Sacre Bleu! Top Paris Hotels Fined for Price Fixing

The French Competition Council fined six very fancy hotels between 55,000 and 248,000 Euro for illegally colluding to maintain high prices. How high? Over E700 (about $850) per night. These are some of the finest hotels in the world and they were apparently sending each other detailed emails about occupancy rates, room rates, and other information for the purpose of fixing the high end of the already very expensive Paris hotel market. People who stay in these hotels can obviously afford it, but they’re also likely to offense at the scheme. These facilities charge a premium based on a perception of perfect service, which presumably does not include illegal price-fixing conspiracies.