices.”
“If there are additional fees during an online booking process, these fees should be adequately disclosed as early as possible in the process.”
In Jetstar’s case, the Federal Court found that representations about specific advertised airfares made on its website in 2013 and its mobile site in 2014 were false or misleading. However, the Court held that the ACCC had not established that the alleged misleading representations were made by Jetstar on its 2014 website, nor in its promotional emails in 2014.
In relation to Virgin, the Court found that representations made on its mobile site in 2014 about specific advertised airfares were false or misleading The Court held that the ACCC had not established that the alleged misleading representations were made by Virgin on its website, nor in its promotional emails of 2014.