Nebraska Attorney General Doug Petersen has filed a lawsuit
against Hilton, accusing the hotel group of deceptive pricing practices and "charging
hidden resort fees to increase profits."
Filed in the district court of Lancaster County, Nebraska, Wednesday,
the lawsuit alleges that Hilton engaged in the "unlawful trade practice of
drip pricing" to hide a portion of the room rate until later in the
booking process. According to the suit, this hidden portion is typically
referred to as a "resort fee, resort charge, daily mandatory charge or daily
resort charge."
"For years, Hilton has misled consumers in Nebraska
regarding the true cost of certain Hilton hotel rooms," said Peterson in a
statement. "They failed to heed warnings from the Federal Trade Commission
and the mounting complaints from their own customers."
The lawsuit seeks to force Hilton to advertise more
transparently, provide monetary relief to affected Nebraska consumers and pay
civil penalties.
The Nebraska filing is the latest legal tussle surrounding resort
fees and drip pricing. Earlier this summer, the District of Columbia attorney
general filed a similar complaint against Marriott International, accusing Marriott of employing drip pricing and hiding a portion of a hotel
room's daily rate from consumers at the initial point of sale.