Hotel price fixing

"Andreas H. Zappel" wrote in message
...

"tim....." wrote:

Surprised no-one posted this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19060712

Quite how the "industry" thinks that this practice is legal under EU
competition law in beyond me. It is clearly not (whether it is
disadvantageous to the consumer is another matter).

And it's not only BOOKING and Expedia, you can find this rate parity
part in all contracts of the major reservation systems.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reading up on it, the OFT have selected these companies as a test case. If
they win, I am sure that they will round up the rest

In Germany HRS bought hotel.de some mounth ago and both systems
together are over 50% of the german market, so there was a injunction
against these two systems because of the rate parity in the contracts.

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In don't see how having "rate parity" makes a difference on principle.

It's how you get there that matters.

As a reseller, they don't control the base price, the hotels do that. All
HRS control is the discount off that price for booking ahead.

IME, from the past 15 trips, HRS have given me the best price on 80-90% of
occasions, and that's for "cancellable up to date of arrival" contracts. On
the few occasions that I have beaten an HRS price is usually because it was
a "non cancellable" contract. If they do have market dominance, they aren't
abusing it (not to the detriment of the consumer, anyway)

tim

martin the specialist is here to feed the thread.

"Martin" a écrit dans le message de groupe de
discussion : ...
On Sat, 4 Aug 2012 09:27:18 +0100, "tim....."
wrote:

"Martin" wrote in message
. ..

On Fri, 3 Aug 2012 16:29:31 +0100, "tim....."
wrote:

"Martin" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 3 Aug 2012 08:26:44 +0100, "tim....."
wrote:

"Andreas H. Zappel" wrote in message
m...

"tim....." wrote:

Surprised no-one posted this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19060712

Quite how the "industry" thinks that this practice is legal under EU
competition law in beyond me. It is clearly not (whether it is
disadvantageous to the consumer is another matter).

And it's not only BOOKING and Expedia, you can find this rate parity
part in all contracts of the major reservation systems.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reading up on it, the OFT have selected these companies as a test case.
If
they win, I am sure that they will round up the rest

and as a result hotel prices will increase.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm afraid you'll have to explain that logic Cos I just don't see it.

Hotel rooms are the ultimate perishable product. They will always be
looking for ways to make sure that they sell 100%

Compare the price you are quoted at the reception, if you just turn up
against Expedia. Which is cheapest? Most receptions quote the maximum
price.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah!

And what's that got to do with banning "no discounting" clauses in
internet
reseller contracts.

The OFT are tackling what is basically a cartel/monopoly.
--

Martin

"Martin" wrote in message
...

On Sat, 4 Aug 2012 09:27:18 +0100, "tim....."
wrote:

"Martin" wrote in message
.. .

On Fri, 3 Aug 2012 16:29:31 +0100, "tim....."
wrote:

"Martin" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 3 Aug 2012 08:26:44 +0100, "tim....."
wrote:

"Andreas H. Zappel" wrote in message
...

"tim....." wrote:

Surprised no-one posted this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19060712

Quite how the "industry" thinks that this practice is legal under EU
competition law in beyond me. It is clearly not (whether it is
disadvantageous to the consumer is another matter).

And it's not only BOOKING and Expedia, you can find this rate parity
part in all contracts of the major reservation systems.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reading up on it, the OFT have selected these companies as a test case.
If
they win, I am sure that they will round up the rest

and as a result hotel prices will increase.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm afraid you'll have to explain that logic Cos I just don't see it.

Hotel rooms are the ultimate perishable product. They will always be
looking for ways to make sure that they sell 100%

Compare the price you are quoted at the reception, if you just turn up
against Expedia. Which is cheapest? Most receptions quote the maximum
price.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah!

And what's that got to do with banning "no discounting" clauses in internet
reseller contracts.

The OFT are tackling what is basically a cartel/monopoly.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Can't see how it is a monopoly

There are at least a dozen hotel resellers advertising their service in the
marketplace.

As a consumer, I'm not interested in how to get the beat price for e.g. the
Marriott at wherever. I'm interested in the best value for say, 60 Euro pn.

If the Marriott take themselves out of my price range by restricting the way
that they resell then that is their loss, not mine

tim

On Sat, 04 Aug 2012 07:35:37 +0200, Andreas H. Zappel
wrote:

Martin wrote:

and as a result hotel prices will increase.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm afraid you'll have to explain that logic Cos I just don't see it.

Hotel rooms are the ultimate perishable product. They will always be
looking for ways to make sure that they sell 100%

Compare the price you are quoted at the reception, if you just turn up
against Expedia. Which is cheapest? Most receptions quote the maximum
price.

The hotel reception get the rates from the local managment. The rates
in reservation systems are made from a regional or national sales
office.
Choose a individual hotel and the rate at the reception is the same or
better, because they don't need to pay the commission, than in the
reservation systems.

Now walk into a hotel at 6:00pm and ask for a room and see what they
ask for it.

Anyone who walks in off the street for a room gets charged the top
rate.

Andreas H. Zappel wrote:
Martin wrote:

and as a result hotel prices will increase.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm afraid you'll have to explain that logic Cos I just don't see it.

Hotel rooms are the ultimate perishable product. They will always be
looking for ways to make sure that they sell 100%

Compare the price you are quoted at the reception, if you just turn up
against Expedia. Which is cheapest? Most receptions quote the maximum
price.

The hotel reception get the rates from the local managment. The rates
in reservation systems are made from a regional or national sales
office.
Choose a individual hotel and the rate at the reception is the same or
better, because they don't need to pay the commission, than in the
reservation systems.

Sometimes it seems to be impossible to reserve a room directly, at least on
line.


--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist with iPad

Yes, it's much cheaper to book accomodation online. Moreover, I have never booked a hotel room or a flight without having compared prices before. There are a lot of travel search engines that can do this for free. I often use http://bookinghunter.com .

Yes, it's much cheaper to book accomodation online. Moreover, I have never booked a hotel room or a flight without having compared prices before. There are a lot of travel search engines that can do this for free. I often use http://bookinghunter.com .

martin the experienced traveller...25 years ago.



"Martin" a écrit dans le message de groupe de
discussion : ...
On Sat, 4 Aug 2012 09:31:48 +0100, "tim....."
wrote:

"Andreas H. Zappel" wrote in message
. ..

Martin wrote:

and as a result hotel prices will increase.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm afraid you'll have to explain that logic Cos I just don't see it.

Hotel rooms are the ultimate perishable product. They will always be
looking for ways to make sure that they sell 100%

Compare the price you are quoted at the reception, if you just turn up
against Expedia. Which is cheapest? Most receptions quote the maximum
price.

The hotel reception get the rates from the local managment. The rates
in reservation systems are made from a regional or national sales
office.
Choose a individual hotel and the rate at the reception is the same or
better, because they don't need to pay the commission, than in the
reservation systems.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not my experience.

Turn up at the door and you're treated like a mug punter who will pay top
rack rate.

Go online and you will usually find the same room for much less.

(It's obvious really. If I'm online and I don't like the price it takes
20
seconds to find somewhere else. If I'm standing in the lobby I'm might to
have to spend another 60 minutes walking around looking for a better
price)

That's my experience too. Even in a hotel with 50 odd rooms which had
only 4 rooms occupied.
--

Martin

Martin wrote:

The hotel reception get the rates from the local managment. The rates
in reservation systems are made from a regional or national sales
office.
Choose a individual hotel and the rate at the reception is the same or
better, because they don't need to pay the commission, than in the
reservation systems.

In UK & France I know from experience that the reception charges the
maximum price. Of course there may be places that don't.

Very easy solutrion: I tell the reception, that I saw the room for a
lower rate online, so I will book the room online and let them pay the
commission.
Normally they will ask the manager and you will get at least the same
rate.
But you should pay attention which rate you tell them, because there
are servation systems which give a rate per person in the double room
(I get several request, like this: "But in the Internet I saw a rate
only half of this one you told me." and if I have a look to the
website it is a rate per person and I told the rate for the room), or
the breakfast is excluded or the rate is without taxes.

Greetings from Cologne

Andreas

"tim....." wrote:

The hotel reception get the rates from the local managment. The rates
in reservation systems are made from a regional or national sales
office.
Choose a individual hotel and the rate at the reception is the same or
better, because they don't need to pay the commission, than in the
reservation systems.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not my experience.

Turn up at the door and you're treated like a mug punter who will pay top
rack rate.

Go online and you will usually find the same room for much less.

Depending on the hotel it might be, that there is a number of rooms
given to the system. If the hotel reception only has a few rooms left
for themselves they rise the rate to sell these rooms more expensive.

See my answer to Martin for other possibilities.

Greetings from Cologne

Andreas