One of the world's largest "Expedia" groups on the issue of suspected antitrust violations, as a major travel booking site asked hotels and inns not to charge more than other sites. The company has put together a plan to prevent recurrence, and the Fair Trade Commission approved the plan on the 2nd.
This completes the investigation of the three sites conducted by the Japan Fair Trade Commission.
On the 2nd, the plan to prevent recurrence was approved by a group company in Switzerland of the travel reservation site "Expedia", which has an annual reservation transaction volume of over 8 trillion yen.
According to the Japan Fair Trade Commission, the Fair Trade Commission has signed a contract with a hotel or inn in Japan on the condition that the accommodation fee will not be higher than other sites, so the Fair Trade Commission has been in charge for three years. I have been conducting an on-site inspection and investigation on suspicion of violating the Antimonopoly Act.
In response, Expedia's group companies submitted a "commitment plan" that included voluntary improvement measures to prevent recurrence, and the Fair Trade Commission approved the plan on the 2nd.
The plan is to cancel the problematic behavior and provide regular training and audits.
Expedia's Japanese subsidiary commented, "In order to complete the investigation as soon as possible, we applied for certification of the commitment plan and offered to change certain provisions in the current contract."
The Japan Fair Trade Commission also conducted on-site inspections on the Japanese subsidiary of Booking.com and Rakuten on the issue of travel reservation sites.
In each case, the commitment plan has been approved, and the JFTC investigation conducted on the three sites is now complete.