Hilton, Hyatt and other major hotel operators have joined real estate analytics firm CoStar in urging a Washington federal court to once again dismiss an antitrust lawsuit accusing them of fixing prices in luxury hotel markets, arguing an amended complaint still doesn't show they shared any exact pricing information.

CoStar Group Inc., joined by Hilton Domestic Operating Co., Hyatt Hotels Corp, Loews Hotels Holdings Corp., Marriott International Inc. and other hotel giants, said in a motion to dismiss Monday that hotel guests' latest complaint against them "supplies nothing new" to back their assertions. The travelers alleged in a complaint that competitively sensitive information was circulated through industry benchmarking reports offered by CoStar-owned Smith Travel Research, and that the use of the reports ultimately drove up luxury hotel rates.

A Seattle federal judge tossed an earlier iteration of the case in August, concluding the hotel guests failed to show the hospitality groups provided CoStar with any information about the actual prices of individual rooms.

"Plaintiffs' new allegations show no more than what they alleged in their original complaint: that the hotel defendants share historical revenue and occupancy data (i.e., rooms available, rooms sold, and total revenue) with STR, and in return ... [they] receive a benchmarking report that provides revenue and occupancy data that is aggregated, averaged, and anonymized across at least several hotels, if not more," according to the companies' filing.

Led by Jeanette Portillo, seven hotel patrons first launched their case in February against CoStar, Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Loews and other hotel operators. They said Smith Travel Research's STAR Report enabled the hospitality groups to engage in price fixing, in violation of the Sherman Act, and ultimately overcharge guests for stays at five-star hotels across the country.

CoStar and the hotel chains countered that such benchmarking reports have been around for decades and have passed the muster of federal courts. The report allows users to compare hotel performance against at least three other hotels using anonymized data, according to the companies' motion.

In an Aug. 29 order dismissing the first complaint, U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik concluded the travelers relied on "linguistic stretches" to claim that price information was shared, since Smith Travel Research doesn't require hotel companies to share exact room prices.

The plaintiffs filed a fresh complaint Oct. 3, alleging the Smith Travel Research contracts produced in discovery confirm that hotel operators had to explicitly commit to regularly submitting pricing information to receive the STAR reports.

But CoStar and the hotel groups argued in their filing Monday that the consumers continued to mischaracterize revenue and occupancy data as "pricing information."

They also asserted that the plaintiffs failed again to show how the sharing of the benchmarking reports resulted in the inflated room rates the guests said they paid, positing an "even more speculative and attenuated" connection than in their initial lawsuit.

"Instead, plaintiffs continue to allege that the gotel defendants rely on various revenue management platforms to determine their pricing — supposed 'pricing algorithms' that are not at issue in this litigation — and that STR's reports might be, but are also allegedly prohibited from being, one of many data sets that are fed into those revenue management platforms to drive hotel room prices higher," CoStar and the hotel groups said.

Steve W. Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, representing the consumers, told Law360 Tuesday that the amended complaint "describes in detail a regular, built-in system for competitors to share sensitive pricing and occupancy data with one another."

"When rivals coordinate instead of compete, consumers pay more," Berman said in an email. "That's the issue here. With the benefit of limited discovery, we have added concrete detail and the governing agreements themselves, and we look forward to presenting those allegations to the court, beating this motion and getting into discovery."

A spokesperson for CoStar told Law360 Tuesday the court correctly dismissed the plaintiffs' initial complaint earlier this year.

"This lawsuit continues to be based on a willful mischaracterization of STR's business, and we look forward to the case checking out for good shortly," the spokesperson wrote in an email.

Representatives of the hotel companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday afternoon.

The consumers are represented by Steve W. Berman, Theodore Wojcik, Xiaoyi Fan and Rio S. Pierce of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.

CoStar and STR are represented by Vanessa Soriano Power of Stoel Rives LLP and Lawrence E. Buterman, Sarah M. Ray, Elyse M. Greenwald and David L. Johnson of Latham & Watkins LLP.

Hilton  is represented by Heidi Bradley of Bradley Bernstein Sands LLP and D. Jarrett Arp, Mari Grace, Neal A. Potischman and Tina Hwa Joe of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

Hyatt is represented by Michael Rosenberger of Gordon Tilden Thomas & Cordell LLP and Lindsay C. Harrison and Douglas E. Litvack of Jenner & Block LLP.

Loews is represented by Robert J. Maguire of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and Katherine B. Forrest and Paul D. Brachman of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP.

Six Continents Hotels is represented by Paul R. Taylor of Byrnes Keller Cromwell LLP and Jeffrey S. Cashdan, Emily S. Newton, Lohr A. Beck and Caroline Buyak Callahan of King & Spalding LLP.

Marriott  is represented by Jeffrey B. Coopersmith and Steven Fogg of Corr Cronin LLP and Kristen C. Limarzi, Melanie L. Katsur and Sarah Akhtar of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

Accor Management US Inc. is represented by Robin E. Wechkin, Carrie Mahan, Benjamin M. Mundel, S. Nicole Booth and Amy P. Lally of Sidley Austin LLP.

The case is Portillo et al. v. CoStar Group Inc. et al., case number 2:24-cv-00229, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.