Hotels can now undercut online travel agents
Australia’s competition regulator has struck a deal with Expedia and Booking.com which will allow hotels to provide cheaper rates to customers doing phone book-ins or walk-ins
The cheaper rates just won’t apply if it’s done through their web sites.
It’s all part of a global trend in the industry.
Germany's antitrust regulator has already ordered Booking.com to forbidding hotels from offering rooms at lower prices on their own websites. Similar changes have been made in Italy, France and Sweden.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims said hotels had raised a number of concerns about so-called parity clauses which were deemed “anti-competitive as they stopped consumers from getting different prices from competing online sites.”
“Australian accommodation providers will now be able to tailor their offers to better meet the needs of their customers and their own businesses requirements,’’ Mr Sims said.
“They will now be able to offer lower rates through telephone bookings and walk-ins, offer special rates and deals to customer loyalty groups, in addition to offering deals via Expedia and Booking.com.”
The industry is not completely happy about the changes because 60 to 95 per cent of hotel bookings are made online on hotel websites.
Accommodation Association of Australia (AAA), which had lobbied for the change, was critical of the new arrangements.
AAA Chairman Richard Munro talked about the inability of hotels to offer lower prices online, pointing out that this is the most popular booking method.
"It is a long way off what we wanted," Munro told Reuters. "It is only a very lukewarm way to where we need to be and consumers in this country aren't getting the best deal."
"The decision to allow online agencies to prohibit hotels from offering lower rates online clearly lessened competition and was detrimental to hotels and travellers," Tourism Accommodation Australia chief executive Carol Giuseppi told the ABC.
"We advised the ACCC it should have insisted that online travel agencies allow hotels to set their own rates online."
by Leon Gettler, 2nd September2016
