Did Las Vegas Hotels Conspire To Raise Rates?

Two tourists have accused companies that operate some of the largest hotels in Las Vegas of conspiring to keep room rates artificially high.

The hotels named in the lawsuit include Caesars Entertainment, Treasure Island, Wynn Resorts Holdings, MGM Resorts International, and others. The class-action suit alleges that these hoteliers engaged in an illegal price-fixing scheme. According to the claims of the lawsuit, any consumers who rented a hotel room on or after January 25, 2019, may have overpaid.

The hotel operators, the lawsuit alleges, used a revenue management software called Rainmaker to engage in the scheme. Rainmaker is used by about 90 percent of Las Vegas Strip hotels, Fox News reported. The software allegedly collects real-time pricing and supply information from competitors and provides room recommendations designed to unlawfully maximize profits. The plaintiffs further allege that the algorithmic-driven price-fixing violates anti-trust laws.

Rainmaker Group, and its parent company, Cendyn Group LLC, a hospitality tech company, are also named in the lawsuit.

The hotel companies meanwhile have asked a U.S. court to dismiss the lawsuit this week, Reuters reported. In a court filing, lawyers for the defendants said that the tourists who brought the case failed to provide any direct or circumstantial evidence.

“The complaint fails at the outset because it is missing every essential ingredient necessary to please an anti-trust conspiracy,” attorneys for the hotel companies said in their filing with a Nevada court.

The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages and class action status.