Facts

An Phan filed a class action against Agoda Company Pte. Ltd., an international travel service provider based in Singapore, in relation to text messages Agoda sent to its customers.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: Phan contended that Agoda sent her text messages confirming her travel bookings and included a link to defendant's app, which plaintiff claimed violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Agoda denied the contentions. Agoda contended that the text messages were not advertising or telemarketing. Agoda also argued that plaintiff had agreed to Agoda's Terms of Use in which plaintiff agreed to receive confirmation messages, which the Terms of Use describe as transactional and not marketing.

Result

The court held that the text messages did not contain advertising and were not telemarketing and granted Agoda's motion for summary judgment because Phan had given the requisite consent. The court reasoned that the context of the text messages was transactional and the content merely confirmed the booking and encouraged customers to manage the booking through the app.

Other Information

The court also held that the mere inclusion of a link to the app in the text messages "cannot be said to advertise the commercial availability of this product or service under the law."