Hotels warned over pricing ahead of CIIE

Price controls will be imposed on city hotels between October 29 and November 13 in a bid to curb gouging during the third China International Import Expo, Shanghai's market watchdog announced on Tuesday.

Hotel operators in all districts excluding Chongming are ordered to check the price limit of rooms under the price intervention measures of the second China International Import Expo via the city's CIIE price supervision and management platform at http://101.89.76.248:8083.

The cost of hotel rooms during this year's price intervention period should not exceed the highest prices of similar rooms with similar service standards during the same period last year, the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation said.

New hotels should set their prices by referencing those of hotels of the same standard and in similar areas.

They are also required to report their prices to the districts' cultural and tourism authorities via the platform.

Hotel operators must reduce their prices immediately if rooms available for the period between October 29 and November 13 exceed the price cap.

For rooms already booked that exceed the price limits, hotels should refund the difference.

Hotel operators are banned from failure to report prices, providing fake price materials, or exceeding price limits, the administration said.

Violators of China's price law and relevant regulations will have illegal profits confiscated and be fined up to five times their illegal profits.

If there are no illegal profits, they still face up to 5 million yuan (US$742,000) in fines, and even be suspended from operation in serious cases, according to the administration.