[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4526 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4526

    To amend the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act to protect 
 consumers from deceptive practices with respect to online booking of 
   hotel reservations and to direct the Federal Trade Commission to 
conduct a study with respect to online shopping for hotel reservations, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 10, 2016

Ms. Frankel of Florida (for herself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Shuster, Mr. 
  Deutch, Mrs. Mimi Walters of California, Mr. Murphy of Florida, Ms. 
  Castor of Florida, Mr. Heck of Nevada, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Miller of 
  Florida, Mr. Poliquin, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Takano, and Mr. Johnson of 
   Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act to protect 
 consumers from deceptive practices with respect to online booking of 
   hotel reservations and to direct the Federal Trade Commission to 
conduct a study with respect to online shopping for hotel reservations, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Online Booking Scams Act of 
2016''.

SEC. 2. PROTECTION FROM DECEPTIVE ONLINE BOOKING PRACTICES.

    The Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (15 U.S.C. 8401 et 
seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 2, by adding at the end the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(9) Hotel reservation transactions can be easily made 
        online. Online commerce has created the opportunity for third 
        party sellers to offer hotel reservations online while another 
        company owns the hotel or provides the services purchased by 
        the consumer. A consumer should have the utmost clarity as to 
        which company such consumer is transacting with online. Actions 
        by third party sellers that misappropriate brand identity, 
        trademark, and other marketing content are harmful to 
        consumers.'';
            (2) in section 3--
                    (A) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 
                subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and
                    (B) by inserting after subsection (b) the following 
                new subsection:
    ``(c) Requirements for Third Party Online Hotel Reservation 
Sellers.--
            ``(1) In general.--It shall be unlawful for a third party 
        online hotel reservation seller to charge or attempt to charge 
        any consumer's credit card, debit card, bank account, or other 
        financial account for any good or service sold in a transaction 
        effected on the Internet, unless the third party online hotel 
        reservation seller clearly and conspicuously discloses to the 
        consumer all material terms of the transaction, including--
                    ``(A) before the conclusion of the transaction--
                            ``(i) a description of the good or service 
                        being offered; and
                            ``(ii) the cost of such good or service; 
                        and
                    ``(B) in a manner that is continuously visible to 
                the consumer throughout the transaction process, the 
                fact that the third party online hotel reservation 
                seller is a third party seller and is not affiliated 
                with the person who owns the hotel or provides the 
                hotel services or accommodations.
            ``(2) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Commission.--The term `Commission' means the 
                Federal Trade Commission.
                    ``(B) Third party online hotel reservation 
                seller.--The term `third party online hotel reservation 
                seller' means a person that sells, or offers for sale, 
                hotel reservations on the Internet and is not 
                affiliated with the person who owns the hotel or 
                provides the hotel services or accommodations.''; and
            (3) in section 6(a), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``, damages, restitution, or other compensation on 
        behalf of residents of the State, or such other relief that the 
        court determines appropriate.''.

SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORT.

    (a) Study.--The Federal Trade Commission shall conduct a study on 
online hotel reservation shopping. Such study shall include an 
assessment of--
            (1) the capacity of a consumer to understand which company 
        such consumer is transacting with during online hotel 
        reservation shopping;
            (2) the extent to which consumers are harmed by uncertainty 
        as to which company such consumers are transacting with during 
        online hotel reservation shopping; and
            (3) whether any practice by a third party online hotel 
        reservation seller violates the Restore Online Shoppers' 
        Confidence Act (15 U.S.C. 8401 et seq.).
    (b) Report.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Commission shall make publicly 
available on the website of the Commission a report that contains the 
results and conclusions of the study conducted under subsection (a).
    (c) Third Party Online Hotel Reservation Seller Defined.--In this 
section, the term ``third party online hotel reservation seller'' has 
the meaning given such term in subsection (c)(2) of section 3 of the 
Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (15 U.S.C. 8402).

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the Federal Trade Commission 
should revise its website to make it easier for consumers and 
businesses to report complaints of deceptive practices with respect to 
online booking of hotel reservations.
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