Expedia Singapore website operator stops making false claims on promotions

BEX Travel Asia, the operator of the Expedia Singapore website, has ceased its false claims and undertaken to not engage in any further unfair practices in relation to the validity periods of its promotions.

This followed an investigation by Singapore's competition watchdog, and took effect on Thursday.

In April last year, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) started its probe into the "Daily Deals" promotions that BEX had offered on the Expedia Singapore website and in electronic direct mailers sent to consumers subscribed to BEX's mailing lists.

The promotions involved the listing of certain "Daily Hotel Deals" and "Daily Package Deals", which BEX stated were valid for only 24 hours and would expire at 11.59pm each day.

However, CCCS's investigation found at least 55 "Daily Deals" offers where the promotional prices remained the same even after 11.59pm, contrary to BEX's representation that the prices changed daily.

In the commission's view, such false claims mislead consumers into believing that there is a price benefit that is only available for a limited period, thus creating unwarranted pressure or a sense of urgency for consumers to make an immediate purchase.

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The false claims on promotions had been taking place since 2016 and ceased as at October 2019, the watchdog said.

At the end of the investigation, CCCS concluded that these false claims constituted unfair practices, which breached the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act.

After considering the facts of the case, including the fact that the breaches have ceased, CCCS administered a warning to BEX.

The competition watchdog has also accepted BEX's undertaking to comply with the Act and to take prompt steps to cease any unfair practices in breach of the Act.

Among other things, the company has undertaken to ensure that promotions on its site are not communicated as being: available for a limited time period even though they are expected to remain available thereafter; and valid for a specific time period where the promotion may cease before that.

CCCS on Thursday said the self-initiated investigation on Expedia Singapore arose out of its market monitoring efforts.

It added that it is closely monitoring consumer markets for possible unfair practices that harm consumers.

Said the commission: "Where suppliers specify a time period during which a product or service will be sold at a discounted price, suppliers should state the time period for when the discount is actually valid clearly and prominently and not make false claims or otherwise mislead consumers."

These obligations also extend to suppliers which only provide booking services.