If you booked a hotel room through a travel website other than Expedia, or directly with the hotel, between October 2, 2022 and today, you may belong to one of two proposed classes in a new antitrust lawsuit against Expedia Group. No class has been certified yet, so there is nothing to sign up for right now — but the case defines exactly who it's meant to cover. Three consumers — Ronisha Andrews, Pak Seong Hoi, and Lorraine Rocci — filed the case, *Andrews v.
Expedia Group, Inc.*, on October 2, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, according to Courthouse News. The lawsuit accuses Expedia of using contract terms and automated pricing tools to push hotel rates higher across the board, not just on its own platforms.
Official resource:
- Read the official notice from Courthousenews — Use this primary source to verify the official announcement.
Table of Contents
- What the Lawsuit Claims Expedia Did
- Who Qualifies for the Two Proposed Classes
- Who Is Excluded
- Where the Case Stands Now
- A Different Case You Shouldn't Confuse This With
- Frequently Asked Questions
What the Lawsuit Claims Expedia Did
The complaint alleges Expedia's standard contracts with hotels, combined with its automated search-ranking and rate-match tools, punish hotels that offer lower prices on their own websites or on competing booking sites. Courthouse News reports this effectively enforces rate parity — a requirement that a hotel's price looks the same everywhere — which the plaintiffs say inflates what every consumer pays, regardless of where they book.
The case rests on the two main federal antitrust laws: the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act, both of which bar agreements and conduct that suppress competition, per Courthouse News. The complaint also cites Expedia's scale as central to the alleged harm: the company controls roughly 78 to 80 percent of U.S. online hotel bookings by value among online travel agencies, a figure that excludes direct hotel-site bookings and offline reservations, according to a Gadget Review summary of the filing.
Who Qualifies for the Two Proposed Classes
The lawsuit proposes two nationwide classes, both covering U.S. consumers who booked a hotel stay since October 2, 2022.
The split depends on how you booked: Both class definitions come directly from the complaint, as reported by Courthouse News. The theory behind splitting the classes this way is that Expedia's pricing tools allegedly raised rates network-wide, so the claimed harm reaches bookings made away from Expedia's own sites just as much as bookings made through them.
- Consumers who booked a listed hotel directly through the hotel's own website or front desk.
- Consumers who booked the same kind of hotel through a non-Expedia online travel agency, such as Booking.com or Priceline.
Who Is Excluded
Anyone who booked directly through an Expedia-owned site is explicitly left out of both proposed classes. That covers Expedia.com itself along with its sister brands Hotels.com, Orbitz, and Vrbo, according to Courthouse News.
That exclusion matters because it draws a sharp line: the case isn't arguing that Expedia overcharged its own direct customers. It's arguing that Expedia's pricing architecture raised prices for people who deliberately booked somewhere else to avoid it.
Where the Case Stands Now
No class has been certified, no settlement exists, and Expedia has not filed a public answer or a motion to dismiss, so there is currently no claims process and nothing for a consumer to file, per Courthouse News. Plaintiffs' attorney Eric L.
Cramer has said the group intends to take the case before a jury in Seattle, and the complaint asks the court to rule that Expedia violated federal antitrust law and to order an end to the contract terms and algorithmic practices being challenged. A travel-industry commentator has pushed back on a figure that circulated alongside news of the suit — that Expedia inflates hotel rates by 15 to 30 percent — noting that hotels still compete against Expedia's listed prices through member rates, AAA discounts, and other direct-booking incentives, and calling the specific number unproven, according to View from the Wing. That critique doesn't change who the proposed classes cover, but it's a useful check against overstating what the lawsuit has established so far.
A Different Case You Shouldn't Confuse This With
A separate federal antitrust suit filed in California in 2025 named Expedia alongside Booking.com's parent company, Marriott, and Hilton, over allegations of rate-parity and resale-price-maintenance conspiracies, according to Skift. That case is distinct from the October 2026 Washington lawsuit, has its own set of defendants, and runs on its own timeline.
If you're checking whether a booking might qualify for compensation, confirm which case you're looking at before relying on any eligibility details. The 2026 Seattle case is the one defining the two classes described above; the 2025 California case covers different claims and a different roster of companies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I file a claim right now?
No. No class has been certified and no settlement exists, so there's no claims process yet, according to Courthouse News.
Does booking through Hotels.com or Orbitz count toward either proposed class?
No. Bookings made directly through Expedia-owned sites, including Hotels.com, Orbitz, and Vrbo, are excluded from both proposed classes per the complaint.
Is this the same case as the 2025 lawsuit against Expedia, Marriott, and Hilton?
No. That is a separate California case over rate-parity claims; the October 2026 Seattle lawsuit is a distinct filing with its own class definitions, as reported by Skift.