Articles tagged “rate parity”

When it comes to brainstorming, there's no substitute for a Skift reporter ambling over to a Skift Research analyst's desk, and shooting the breeze about Oyo's model, or looking over a shoulder to view on screen how Expedia's marketing spend is trending. That dynamic is really tough to replicate on Zoom.

Deep-pocketed Google clearly didn't appease suffering travel advertisers in any meaningful way because it didn't have to — it's Google. Don't look for Google to find religion in terms of being a more collaborative partner perhaps until regulators would take it down a peg.

In an I-just-saw-an-elephant-fly moment, Marriott International will be directing businesses to Expedia Group to access certain Marriott wholesale rates. Bedbanks, tour operators, and smaller online travel agencies that play games with room rates are put on notice.

Consumers often wonder where they can find the lowest rate for a hotel room online. Oddly enough, a hotel's managers may not know the answer. Mysteriously discounted rates from small sites and apps are popping up more often online, even in markets like the U.S. where a few hotel groups dominate.

The big chains now offer special book-direct deals through Google Hotel Ads. This helps with click-through and conversions, but also with new loyalty member acquisition — everything a growing hotel chain needs in an ad partner.

The German regulator's ruling to reject Booking.com's reformed hotel rate practices as not going far enough could be a landmark decision if it holds up upon appeal and if other European countries follow Germany's lead. Booking.com may have the leverage to inhibit hotel partners from getting carried away on discounting but the ruling is a victory for consumers nonetheless.

Lawsuits didn't kill hotel rate parity. Instead, it is Big Data, analytics, advertsiing retargeting and personalization that are making enforcement of rate-parity provisions almost untenable.

You can expect that the online travel agencies eventually will have to alter their hotel rate parity practices -- in Europe, at least.

This suit could get really interesting, although only the courts or regulators will ultimately decide if the anti-competition claims pass legal muster. If the plaintiffs prevail, then hotel-OTA rate-parity practices in the U.S. could get tossed out the window.