The European Commission has granted regulatory approval regarding a proposed joint venture between French hotel chain…
The European Commission has granted regulatory approval regarding a proposed joint venture between French hotel chain Accor, the British hotel chains Hilton and Six Continents and the American e-commerce company in the global lodging industry WorldRes.Com. The agreement will give joint control to all concerned of WorldRes.Europe, which will operate an Internet-based reservation system and travel agency websites. The deal does not give rise to any significant competition concerns.
Accor, Hilton and Six Continents are leading European hotel groups. Accor`s group consists of some 3,835 hotels in 90 countries under various brands, including Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis, Formule 1 and Etap. The Hilton group has around 415 hotels world-wide, of which some 150 are marketed under the Hilton, Scandic and Conrad brands. Six Continents has 3,325 hotels world-wide under a number of brands, including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn.
The joint venture, WorldRes Europe, operates a global Internet-based reservations system, allowing the hotel accommodation industry to store, manage and distribute room, rate and availability information. This information will be made available to distributors of hotel accommodation, including travel websites, call centres and travel agencies, allowing them to make real-time reservations. The joint venture will also operate the EU versions of the places-to-stay websites, allowing end users to make direct hotel accommodation bookings.
The Commission`s investigation has focussed on vertical links between the activities of the three parent hotels and the joint venture, as well as any co-operative effects which might result from the participation of Accor, Hilton and Six Continents in WorldRes Europe.
But considering the minor share of the joint venture in the market for the supply of global distribution system (GDS) services and the possible market for on-line hotel accommodation services, the Commission concluded it was unlikely that competing suppliers of hotel accommodation or suppliers of GDS services would be foreclosed.
The Commission also excluded that the joint venture agreement would lead to the coordination of the commercial strategies of the hotel chains concerned given built-in safeguards ensuring the confidentiality of the information contained in the reservations system and the fact that all information available to WorldRes Europe can be accessed by third party hotels and accommodation distributors.
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