Hotels.com, L.p.; Hotwire, Inc.; Trip Network, Inc. (d/b/a Cheaptickets.com); Travelport Limited; Expedia, Inc…

Summary

The court affirmed certification of two classes seeking declaratory judgments concerning whether online travel companies owed taxes on the retail price charged for hotel rooms rather than the discounted price paid to hotels. It held that exhaustion of administrative remedies was not required because the proposed administrative remedies were unavailable or futile to the governmental plaintiffs, and that common statutory questions predominated despite variations among local ordinances.