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Open Letter to the Office of Fair Trading
Hi Nelson, Thank you and Francisca again for taking the time to discuss the case last Friday. I very much appreciate being kept updated on the proceedings. The O.F.T. has been far more understanding,...
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Open letter to Siren
Hi Neal, Thank you for your update. Whilst I acknowledge that between you at Siren you invested time and energy in the O.F.T. press release I’m more than surprised that you’re proposing to charge...
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Open Letter to Kees Koolen, CEO at Booking.com
Hi Kees, Both personally, and even as a direct competitor, I was always a fan of Booking.com. Yours was one of the better hotel booking sites I always thought, with some innovative features. However,...
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A digital white flag
For the attention of Rutger Prakke, General Counsel and Managing Director at Booking.com Hi Rutger, I understand that Kees doesn’t want to reply to me directly but I’m still hoping we can move things...
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Open Letter to Beth Alexander, Competition Law Officer, Canadian Competition...
Hi Beth, I hope you’re well. At the risk of sounding pushy, I’d like to ask you to revisit the price fixing case we discussed earlier this year. At that stage you told me that you would eagerly await...
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Open Letter to F.T.C. Chairman Jon Leibowitz
Dear Mr. Leibowitz, Greetings from Brighton, England. I took a concern to the U.S.D.O.J. earlier this year relating to resale price maintenance and various other vertical agreements which plague the...
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Rate Parity: A Story with Legs
Soon after I started my campaign against rate parity, which my school friend and industry colleague Pete calls my cause célèbre (I prefer ‘obsession du jour’ but we were both in bottom set French so...
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Open letter to William Baer, Arnold & Porter LLP
Dear William, I have been reading with great interest your nomination to head up the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. Particularly significant to me was to hear your stance on resale price...
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Rate Parity – The End Game
I’ve told the press that I think the days of rate parity are coming to an end but, with one exception, they’ve yet to quote me so it looks like I’m going to have to say it myself. As you may imagine...
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Priceline, Kayak and other family matters.
Incest has a bad rep and you can see why. It often results in the spawning of children with weird defects like underdeveloped limbs or oversized heads. Take the royal family for example or the U.S....
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Open Letter to Clive Maxwell, Executive Director Office of Fair Trading
Dear Clive, I hope you don’t mind my writing to you publicly but I feel this is an issue of public and national importance. Three years ago I complained to the Office of Fair Trading (O.F.T.) that my...
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Final Open Letter to Clive Maxwell, Executive Director Office of Fair Trading
Dear Mr. Maxwell, Thank you for kindly replying to my last open letter. Since you wrote I have been petitioned by lawyers, economists, and high ranking officials in the travel industry to respond to...
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Another Final Open Letter to Clive Maxwell, Executive Director Office of Fair...
Dear Mr. Maxwell, Thank you again for taking the time to reply. Whilst I understand that the OFT doesn’t necessarily agree with the complainant about the nature of the problem nor indeed the solution,...
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Open Letter to Martin Couchman, Deputy Chief Executive of the British...
Dear Martin, Further to our recent conversation, I understand that it is awkward for you to involve the British Hospitality Association in the ongoing price fixing investigation in the hotel industry...
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Closing Letter to the Office of Fair Trading
Hi Ingrid, Thank you for taking the time last week to try and explain the proposal you have put forward on behalf of Expedia, Booking.com and IHG. I still don’t understand it I’m afraid. I don’t...
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Deranged Marriages, Sanity on Trial
Next week we’ll come to the final chapter of a story crazy enough to rival Catch 22 and Alice in Wonderland. It started with a call from the Fairest Authority in the Land (F.A.i.L), travelled across...
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