The Fair Trade Commission warned 15 luxury hotel operators in Tokyo on Thursday that their practice of exchanging information about room prices and other matters could amount to price-fixing conspiracy that violates the antimonopoly law.
The FTC said that it issued the warning to have the hotel operators correct the practice as soon as possible rather than proceeding with its investigation as hotel fees in the capital have risen sharply due to a surge in the number of foreign visitors following the removal of COVID-19 restrictions.
The 15 hotel operators include Imperial Hotel, New Otani, Keio Plaza Hotel, Hotel Okura Tokyo, Seibu Prince Hotels Worldwide and Fujita Kanko.
Officials from the 15 companies had met once a month to exchange information about room occupancy rates, average room prices and room reservations, according to the FTC.
The information was shared in a common format so that the degree of fluctuations could be easily understood. The meeting started several years ago and continued until around fall last year.
The FTC, alleging that such information exchanges may also be taking place among operators of business hotels, asked the Japan Hotel Association and the All Nippon Hotel Association to ensure that member companies comply with the antimonopoly law.
