Disneyland Paris has come under scrutiny amid claims that the French theme park operator might be freezing out customers from the UK and Germany on certain price promotions.
According to the
Financial Times, people in the UK have been paying 15 per cent more for one day tickets than their European counterparts. According to the FT’s report, in some cases French consumers were paying €1,346 (US$1,488, £953) for premium packages, while visitors in the UK were charged €1,870 (US$2,068, £1,324) and Germans paid €2,447 (US$2,706, £1,733).
The European Commission (EC) said that it had “received a number of complaints” from Disneyland’s customers. The EC expressed its concern that Disneyland Paris is stopping consumers in some areas from securing the best deals, something forbidden under European law.
The French government has been asked to investigate the incident, but Disneyland Paris has said that the price of a standard ticket is the same across all of the EU market, and that customers are not subject to “geo-blocking”, where online promotions are closed to those located in a certain country. Disney did add that customers would not be able to pay directly for tickets for a promotion in a certain country unless their payment card is registered in that country, something which is an “anti-fraud measure,” according to the park.
According to Disney, if a consumer finds a promotion outside their local market, they can contact the central reservations office and “request to make that specific booking.”
The clampdown from Brussels is part of a larger crackdown across the retail and services sector, with the EC investigating complaints against Amazon, multiple Spanish hoteliers, Ski-lift operators in Austria, Sky UK and more.
