Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Hollinrake Excerpts

Tuesday 16th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Shorter questions and shorter answers are required.

[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

3. What recent steps his Department has taken to protect consumers.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark)]

In June, the Government announced steps to ensure that consumers will not be punished for their loyalty. We are giving increased powers to the Competition and Markets Authority to fine companies that breach the law and to enable consumers to take control of the data that businesses hold on them.

[Kevin Hollinrake]

Mr Speaker, when you stay at the Woolacombe Bay Hotel, you may be paying 20% too much, because online agencies such as Booking.com use brandjacking clauses to colonise search results, and rate parity clauses, which mean that even if you go direct, you still pay 20% more than you need to. Other EU nations have banned this. Will we?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise that point. The Competition and Markets Authority is taking enforcement action against the major hotel booking sites precisely because of those concerns. It has already secured binding commitments from those companies, which will protect consumers in exactly the way that he recommends.