Attorney General Ken Paxton secures $9.5M settlement with travel agency for deceptive pricing

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a Tuesday press release the Office of Attorney General (OAG) reached a $9.5 million “historic” settlement with Booking Holdings Inc. for “deceptively marketing hotel room prices to consumers by omitting mandatory fees.”

Booking Holdings sent a statement to KXAN and said the company disagrees with Paxton’s characterization of the settlement and rejects any suggestion that it engaged in unlawful, deceptive or unethical practices.

Read the full statement below.

We respectfully disagree with the Texas Attorney General’s characterization of this settlement and reject any suggestion that we engaged in unlawful, deceptive or unethical practices. Booking Holdings has long supported a clear national standard for displaying total prices, and we remain committed to transparency and providing travelers with accurate information. While resort fees are typically set and retained by hotel partners, we are aligned with recent Federal Trade Commission efforts to bring greater consistency to price displays. This settlement, which includes no admission of wrongdoing, allows us to avoid prolonged litigation and move forward, continuing to deliver trusted services to consumers and small businesses in Texas and beyond.
Booking Holdings

In 2023, the OAG filed a lawsuit accusing the company of falsely attracting consumers with low room rates that were not actually available. This gave Booking an unfair advantage over its transparent competitors, the release said. Travel agencies that allegedly engaged in these practices and operate under Booking Holdings are Booking.com, Priceline.com and Kayak.com.

In addition to the misleading rates, the lawsuit argued Booking hid mandatory fees by grouping them with funds in the “Taxes and Fees” portion at checkout, the release said.

“Deceiving Texans by hiding fees is both a deeply unethical business practice and a violation of the law,” Paxton said. 

As part of the settlement’s terms, Booking must disclose any feeds added onto a hotel room’s price upfront.