OFT alleges hotel price fixing

The Office of Fair Trading says it has a "provisional view" that a leading hotel group and two of the biggest online booking sites have been limiting price competition for rooms and keeping discounters out of the market.

It alleges that InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Expedia and booking.com have infringed competition law while offering hotel rooms online.

The allegations are highly embarrassing at a time when British hotels are on show to the world during the Olympics.

The OFT's findings apply to rooms booked by UK customers -- a business worth £10bn a year -- though concerns have been raised worldwide about hotels' sales tactics.

The investigation began in September, 2010, after a website advertising discounted hotel rooms complained that it was being put under pressure to maintain a standard price rather than share its commission with customers.

The effect was likely to be that travellers would be shown the same price on a wide variety of websites, all of them able to claim that they had the lowest price on offer.

Officials call such practices "vertical price fixing". Hotels are free to charge what they like if they sell directly to customers: the question is over attempts to set the price while selling through online agents.

The OFT says it wants people to be able to shop around for discounted rooms. It limited its probe to a few major companies to save time but comments that the alleged practices are "potentially widespread in the industry".

IHG said its arrangements with online booking agents were "compliant with competition laws and consistent with the long-standing approach of the global hotel industry".

Watchdog moves to prevent bank account mis-selling

The City watchdog, the FSA, has announced measures to stop banks selling "useless" paid-for current accounts.

10 million people, around one in every 5 adults, has a packaged account, usually requiring a monthly fee in exchange for benefits such as travel insurance, extra overdraft facilities or music downloads.

The FSA is concerned that customers who would be excluded from the insurance cover are still being sold the accounts, in which case they are "money down the drain".

From the end of March next year, banks will have to check whether customers are eligible to claim if they sell insurance as part of a packaged account. And they'll have to write to customers annually to prompt them to check whether they still qualify.

Some customers might be excluded because of pre-existing medical conditions, others because of age limits.

The FSA says the accounts represent good value for some, but others might find they've been sold something they don't need.

Let's hear it for the cash economy!

Just because you ask to be paid in cash doesn't mean you're a tax dodger.

Remember, there are hundreds of thousands of businesses, perhaps even more, which don't have to charge VAT. Their income doesn't breach the threshold of £77,000 a year.

And there are plenty of people who do one-off jobs - babysitters, dog walkers and small traders - for whom it's convenient to be paid in cash.

Many of them don't have to pay tax at all because their income doesn't breach the annual tax-free allowance of £8,105.

And you don't have to feel guilty for paying cash to people like this - or that it's "morally wrong", as the Treasury minister, David Gauke put it.

In fact we need cash moving around the economy, the faster the better.

Just to be clear about the rights and wrongs, this warning about paying in cash, along with a form to report suspect tax dodgers, sets out the view of the tax people at HMRC.

Ducking out of the Lloyds Co-op switch

If I was a Lloyds TSB customer and hearing for the first time about the Big Bank Switch to the Co-op, I'd be puzzled and annoyed by the statement Lloyds is putting out to customers:

"Once the transfer is complete, the customers and staff in the selected branches will stay with those branches."


It makes you feel like sheep being herded from one field to another. It's the order that you "will stay" which sticks in in the craw - and it's nonsense, anyway.


To be fair, plenty of Lloyds customers seem unfazed by the prospect of being moved lock, stock and barrel to the Co-op, or the TSB - as the ex Lloyds TSB branches will be known.

And I've had staff telling me they're looking forward to it. One branch worker told me "I can't wait!".

On the other hand, people tend to like the devil they know. Most of those I asked outside Lloyds TSB branches have said they don't want to change banks and they don't want to be forced to do anything.

Here's the official line for customers on how they'll be affected. If you scroll down to the bottom you can click on the list of branches being transferred.

But you'll notice that Lloyds never says explicitly that customers don't have to go to the Co-op.

Why not?

Well, the answer is that, as part of the sales process, Lloyds can't be seen to be trying to keep customers.

The whole point is that the Co-op is spending £750m in order to get the 632 branches and a large number of accounts, likely to be 4.8m, so trying to woo customers back would be against the spirit of the deal.

On the other hand, it's patently absurd to suggest that becoming a member of the Co-op is compulsory.

What's likely to happen is that once the two banks sign their Sale and Purchase Agreement, which is the next stage, Lloyds will write to customers explaining what the options are...

And telling them that they can opt out of the Big Bank Switch - by moving to online banking or changing to a different Lloyds branch or, of course, by switching to another bank of their choice.

Pound bounces higher

Holidaymakers going to the eurozone are getting 15% more for their money than a year ago.

Jitters about the debt crisis across Europe have knocked the euro and pushed the wholesale rate up to levels not seen since October, 2008.

The pound rose again this morning, to 1.2736 euros.

Of course, you get less at the bureau de change, but still a much better rate than before. Here are a few of today's retail rates:

Caxton FX currency card                 1.2450
Sainsbury online                             1.2430
Thomas Cook (reserve and collect)   1.2360
Travelex online                                1.2350
Post Office                                      1.2340
High Street                                      1.2100

It's a very volatile situation but some currency experts are predicting the euro will fall even further.

Not the same story with the dollar. Travellers heading over the Atlantic will find that their pounds buy them fewer dollars than a year ago.

OFT probe into bank accounts

Banks face an investigation from the Office of Fair Trading over their provision of current accounts to UK customers.

The OFT has launched a review saying it is "concerned that a lack of effective competition means the retail banking sector is not working in the interest of customers and businesses".

Banks are already under pressure to make it easier to switch accounts. They are working on a much faster and more reliable system of changing banks, after previous criticism from the Vickers Commission on banking.

The OFT will focus on account charges, greater customer control over accounts and easier account switching. It will report its findings at the end of the year.

Lowest incomes in Nottingham

The government's stats people tell us that take home pay plus benefits averages £20,238 in London, more than 50% more than in the North East with the lowest average of £13,329 per head.

Yorkshire, Northern Ireland and Wales are also on the low side, while the South Of England, the South West and Scotland do comparatively well.

Nottingham is the very lowest at £10,702, apparently because of its large student population, with Hull next worst at £11,149.

West London tops the league at £33,323.

Here's the ONS release.