506 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM d) In any case related to a greater availability of rooms, regardless of the channel used – the parity requirement on bookings10 shall only be: i) allowed in bookings offered and made in the online channel of free access to the general public controlled by the supplier (or his economic group); ii) offered directly by the hotel (without the intermediary of an OTA) through metasearch sites; and iii) offline when the offer has been disclosed in online channels of access to the general public. CADE believes that from the envisaged scenario of greater competition, concrete benefits will be delivered to consumers, either through a wider variety of prices, the availability and conditions of roombookings or by the improvement of the services offered by OTAs to the users of their platforms. Due to the above mentioned, the ratification of the proposed agreements could serve to mitigate barriers to the entry of new OTAs, making the market more competitive, with new entrants being able to negotiate more favourable rates and reservation conditions with the hotels in exchange for lower remuneration than the one negotiated with the others. The proposed 3year term of validity for TCCs was considered sufficient to generate the expected effects, especially in a technological and digital competition environment, in which innovation and evolution occur in an accelerated way, which does not mean that at the end the investigated practices can be resumed. If that so happens due to the offensive potential to competition, they may be subjected to further investigation. Hence it is recommended that any attempt to impose parity clauses in the future be preceded by consultation with CADE11. The agreements do not mean that CADE recognises the restrictive parity clauses (narrow clause), therein envisaged as not detrimental to competition, only that, at the current stage of investigation and in the light of the elements available for the potential effects analysis, they are the best solution to promote, in a timely manner, greater competition in the online bookings market. If possible additional evidences, at any time in the future, indicate that any requirement of parity, including the exceptions allowed in the agreements, 10 On the one hand, the prohibited parity reaches the reserve mode known as “opaque”, in which the identity of the hotel that will provide the contracted service is only revealed to the final consumer after the reservation is completed – examples of websites that use it: www.hotwire.com and www.priceline.com. On the other hand, the parity prohibition does not extend to “managed” type reserves, that is, they are carried out under contracts managed by tourism agencies that offer corporate travel services to corporate clients. 11 Article 9, Act No. 12.529, and CADE Resolution No. 12.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==