Expedia Antitrust Regulators Decide That Orbitz Is Too Small to Matter
Skift Take
We said all along that increased competition from Booking.com and TripAdvisor's burgeoning power as a hotel-booking site would be enough to get the Expedia-Orbitz deal approved. The Antitrust Division saw Google as an up-and-coming force in flight and hotel bookings, as well.
After six months of investigating, including 60 interviews, the U.S. Justice Department's Antitrust Division concluded that Expedia Inc.'s $1.3 billion acquisition of Orbitz Worldwide will not harm competition because Orbitz's market impact is marginal.
The Justice Department announced September 16 that it would not challenge the marriage.
A key issue was whether the acquisition would empower Expedia to hike hotel industry commissions like it did in Australia after acquiring online travel agency Wotif in 2014. In North America, major hotel chains generally pay commissions of 14-16 percent while independents generally shell over around 18-22 percent.
As we reported, Expedia did not raise commissions after acquiring Travelocity earlier this year.
In deciding that the Orbitz acquisition won't harm competition, the Antitrust Division said it found no evidence that Expedia or Orbitz would level new fees on consumers using their sites, and when considering the commissions they ch
