ANVR members suspected of forbidden price agreements!

Some time ago I wrote an article about the signaling list of the ANVR where Dutch and a foreign tour operator were pilloried. The ANVR was proud to report in a press release that these companies probably did not comply with Dutch law. To reinforce the whole thing, the Consumer Authority was also asked by the ANVR to conduct an investigation.

Warpath

The ANVR was on the warpath and mainly small tour operators fell victim. They were publicly exposed on the ANVR website. In my personal opinion a scandalous move. The ANVR played before its own judge. Tour operators were punished by the ANVR police without the intervention of a competent authority such as the Consumer Authority or a judge. The smell of self-interest and power politics dominated this action.

Homemade cookie

But Buddha immediately punishes. The ANVR in Baarn itself had an unpleasant visit today. Namely from the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa). The NMa's investigation focuses on the trade association's working methods and activities vis-à-vis travel agents and tour operators (see press release).

The NMa considered a raid justified in connection with possible prohibited price agreements in the travel industry. The main suspects are the three most prominent ANVR members: TUI, Thomas Cook and Oad.

TUI Netherlands is the largest tour operator in the Netherlands in terms of turnover. In 2009, the company achieved a turnover of 839 million euros. TUI operates under the brand names Holland International, Arke, KRAS.NL, ArkeFly, ROBINSON, Sunrise, KidsWorldClub and Lastminute.nl. Oad is in second place with a turnover of 461 million euros. In addition to its own brand name, Oad also carries the name Hotelplan, but that name is disappearing. Thomas Cook Netherlands occupies third place with a turnover of 459 million euros in 2009. The organization includes the tour operators Neckermann and Vrij Uit and the retail brand Thomas Cook.

Beware, an ANVR member

The ANVR talked a lot about damage to the image by non-members who could possibly go bankrupt. I wonder whether an investigation by the NMa will do much good for the image of the ANVR?

Should I see the ANVR logo as a warning to consumers from today? Perhaps non-ANVR members should now also put an alert list on the website, but with the names of the prominent ANVR members on it. And especially the warning: “Be careful when you book with an ANVR member, you probably pay too much for your holiday due to prohibited mutual price agreements!”.

Or would it be more appropriate to first wait for the outcome of the NMa investigation before shaming the ANVR members?

Oh irony. The ANVR and its members had dug a deep pit, but have now fallen in themselves…