Competition Office orders changes at booking site Szallas.hu
GVH
Hungaryʼs Competition Office (GVH) on Tuesday said it ordered Hungarian booking site Szallas.hu to make changes after finding it used aggressive business practices in a probe, state news agency MTI reports.
GVH said Szallas.hu exerted "psychological pressure" by posting messages such as "40 people are planning to book here", "38 people are looking at this booking right now" and "Just two rooms left on our site", while users browsed through commercial accommodations.
Szallas.hu cooperated with GVH during the probe, acknowledged it violated rules governing acceptable business practices and discontinued its aggressive sales tactics.
Instead of fining Szallas.hu, GVH said it instructed the company to implement a number of measures, including revamping its web platform and raising user awareness of aggressive sales tactics.
In the spring, GVH fined the Dutch operator of booking site booking.com HUF 2.5 billion for unfair business practices, such as the use of aggressive sales techniques.
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