Lawsuits tips

Airbnb has a fake listings and verification problem — and the company knows it.

A Michigan woman and her adult children are suing a Maui resort and Hawaiian tourism bodies after her husband's death, claiming they failed to warn him of the potential risks of snorkeling.

A class-action lawsuit against Accor, the Paris-based hotel giant, accuses it of having not disclosed so-called junk fees.

Hilton said on Thursday that it would “quickly” act to “ensure mandatory fees are displayed upfront on all Hilton websites and apps.”

Hosts of at least 23,000 short-term rentals in New York City are being forced to reevaluate or end their businesses as Airbnb blocks them from making new bookings. 

Airbnb and New York City have often had a tough relationship, one marked by lawsuits and other disputes. Airbnb has argued that New York City’s regulations have hurt its ability to do business, which the company believes will become more challenging when the city starts enforcing its host registration law regarding short-term rentals on September 5.

Yet another U.S. hotel company faces a lawsuit about disclosing mandatory resort fees. Sonesta, which runs more than 1,200 hotels under various brand flags, faces a class-action suit in Washington, D.C., over how it displays its resort fees on its website and app.

Travelers United’s choice to sue Hyatt over its “junk fee” practices fits into a broader storyline about travel junk fees being in the limelight ever since President Joe Biden referred to travel fees in his 2023 State of the Union address.

American Airlines has sued airline ticket consolidator U.S.A. Gateway — which does business as GTT Travel — alleging that GTT duped travelers into thinking they were booking direct with American, and then gouged them with exorbitant fares and fees.

The State of Texas filed a lawsuit against Booking Holdings, alleging that it violates state law by marketing hotel rates in a deceptive manner because it doesn’t include a variety of fees when it initially displays room prices.

Following a legal battle that lasted 11 years, American Airlines Group wants to force defendant Sabre Corp to pay its legal fees. 

Ryanair has aggressively battled online travel agencies over the years, seeking to bar them from selling its flights, and recently was dealt setbacks in separate litigation against Lastminute.com in Switzerland and Booking.com in the U.S.

Marriott International plans by May 15 to disclose resort fees in the total prices it displays in its initial search results on its website and mobile app. It’s the long-awaited outcome of a 2021 settlement with Pennsylvania — that required the Bethesda, Maryland-based hotel operator to include in fees in upfront total prices.

Guesty, the California-based property management software company, acquired vacation rental tech platform StaySense. 

Airbnb Inc on Thursday filed a lawsuit against New York City over a new law it called a “de facto ban” against short-term rentals set to go into effect in July, which the company says will limit the number of people who can host rentals in the city.

In May, two months after the New York City Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) opened the process of registering hosts to lawfully rent out their properties for less than 30 days, Airbnb said the city informed it that only nine hosts had been approved.

A federal judge in the District of Columbia dismissed antitrust claims by dozens of states and the U.S. Department of Justice that the design of Google search results amounted to anticompetitive behavior against rivals ranging from Expedia to Yelp, citing a lack of evidence.