4 Singapore hotels involved in sharing confidential corporate customer prices: CCCS
The owners and operators of four hotels in the eastern part of Singapore have violated competition laws after their sales representatives exchanged confidential pricing information of corporate customers, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) said on Thursday (2 August).
The staff of the hotels – Capri, Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Hotel, Village Hotel Katong and Village Hotel Changi – had shared the information in 2014 and 2015 and violated the Competition Act, CCCS ruled in its proposed infringement decision (PID).
The CCCS said that its investigation revealed that sales representatives of Capri and Village Hotels (Katong and Changi) had exchange pricing information on hotel room accommodation for corporate customers between 3 July 2014 and 30 June 2015.
It also revealed that sales representatives of Capri and Crowne Plaza hotels separately exchanged similar information between 14 January 2014 and 30 June 2015.
The information shared included bid prices in response to corporate customer requests, percentages of price reduction which customers asked for and the corresponding responses by each hotel sales representative during price negotiations, said the competition watchdog.
“The exchange of such commercially sensitive information would reduce the competitive pressure on prices/contract terms offered by competing hotels to their corporate customers,” said the CCCS.
The affected parties – including those who applied for lenient treatment under CCCS’s Leniency Programme – have six weeks from the receipt of the PID to make their representations to the CCCS.
They are Ascendas Frasers, owner of Capri (up to 30 March, 2015), Frasers Hospitality Trustee, owner of Capri (from 31 March, 2015), Frasers Hospitality, appointed agent for the management/operation of Capri; Far East Organisation Centre, owner of Village Hotel Changi, Orchard Mall, owner of Village Hotel Katong, Far East Hospitality Management, appointed agent for the management/operation of the Village Hotels; OUE Airport Hotel, owner/master lessee of Crowne Plaza, and Inter-Continental Hotels (Singapore), appointed agent for the management/operation of Crowne Plaza.
The CCCS will make its decision after considering the representations and other related information.
If found guilty under the Competition Act, the parties involved will face a maximum fine of up to 10 per cent of the turnover of their businesses in Singapore for each year of infringement, capped at three years.
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