DOJ Antitrust Division Approves Expedia/Orbitz Deal

American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) and Consumer Watchdog over concerns the deal would result in an effective duopoly with Priceline. Several members of Congress also urged heightened scrutiny of the deal (see 1508100060). Justice “concluded that Expedia's acquisition of Orbitz is not likely to substantially lessen competition or harm US consumers," said Assistant Attorney General-Antitrust Division Bill Baer in a statement Wednesday. Justice “uncovered no evidence in our investigation that the merger is likely to result in new charges being imposed directly on consumers for using Expedia or Orbitz.” The department also “found that Orbitz is only a small source of bookings for most of these companies and thus has had no impact in recent years on the commissions Expedia charges,” Baer said. “In addition, beyond Expedia and Orbitz, travel service providers have alternative ways to attract customers and obtain bookings, including Expedia’s largest online travel agent rival, Priceline.” The investigation's evidence also “suggests that the online travel business is rapidly evolving,” including the introduction of TripAdvisor's Instant Booking service and Google's Hotel and Flight Finder, Baer said. AH&LA said it believes Justice's decision in Expedia/Orbitz “will hurt consumers and small business owners, and remove choice from the marketplace.” The deal “will result in significant negative consequences for consumers and also the large number of our members who are small businesses and independent hotels. It could lead to increased distribution costs for independent hotel owners who risk seeing booking commissions rise by double digits,” AH&LA said. Consumer Watchdog is also " " by Justice's Expedia/Orbitz decision, said Director-Privacy Project John Simpson in an email. "I think that is a huge threat to consumers."