Online travel companies including Expedia have won the first of several pending legal battles to roll back tax assessments by California cities that claim they owe tens of millions of dollars in occupancy taxes.

Travellers who book holidays online or with budget airlines could receive greater financial protection if companies go bankrupt, under new plans mooted by the European Commission. Brussels officals say it is time to extend the consumer protection beyond package holidays to also independent trips using websites such as Expedia, as well as as covering passengers if an airline collapses.

Choice Hotels International (NYSE: CHH) and Expedia, Inc., the world’s leading online travel company (Nasdaq: EXPE), today announced they have signed a new three-year agreement to include Choice Hotels International properties on the more than 80 Expedia® and Hotels.com®-branded sites that Expedia operates worldwide.

Expedia has made a significant change to its service policy, eliminating all phone-based booking fees and the company will not charge phone booking fees for any flight, car rental, hotel or cruise reservation booked by phone in the US.

Expedia and other OTAs have long touted what has become known in the industry as “the billboard effect” whereby they have claimed that positioning on their sites generates not only bookings through the OTA but also a halo effect on the hotels’ own sites by generating brand awareness.

Bill McCollum, the Florida Attorney General filed suit against Expedia and Orbitz this afternoon, opening the next chapter in the ongoing fight over occupancy taxes.