A hotel owner in Brittany had a surprise when he saw an advertisement for his own hotel on the internet.

"/> A hotel owner in Brittany had a surprise when he saw an advertisement for his own hotel on the internet.

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HOTELS

Hotel owner shocked to find his business up for sale

A hotel owner in Brittany had a surprise when he saw an advertisement for his own hotel on the internet.

Hotel owner shocked to find his business up for sale
Hotel L'Abbatiale, BĂ©nodet from hotel website

Ouest France newspaper reports that the owner of the hotel in the coastal resort of Bénodet saw the online advertisement offering his hotel for €2 million ($2.5 million) in mid-May.

The ad was posted on the popular Le Bon Coin website. It was advertised as a “3-star hotel-restaurant, 51 rooms” offering “first-rate position by the sea.”

While the hotel wasn’t named, it didn’t take locals long to realise it was the Hotel l’Abbatiale.

The owner told the newspaper he had indeed been looking at the possibility of selling the hotel in January as a way to deal with some financial issues.

He had even contacted a real estate agent and prepared an advertisement which ran in January, but was then withdrawn after he decided to keep the hotel.

It seems that an eager employee at the agent decided to renew the advertisement but forgot to tell the hotel owner.

“There’s no reason to sell or find money to keep the hotel running,” he said. “We have plenty of customers and the season’s going well.”

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HOTELS

German hotels can advertise cheaper prices than Booking.com, court rules

Hotel booking portal Booking.com cannot prevent hotels in Germany from advertising lower room prices on their own websites, a court ruled on Tuesday.

German hotels can advertise cheaper prices than Booking.com, court rules
Holidaymakers in Schleswig-Holstein on May 17th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Daniel Bockwoldt

The Supreme Court upheld an earlier decision by the German cartel authority that banning hotels from advertising lower prices on their own websites was “not compatible with cartel law”.

The Federal Cartel Authority had in 2015 prohibited Booking.com from continuing to apply so-called “narrow” best-price clauses in the country.

Under the clauses, hotels were obliged to always offer Booking.com their lowest room prices, maximum room capacity and most favourable booking and cancellation conditions available on all online and offline booking channels.

Booking.com had successfully challenged the decision at a higher regional court in 2019, but the Bundeskartellamt then launched an appeal.

Andreas Mundt, president of the Bundeskartellamt, welcomed Tuesday’s ruling and said best-price clauses could “hinder competition between platforms”.

“They can work to the disadvantage of the providers – such as hoteliers in this case – and mean higher prices for consumers,” he said.

Amazon had already abandoned similar clauses for merchants on its Marketplace platform in 2013 after intervention by the cartel authority.

The regulator has also banned Booking.com rival HRS from using best-price clauses.

In other European countries, best-price clauses have been prohibited by law.

Mundt said the Supreme Court decision had “paved the way for us to take a differentiated view of such clauses depending on the industry and market position of the platform”.

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