AUSTIN – Attorney General Paxton filed another lawsuit against a global hotel chain for allegedly misleading consumers about the true costs of hotel rooms in violation of Texas consumer protection laws, a press release states.
The lawsuit, filed against Hilton Domestic Operating Company, comes after Paxton recently filed a lawsuit against Hyatt and settled claims against Marriott for similar behavior.
“Heightened inflation and worsening economic conditions have made it an even more pressing priority to protect Americans from predatory, illegal corporate practices,” said Paxton. “Many major hotel chains, including Hilton, have been deceiving their customers for far too long.
“I warned these companies they would face consequences for this behavior, and Texas has delivered aggressive action to protect consumers, promote price transparency in the hotel and travel industries, and ensure that companies violating our laws are held responsible for misleading the public.”
The press release alleges that Hilton has developed a troubling pattern of forcing mandatory fees onto their customers. Consumers are also often not fully made aware of these fees, or in some instances they are shown the fees in ways that would be difficult to notice.
Not only does Hilton misleadingly charge consumers higher rates than initially advertised, the services purportedly funded by the fees are often complimentary or included in the room rate at other non-resort locations, the press release states.
Hilton has further compounded the illegal deception by changing the room rates during checkout and charging nominal mandatory fees twice—first as a “fee” and then as a “tax,” amounting in the aggregate to millions of dollars in fraudulent charges.
Hilton operates hotels under brand names such as Hilton, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, and Hampton Inn.