Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons Free of Luxury Hotel Antitrust Case

Ritz Carlton Hotel Co. LLC, Four Seasons Hotels Ltd., and other major hotel chains won their motion to dismiss a lawsuit claiming they increased rates of luxury hotel rooms via algorithm.

Judge Joan B. Gottschall of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in a Monday opinion and order granted the hotel company defendants their motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s second amended complaint for failure to state a claim.

The court also dismissed the case against the defendant owners of the “Demand360" software platform underlying the claims.

Consumer plaintiff Ryan Segal didn’t have a plausible claim for the defendants’ alleged anticompetitive behavior, or a credible theory that the information-sharing he alleged led to anticompetitive effects, Gottschall said.

She provided Segal an opportunity to file a third amended complaint. The ruling adds to other court orders dismissing hotel companies accused of fixing room rates with an algorithm.

Segal last year sued the hotel companies in a proposed class action, alleging they used Amadeus IT Group SA’s Demand360 platform to charge increased rates for luxury hotel rooms despite historically low overall demand. Amadeus was also a defendant.

The defendant hotels argued that Segal failed to allege a hub-and-spoke conspiracy in which the hub serves as a dominant purchaser: The spokes are like manufacturers or distributors that enter into vertical agreements with the hub, and the rim of the wheel contains horizontal agreements among the spokes.

Segal responded that the complaint “contains no mention of a price-fixing conspiracy at all” and is limited to a claim of unlawful information exchange.

Without a claim that the information-sharing led to anticompetitive pricing, Gottschall said, “it is hard to be sure what Segal means to allege and what pleading standards should apply.”

Segal is represented by Robins Kaplan LLP. Ritz Carlton is represented by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. Four Seasons Hotels Ltd. is represented by White & Case LLP. Amadeus is represented by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.

The case is Segal v. Amadeus IT Grp. S.A., N.D. Ill., No. 24-cv-1783, 3/31/25.