Companies that offer flights and accommodation through the websites and applications of eDreams use misleading information and manipulation strategies.
The Italian Competition Authority this Wednesday fined the online travel platform eDreams nine million euros for unfair commercial practices, by pressuring consumers to register and maintain their subscription.
“The online travel agency used deceptive design strategies and manipulative techniques, known as dark patterns, to describe the supposed benefits of the ‘Prime’ membership and pressure consumers to register and maintain their membership,” the organization explained.
Therefore, it imposed a fine of nine million euros on the companies Vacaciones eDreams SL, eDreams International Network SL and eDreams Srl “for two distinct unfair commercial practices that cause visual and emotional persuasion in the digital environment, through so-called dark patterns“, a user interface that was “carefully designed to trick users into doing things they don’t want to do.”
The Italian regulator determined “that companies, when offering flights and accommodation through their websites and applications, used misleading information and undue influence techniques, including manipulation strategiesto induce consumers to subscribe to ‘Prime’, sometimes without knowing it”.
“To this end, eDreams introduced its ‘Prime’ offering by providing ambiguous information about the features and benefits of the subscription, taking advantage of time pressure and artificial scarcity techniques to accelerate the purchase decision and encourage consumers to subscribe to the package,” it added.
Furthermore, “the real value of the discounts resulting from the subscription was misrepresented, and the existence of price differences based on the route of arrival at eDreams, or the consumer’s ‘Prime’ membership status, was presented in a non-transparent manner“.
In this way, the authority explained, “the consumer’s freedom of choice was also compromised because eDreams pre-selected the most expensive version of the subscription, ‘Prime Plus’, and because users who did not meet the requirements for the free trial period of the service, after being persuaded to participate in the trial, were immediately charged the annual subscription price, without adequate notice”.
The authority also determined that the companies obstructed consumers’ right to opt out, both before the end of the trial period and during the ‘Prime’ subscription, through retention strategies implemented through customer service.
