The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation into suspected anti-competitive conduct among competing hotel chains – Hilton, IHG Hotels and Marriott – using the hotel data analytics tool STR, owned by CoStar.
All four businesses are subject to an investigation into their UK sales activity that was announced this week (March 2) and will last until August. The CMA declined to provide any specific background as to why the investigation is happening now.
Patrick Angwin, director of boutique hotel consultancy Clanalytix, commented: “Perhaps it’s not so much about the sharing of the data, but the fact that today, so much more can be done with that data. The level of analytics and AI processing power to identify trends and similarities wasn’t possible, or economically viable, even five years ago.”
The UK investigation follows several US lawsuits launched by groups of consumers that allege the use of data sharing and revenue management platforms to fix prices.
Segal vs Amadeus IT Group et al is a lawsuit that accuses Amadeus IT Group, Hilton, Marriott, Four Seasons, among others, of conspiring to fix hotel room prices by exchanging forward-looking information about room rates and demand.
Plaintiff Ryan Segal alleges that the hotel groups used Amadeus’ Demand360 platform to keep prices artificially high without fear of losing market share.
A federal judge dismissed a previous version of the lawsuit, finding Segal had not explained clearly enough how the data‑sharing enabled the alleged coordinated pricing.
Another consumer lawsuit against CoStar, Hilton, Marriot, Hyatt and three other hotel companies was dismissed in September 2025. The judge said the consumers had failed to show that the actual price of a hotel room was a required input or output into STR benchmarking reports.
In Gibson vs. Cendyn et al, consumers sued Wynn Resorts, Caesars, Treasure Island, and others along with tech firm Cendyn and Blackstone Real Estate. The hotels were alleged to have used Cendyn’s revenue management platform and pricing recommendations to overcharge guests. The judge said that the hotels were not bound to follow Cendyn’s pricing recommendations and dismissed the case.
The lawsuits underline how claimants have struggled to present explicit evidence of price fixing.
Angwin commented: “If a group of hotel CEOs sat in the same room and said: ‘Right. The World Cup is coming soon. Let’s all agree here and now that we’re not going to sell a bedroom for less than $1,000,’ there would clearly be a case. But there is no suggestion [in any of these lawsuits] that this is what is happening.”
Returning to the UK, the CMA said: “Hotel chains use STR and other data analytics tools and algorithms to help them make commercial decisions. This can bring benefits including more intense competition, lower costs, and faster changes in prices to better match demand and supply in markets.”
“However, when rival businesses share competitively sensitive information – including through a third-party data analytics provider – this reduces the uncertainty competing businesses normally have about how each other will act. This can affect how strongly companies compete because it makes it easier for them to predict what each other will do and coordinate their behaviour.”
IHG issued a statement saying it will fully cooperate with the CMA’s inquiries. A CoStar spokesperson said: “We are happy to provide the CMA with assistance. We are surprised at the CMA's interest in a long-standing hotel data analytics and benchmarking platform that for decades has been used by companies and government entities alike to better assess market dynamics.”
A Hilton spokesperson said: “We are co-operating fully with the CMA’s inquiries.”
Hospitality Investor has also approached Marriott for comment.
CoStar recently changed its business model regarding STR’s hotel market reports. Up until August 2025 it was possible to buy individual reports on a pay-as-you-go basis. Now, access to such reports is only available via an annual enterprise-level subscription.