European Court of Justice rules that OTAs can no longer enforce hotel price parity

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• Pb says:

  27 Sep27 September 12:46

  I always hope the hotel will ‘appreciate’ my direct booking more and ensure I get a better product , not that I have much evidence of this but it would make sense .

  • EC says:

    27 Sep27 September 13:54

    Impossible. I always used to book direct when the rate was the same until one time I turned up and they said they couldn’t give me the room I paid for and downgraded me with an offer of “a free drink at the hotel bar”. The gentleman said they had to give the room to a Booking.com user because the OTAs hold so much power

    • RussellH says:

      27 Sep27 September 15:08

      My experiences back in my tour-operating days do not support that.
      Two examples, based on the typical type of hotels I used to book for my packages – medium size family owned and run, in Germany.

      1. A regular customer contacted me for a stay at Hotel A. He said that he had checked online, and was concerned at the apparent lack of availability. I phoned the hotel and spoke to the owner/manger, who I knew well. She told me that “of course we have availability, we never offer more than 75%-80% of rooms online. We keep our better rooms for our partners like you.”

      2. A prospective customer asked me to cost a proposed package, though only one of his stopover points was somewhere I had good connections.
      He decided that he could do better on his own, primarily booking via HRS (a large German OTA that in the past, certainly worked with Lufthansa). I contacted the hotel where I had a room for them on hold and told them what had happened. The owner/manager told me “Oh, they booked on HRS. What they do not know is that we only offer our worst half-dozen rooms there (in Rob’s parlance “with a view of the bins”); we never give them to those who book direct.”

      Most of my former competitors had similar stories to tell.

• TGLoyalty says:

  27 Sep27 September 15:14

  Wasn’t this just price fixing? If the OTAs can’t be undercut?

  • Rhys says:

    27 Sep27 September 15:22

    Price fixing is when you agree with your competitors (eg other hotels) to offer your services at a mutually fixed price.

    Price parity just insists that whatever price you charge, must also be charged anywhere else.

    • jp-mco says:

      27 Sep27 September 17:53

      Like the Transatlantic JV?

      • BBbetter says:

        27 Sep27 September 19:16

        That’s different. Any price can be charged, but has to be shared based on a fixed formula among the alliance members.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      28 Sep28 September 13:38

      I think there’s a very thin line between the two.

• Bernard says:

  27 Sep27 September 15:49

  For the knowledgeable booker, especially on higher rate hotels, find the OTA rate, then directly contact the hotel. They will often agree a 10-15pct discount if you book direct, while still leaving them better off.
  On £700-£900 a night room/suites it saves you up to £405 over three nights and leaves the hotel £189 better.
  When things go wrong (ie another BA flight snafu), direct bookings tend to see hotels be more understanding/accommodating.
  Pay with you Amex or HSBC, and always put the hotel loyalty in.for points.

• Occasional Ranter says:

  27 Sep27 September 17:08

  I booked several rooms at the Kempinski Berchtesgaden through FHR last month. Tried to get the hotel to beat FHR’s prices by calling them direct but they said they were unable to due to an agreement with Amex. Presumably that’s also caught by this ruling ?

  • Rob says:

    27 Sep27 September 17:14

    That’s rubbish unless you wanted FHR benefits in which case it’s correct and legal. If I agree a HfP exclusive deal for readers I am obviously able to ensure the company keeps it exclusive.

  • JDB says:

    27 Sep27 September 20:14

    @Occasional Ranter – it’s all in the asking! For all the hotel knows you might be testing whether the hotel is honouring its contract(s). Your request for the hotel to match the FHR is akin to asking a (non professional) to sleep with them as an opening gambit. Hotels are very commercial and pragmatic so can recognise they will get more revenue dealing directly with you but they also have valuable commercial arrangements so some subtleties / niceties are needed from a potential guest.

    • Jonny says:

      29 Sep29 September 02:26

      How can you ask them to match or beat a rate if you can’t tell them who or what the rate is?

• MrHusky42 says:

  14 Oct14 October 18:55

  I will continue to use Booking.com. My customer experience with their app is excellent. Especially with last minute bookings. With them, i allways manage to find a good hotel at a fair price. Even last minute, even in high season and even in very popular expensive towns. Today I booked an hotel in The Netherlands. Through the BA EC link I now get 6 Avios per GBP. This used to be 4 Avios per GBP.

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