Originally Posted by
pinniped
Does a state actually have to get a court to overrule the FTC? Or does it merely need to convince a court that the fees violate some state law or are against the interests of people in that state?
I get where states have limited power over airlines operating interstate or international flights. But a hotel would seem to be much more in the states' domain.
That said, I also figured that domain would be about resort fees within the state - not suing for damages on behalf of the state's residents staying in other states or countries. IANAL and don't even watch enough Law & Order to try to fake it, so I really don't understand how that legal strategy works. Nor do I know whether Washington DC's special not-quite-a-state status matters at all.
When I saw the headline, I figured the endgame would be (at best) that hotels in the District can't charge resort fees. I haven't personally paid them there, but maybe they see what's going on in NYC and are getting ahead of the game. I don't quite get how a DC AG can win a case and get them banned throughout the Marriott world.
I also never thought that Marriott was a DC company. I know their first hotel was in Virginia, but I thought their headquarters were in Bethesda (or somewhere up that way - outside the District).
You generally can't overrule the FTC and Washington DC will have to convince the District Court of DC that 1) It has jurisdiction which DC justifies as violating their Consumer Protection Law 2) Marriott is hurting DC consumers, and 3) The much harder one - That the DC Consumer Protection Law supersedes the regulatory decisions of the FTC and that law pertains to the advertising of hotel pricing in the District.
While I think this is good press for the District - bad press for Marriott - and will be interesting to watch - my personal opinion, once Marriott objects to the jurisdiction, the DC court will dismiss and tell the Attorney General this would need to be filed in Federal Court.
The problem if you let every District/State/City regulate the online advertising of hotel prices is different laws everywhere and these advertisements certainly go across state lines. If you want confusing, lets say no resort fees in the District, resort fees ok in Hawaii but need to be disclosed, resort fees ok in Las Vegas and don't even need to be disclosed, and so and so on if you don't have Federal regulation.