3rd November 2022 

The Managing Directors/CEO's/Owners/Director/Partners/General Managers              
All FHRAI Members                 

CC:  All Members of the Executive Committee        
         All Regional Associations          

SUB: RELEVANT INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS ON THE CCI ORDER DATED 19TH OCTOBER 2022 

Dear Member, 

This is in furtherance to our circular dated 20th  October 2022 regarding the final order of CCI that held Go-MMT and OYO guilty of anti-competitive activities and imposed penalties of Rs.223.5 crore and Rs.168 crore on Go-MMT and Oyo respectively. 

Relying on the submissions of FHRAI, CCI concluded that that the conduct of MMT-Go has been in violation of the provisions of Section 4(2)(a)(i) as well as Section 4(2)(c) read with Section 4(1) of the Act as adumbrated in this order. Further, MMT-Go and OYO has also been found to be in contravention of Section 3(4)(d) read with Section 3(1) of the Act. 

The  Commission observed that, besides imposing monetary penalty, it is imperative to ensure an environment that supports fair competition amongst the OTAs as well as amongst the franchisee service providers, which will ultimately benefit consumers and the independent hotels in the long run. 

Towards that end, the Commission directed MMT-Go to undertake the following corrective measures: 

• To suitably modify its agreements with hotels /chain hotels, to remove/abandon the price and room availability parity obligations imposed by it on its hotel/chain hotel partners with respect to other OTAs. 

• To modify its agreement with hotels/chain hotels, to remove/abandon the exclusivity conditions that exist inter-alia in the form of D minus clause. 

• To provide access to its platform on a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory basis to the hotels/chain hotels, by formulating the platforms’ listing terms and conditions in an objective manner. 

• To notify all its hotel/chain hotel partners, about the aforesaid modifications. 

• To maintain transparency about listed properties on its portal. If the properties listed on MMT-Go gets sold out on the portal because of exhaustion of allocated quota, MMT-Go to display it as ‘sold out’ on the portal. MMT-Go has also been mandated to remove all properties from the portals for which the agreement is either expired or terminated. And the same to be displayed as ‘not available’ on the portal. 

As per para 321 of the order, the Commission directed MMT-Go and OYO to deposit the penalty amounts within a period of 60 days of receipt of the present order, in accordance with the provisions of the Act. 

MMT-Go has also been directed to submit a compliance report, on an affidavit, with regard to the aforesaid directions within 60 days of the receipt of the order. 

We will keep our members informed on any further development on this matter. 

With best regards,  

Jaison Chacko 
Secretary General 
______________________________________________________________ 
The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India 
Regd. Off.: B-82, 8th Floor, Himalaya House, 23 K.G. Marg, New Delhi - 110 001 
Tel.: 011-40780780, Email: fhrai@fhrai.com Website: www.fhrai.com