IL Senate passes bill requiring transparency from third party hotel booking sites

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — The Illinois Senate unanimously passed a bill Thursday to require transparency for third party hotel booking websites to protect customers.

Sponsors said many people use these sites thinking they are booking a room directly with the hotel, but they often find extra fees, errors or other issues after they pay.

Some customers have even paid for rooms on third party sites and arrived to their destination to find out they never booked with the hotel.

"What this legislation does is provide transparency and addresses the problem by making sure these third party booking services clearly disclose that they have a lack of affiliation with the hotel before a consumer reserves a room," said Sen. Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford).

Illinois is the first state in the country to try and address this issue. Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield) cosponsored the plan.

Senate Bill 2013 now heads to the House for further consideration.