Expedia Mulls Matching Booking on Resort Fee Commissions
Photo Credit: Pictured is the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Expedia hasn't decided yet whether it will follow Booking.com's lead in charging hotels commission on their resort fees. Flickr.com / Håkan Dahlström
Skift Take
When Priceline ended traveler fees on airline bookings a decade ago, the other online travel agencies generally followed. Whether Expedia will match Booking.com and start charging hotels commissions on resort fees is a much more complex issue. Part of it depends on how much resistance Booking gets from hotels to its new policy.
With Booking.com making the controversial move of charging commissions on hotel resort fees for the first time this week, rival Expedia Group isn't ruling out matching the new stance.
"We're observing, we're listening," said Cyril Ranque, Expedia Group's president of lodging services, who added "we're trying to get as much information as we can."
He said Expedia has not changed anything about its commission collection policies, and pointed out, "we are hearing, despair, high concerns from our hotel partners. We're trying to get as much information as we can."
Ranque isn't a fan of resort fees in part because Expedia loses out on commissions because it only collects them on the room rate, and also the resort fees are misleading to consumers.
For example, a deluxe room with two queen beds at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for a June 11 stay goes for a nightly rate of $84, but it's only when consumers click through to a checkout page on Expedia.com that they
