Hotel CEOs Love Direct Booking But They Have Varied Views About Strategy
Photo Credit: Best Western CEO David Kong said his company works with online travel agencies but Best Westerns' member rates for consumers are 'gated.' Best Western / Best Western Hotels & Resorts
Skift Take
Whether you choose to view it as a war or not, it's fairly unanimous that nearly every hotelier wishes he or she would have more direct bookings versus bookings made through an online travel agency.
Earlier this month, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts surprised many in the hotel industry when news leaked during its current contract negotiations that the company was threatening to abandon Expedia and its numerous online travel agency sites.
If Hyatt makes good on its threat and it doesn't come to terms with Expedia then that might mean consumers would no longer be able to book a Hyatt hotel on Expedia and sister sites, including Hotels.com, Travelocity, Orbitz, and Hotwire, among others.
Hyatt's potential move would be just one of many recent efforts hotel companies have launched in recent years to win the so-called direct booking wars or, in other words, to get more consumers to book directly on their own sites. Online travel agencies often charge chain hotels a commission ranging from 10 to 20 percent.
The height of these efforts by Hyatt and its peers seemed to peak last year, especially when Hilton debuted its largest-ever advertising campaign called Stop Clicking Around. Hy
