Hong Kong News

Nonpartisan, Noncommercial, unconstrained.
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Six hotel groups slapped with notice for aiding cartel

A tour counter operator and six hotel groups - including runners of Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel and Holiday Inn Golden Mile - have been slapped with infringement notices for facilitating a cartel.
The Competition Commission found that two competing travel service providers - Gray Line Tours of Hong Kong and Tink Labs - operated a cartel to fix or control prices of tourist attractions and transportation tickets sold at the hotels.

Upon investigation, the commission found that between March 2016 and May 2017, the two agreed to fix the prices of tourist attractions and transportation tickets sold at various hotels in Hong Kong, including the six hotel groups.

"They [hotel groups] acted as facilitators by passing on pricing information between these two competitors in circumstances where they had actively contributed to the implementation of the price fixing agreement," the commission said.

"We therefore had reasonable cause to believe that the arrangement had the object of harming competition in Hong Kong in contravention of the First Conduct Rule of the Competition Ordinance."

Named and shamed were China Asia Property, operator of City Garden Hotel; Harilela Hotels, owner of Holiday Inn Golden Mile; Holiday Inns Crowne Plaza (Hong Kong), operator of Holiday Inn Golden Mile; and Hotel Panorama Company, operator of the former Hotel Panorama.

Also included were The Hongkong Hotel, The Marco Polo Hotel (Hong Kong), The Prince Hotel and Wharf Hotels Management, owners and operators of the Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel, Marco Polo Gateway and Marco Polo Prince respectively, as well as Royal Plaza Hotel Management, Leverson and Royal Park Hotel Management, operators of Royal Plaza Hotel, Royal View Hotel and Royal Park Hotel.

The last was Imperial Tours, a tour counter operator inside the premises of Holiday Inn Golden Mile.

Commission chairman Samuel Chan Ka-yan said this is the first time his agency has pursued facilitators of cartel conduct since the commission was set up in 2012.

"This will drive home the message that not only cartelists, but third parties who facilitate anti competitive conduct between competing businesses, may also be subject to the commission's enforcement action," Chan said.

In the infringement notices, all seven parties admitted that they had contravened the ordinance and promised to take concrete measures to effectively enhance competition compliance within their respective businesses, according to the commission.

An infringement notice requires a person to commit to complying with the notice's requirements in return for not facing prosecution by the watchdog.

"After taking into consideration a number of factors, including the nature of their conduct as facilitators, as well as their early and active cooperation with our investigation, we consider the use of infringement notice as an enforcement outcome to be appropriate and proportionate to the circumstances in this case," the commission said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Hong Kong News
0:00
0:00
Close
It's always the people with the dirty hands pointing their fingers
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Steve Jobs' Son Launches Venture Capital Firm With $200 Million For Cancer Treatments
Google reshuffles Assistant unit, lays off some staffers, to 'supercharge' products with A.I.
End of Viagra? FDA approved a gel against erectile dysfunction
UK sanctions Russians judges over dual British national Kara-Murza's trial
US restricts visa-free travel for Hungarian passport holders because of security concerns
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Political leader from South Africa, Julius Malema, led violent racist chants at a massive rally on Saturday
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
'I am not your servant': IndiGo crew member, passenger get into row over airline meal
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Spanish Citizenship Granted to Iranian chess player who removed hijab
US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell freezes up, leaves press conference
Speaker McCarthy says the United States House of Representatives is getting ready to impeach Joe Biden.
San Francisco car crash
This camera man is a genius
3D ad in front of Burj Khalifa
Next level gaming
BMW driver…
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
×