FAS compared Petersburg hoteliers with looters

The head of the Department of the Federal Antimonopoly Service for St. Petersburg, Oleg Kolomiychenko, believes that the actions of the administrations of the city hotels, which many times have inflated the prices of hotel services during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, recall the actions of looters. The FAS can apply to the Government of the Russian Federation with this issue, writes RIA Novosti .

The annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum will be held on June 17-19, 2010.

According to the press service of the UFAS, the city hotels raised prices for accommodation during the forum by 30% - 800%.

“The actions of the hotels resemble the actions of the looters,” the press service of the UFAS SOMISICHENKO as saying. He does not exclude that the OFAS can contact the government with a letter on the situation with raising prices in St. Petersburg hotels during the forum.

"The hotels did not take any independent actions to attract customers, but took advantage of the efforts of the Government of Russia and St. Petersburg aimed at organizing and increasing the status of the forum to achieve their commercial interests. Such actions of hotels, in addition to restricting competition, cause the image of Russia and St. Petersburg, its prospects as a center of business tourism," the report said.

The OFAS recalls that during the XII St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2008, a number of hotels raised prices by 23-533% relative to the level and so traditionally high prices in the summer season.

The St. Petersburg OFAS tested the validity of the increase and did not find objective reasons for the uniform and synchronous price behavior of the participants in the hotel services market. The department recognized in actions 11 business entities providing hotel services, violation of the law "On the Protection of Competition" and issued them an order to prevent such agreed actions.

However, this order was appealed in the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, which in three instances recognized these acts invalid.

"The indicated actions of the ships of the three instances actually approved a similar increase in hotel services by 25-533% for the days of the XII of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2008 and allowed hotels to act in the same way and continue to conduct significant events for St. Petersburg," the UFAS report said.