Online Accommodation Reservation
In order to permit consumers to have complete information before purchasing a good or service, the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) forbids merchants from charging a higher price for a good or service than the advertised price. The defendants systematically and knowingly violate the CPA by advertising prices that are broken down and lower than the price ultimately charged on their websites.
The plaintiff wants to put an end to this widespread and harmful practice for consumers and obtain compensation equivalent to the amount exceeding the advertised price, plus punitive damages.
Latest news
The plaintiff has entered into settlement agreements with the defendants Priceline.com LLC and Kayak Software Corporation.
The Superior Court will hear motions to approve these agreements on October 9, 2024 at 9:15 a.m. at the Montreal Courthouse, in room 17.09, as well as a motion the approval of attorneys’ fees.
All procedures are available at the bottom of the page.
The Priceline.com Agreement
The Priceline.com agreement can be read here and the notice of hearing can be read here. A summary is below.
The agreement is intended to compensate the following people:
1. You are an individual who has not made a reservation on behalf of a company;
2. You made a reservation for accommodations with the defendant Priceline:
a. On the priceline.com website between January 27, 2017 and June 17, 2023; or
b. On Priceline’s mobile app between January 27, 2017 and January 9, 2024 (for the mobile app available on the Google Play store) or January 12, 2024 (for the mobile app available on the Apple App Store);
3. At the time of booking, you were a resident of Quebec and located in Quebec;
4. You booked directly on the Priceline website or mobile app, and not via an intermediary, agency or “white label” distributor;
5. You did not cancel this reservation; and
6. You paid a price higher than the price initially advertised, with the exception of duties payable under federal or provincial law when, under such law, these duties must be collected directly from the consumer in order to be remitted to a public authority.
Members who made a reservation after May 14, 2022, and who do not wish to be part of the class action may opt out of the agreement no later than September 26, 2024. If you opt out, you will not receive any compensation. The opting out form can be found here.
The agreement with Priceline.com provides for:
– Payment by Priceline.com LLC of the total sum of USD 1,200,000.
– The lump sum will be reduced by an amount to be determined by the Court for class members’ legal fees. The amount requested corresponds to 25% of the global sum, plus taxes and disbursements.
– Members may be compensated in cash or by coupon. The best estimate of compensation per member is as follows:
o If in cash, the first booking should be compensated at $7.98 USD and additional bookings at $5.00 USD;
o If by coupon, the first booking should be compensated 10.45 USD and additional bookings 6.49 USD.
The Kayak Agreement
The Kayak agreement can be read here and the notice of hearing can be read here. A summary is below.
The agreement is intended to compensate the following people:
1. You are an individual who has not made a reservation for a company;
2. You made a reservation for accommodations (facilitated by Defendant KAYAK and implemented by a third party) on the kayak.com website or on the KAYAK mobile apps available on the Google Play store or Apple App Store, between January 27, 2017 and December 16, 2020;
3. At the time of booking, you were a resident of Quebec and located in Quebec;
4. You did not cancel this reservation; and
5. You paid a price higher than the price initially advertised, with the exception of duties payable under federal or provincial law when, under such law, these duties must be collected directly from the consumer in order to be remitted to a public authority.
The agreement with Kayak provides for:
– Payment by Kayak Software Corporation of the total sum of $40,257 CAD as well as the costs of notices and distribution,
– The lump sum will be reduced by an amount to be determined by the Court for class members’ legal fees. The amount requested corresponds to 25% of the total sum, plus taxes and disbursements.
– The remaining amount will be distributed proportionally to the fees paid among all eligible reservations.
The Accor Agreement
The Accor agreement can be read here and the notice of hearing can be read here. A summary is below.
The agreement is intended to compensate the following people:
1. You are an individual who has not made a reservation for a company;
2. You made a reservation for accommodations on the Accor website or on the Accor mobile apps between January 27, 2017 and September 12, 2023;
3. At the time of booking, you were a resident of Quebec and located in Quebec;
4. You did not cancel this reservation; and
5. You paid a price higher than the price initially advertised, with the exception of duties payable under federal or provincial law when, under such law, these duties must be collected directly from the consumer in order to be remitted to a public authority.
The agreement with Accor SA provides for :
– Payment by Accor SA of the total sum of CAD 297,649.84 and the costs of notices and distribution.
– Compensation per member equivalent to 75% of the mandatory fees paid that were not included in the originally advertised price, minus the class attorneys’ fees of 25% plus taxes and their disbursements.
– The reimbursement would be provided by Interac e-transfer directly to the email address in Accor’s files.
– The group has been modified by extending the eligible booking period to September 12, 2023.
– Members who have made a reservation after May 14, 2022 and wish to opt out may do so no later than September 30, 2024. The opting out form can be found here.
Conditions to be part of this class action
You are included within the application for authorization to institute the class action if you have reserved accommodations using one of the defendants’ websites between the dates specified below and you paid a price that was higher than the price that was announced, except where that price was only higher due to fees payable under a federal or provincial law.
Between January 27, 2017, and May 13, 2022, for the following defendants:
– Priceline.com LLC (which notably operates the website priceline.com)
– Hotwire Inc. (which notably operates the website hotwire.com)
– Kayak Software Corporation (which notably operates the website kayak.com)
– Benjamin & Brothers, LLC (which notably operates the website reservations.com)
– Accor SA (which notably operates the website accorhotels.com)
– Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (which notably operates the website ilton.com)
– Six Continents Hotels, Inc. (which notably operates the websites holidayinn.com and intercontinental.com)
– Hyatt Corporation (which notably operates the website hyatt.com)
– Wyndham Hotel Group, LLC (which notably operates the website wyndhamhotels.com)
Between January 27, 2017, and September 28, 2020, for the following defendants:
– Homeaway.com Inc. (which notably operates the websites homeaway.ca, vrbo.com, and vacationrentals.com)
– Bedandbreakfast.com Inc. (which notably operates the website bedandbreakfast.com)
– Canadastays (1760335 Ontario Inc.) (which notably operates the website canadastays.com)
Between January 27, 2017, and June 4, 2020, for the following defendant:
– Orbitz Worldwide LLC (which notably operates the website orbitz.com)
All persons who meet the criteria may be entitled to compensation if the class action is successful.
Summary of the class action
On May 24, 2023, the Court approved the settlement agreement reached by the Plaintiff and the Defendant Benjamin & Brothers, L.L.C. (Reservations.com). The Agreement sets the terms under which the Defendant, Benjamin & Brothers, L.L.C, will distribute compensation to eligible Class Members. To be eligible, you must :
a) Have made a reservation on the BB website between January 27, 2017, and November 20, 2021;
b) Have resided in Quebec at the time of the reservation;
c) Be a natural person who did not reserved for the purposes of his business;
d) Complete and submit a claim form, provided in annex of the Protocol, online on the administrator’s website within two months of the date of the last publication of the notice of judgment (“Claim Period”).
On October 19, 2022, Plaintiff and Defendant Benjamin & Brothers, L.L.C. (Reservations.com) reached a settlement agreement (the “Agreement”). This Agreement will be presented to the Court on May 24, 2023 at 9:30 a.m. in room 16.11 of the Montreal Courthouse for approval by the Court.
The Agreement includes the following key provisions:
– Payment of a lump sum of $825,000 USD by the defendant Benjamin & Brothers, L.L.C.
– Compensation of $20 to $40 for each consumer who made a reservation on the Reservations.com website between January 27, 2017 and November 20, 2021.
– The compensations will be reduced by an amount to be determined by the Court for the class members’ legal fees. The amount sought is 25% of the lump sum, plus taxes and fees.
– Changing the price display on Reservations.com to show the full price of the reservation at the first step of the reservation process.
On January 27, 2020, Chafik Mihoubi filed an Application for authorization to institute a class action and to obtain the status of representative against 13 companies that operate various web sites that allow users to reserve accommodations online.
The website customers that are included in the class action paid a higher price than the advertised rate, which is not legal in Quebec.
The action aims to compensate consumers who overpaid for their reservation as a result of the illegal practices of these companies.
On June 3, 2021, the Applicant filed an Application for leave to amend the Application for Authorization.
On July 13, 2021, the Superior Court granted leave to amend the Application for Authorization. This Amended Application for Authorization was filed on July 14, 2021.
On January 11, 2022, the Court authorized the class action. The judgment modifies the class description to limit the class action in time.
Please read the notice to members regarding the authorization of the class action.
On April 11, 2022, the representative plaintiff filed an Originating Application in the class action in the Superior Court.
The members are jointly represented by TJL and Grenier Verbauwhede Avocats.