The Competition Commission of India has ordered MakeMyTrip to relist FabHotels and Treebo on its platform, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday, giving interim relief to the two hotel chains. The case has been going on since 2019, in which the CCI began looking into MMT and its partner OYO over abusing dominance and competitive pricing.
It had been reported in April 2018 that OYO and MMT had agreed to either not list or delist all Treebo and FabHotels properties from the platform after the companies entered into a partnership.
According to the ET report, the interim order said that if FabHotels and Treebo had not been viewed as competitors, OYO would not have asked MMT to agree to such a condition of delisting them. “Thus, the commission observes, as stated in its prima facie order also, that FabHotels and Treebo were competing with Oyo and operated in the same relevant market, at least at the time when exclusion was occasioned to them,” the order reportedly states.
The Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India (FHRAI) had filed the initial complaint against the two companies, stating that the latter indulged in predatory pricing, charged exorbitant commissions and entered anti-competitive agreements, by which they violated section 3 and 4 of the Competition Act, 2002. FabHotels and Treebo were then impleaded in February last year.
In a prima facie order in October 2019, the CCI had observed that MMT and OYO were giving each other preference on their platforms, leading to denial of market access.
In 2019, the CCI observed that from the search results, it appeared that FabHotels and Treebo were indeed not present on the platform, while they earlier used to be. “The Commission opined that if this is a consequence of an agreement between MMT and OYO,” it stated. At the time, it said that not listing the closest competitors of OYO could potentially be in contravention of provisions of Section 3(4) of the Competition Act, 2002.
"The delisting," the CCI interim order now has reportedly said, “has affected competition in the market by denying access to an important channel of distribution through foreclosure.”
A MakeMyTrip spokeswoman said: “Subsequent to CCI’s prima facie orders, both Fab and Treebo had filed an interim application requesting relisting on the Go-MMT (Goibibo and MakeMy Trip) platforms, pending the final outcome of the ongoing investigation. The CCI has allowed the interim application stating that the interim order does not tantamount to the final expression of opinion on the merits of the case. Go-MMT is examining the order and would take all necessary steps after consulting its counsels.”
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