The Culture and Tourism Ministry has fined a hotel in Turkey’s popular holiday resort of Antalya for charging a Turkish customer an additional fee under the heading of “nationality surcharge,” Turkish media outlets reported, citing a minister.
According to Turkish media reports, the Turkish customer booked a reservation at Limak Lara Hotel through a foreign website after noticing that hotels in the country charge higher prices for Turks than foreigners for reservations. Upon arriving at the hotel and being identified as a Turkish citizen, the customer was charged an additional 120 euros (TL 4,178).
After hotel authorities faced backlash on social media over the weekend for labeling this additional fee as a “nationality surcharge” on the invoice, the Culture and Tourism Ministry conducted an inspection.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said in a statement on Tuesday that the ministry had imposed a fine of TL 54,694 ($1,689) on hotel management for unjustly charging an additional fee following the confirmation of the customer’s reservation. He added that the surcharge collected by the company was refunded to the customer.
Ersoy also spoke about allegations that the activities of the Netherlands-based Booking.com online hotel booking platform in Turkey were banned by the ministry due to “unfair competition,” saying that they are unfounded.
The minister added that a complaint was filed against the website by the Turkish Association of Travel Agents (TÜRSAB) for failing to pay taxes and engaging in unfair competition in 2015 and that the court ruled for a preventive ban in 2017. Ersoy noted that the court also decided to lift the precautionary measure upon the payment of a security deposit of TL 500,000 ($15,441) by the website.
The penalty imposed on the booking platform led to a decrease in competition in hotel reservations in Turkey, allowing local agencies to book customers at higher prices.
The minister’s company, Ersoy Hotels, is the owner of several luxurious resorts, including the Hilton Hotel in the Aegean’s top vacation destination of Bodrum, Voyage Hotel Belek and Max Royal Kemer. Ersoy is also the owner of Turkey’s largest tourism agency, ETS.
Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) officials’ ownership of commercial entities is a common situation in Turkey.
