Madeleine
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- Sep 29, 2011
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When I set up rates for this year (sometime last year) I had no idea what my rates would be for this year so I picked a number. as it turns out that number is higher than what I am charging directly. NO ONE has checked to see if they could have gotten better rates with me because booking clearly states, everywhere, that they offer the lowest prices on the web.I have not seen US contracts, but I suppose that the rate parity clause of your contract should include exeptions.The way I understood it, you can't make the rates on booking higher than your rack rate on your own site.In the setup of My-Allocator to pass ResKey data to Booking, I noticed the following...
Here you can enter a specific rate difference for BookingDOTcom. For example, if this channel charges 5% more fees than other channels you can set "+ (%)" in the dropdown list and "5.00" in the text field. Upon update our system will automatically add 5% to the room's rate when uploading the availability.
Can you do this? Can you raise the rates displayed at Booking to offset their commission? Or is that a violation of the rules?.
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In France, rate parity will fall if your website have different cancelation policies, different arrival times, packaged offer (breakfast included), hotel card members, ...
I feel it is important to have a better offer direct (prices, terms, ...) so that visitors will learn that they should always check official website. Should you offer same or cheaper prices on Booking, guests will find easier to book through them.
Regarding guests "ownership", remember it for when you will sell your business. If guests are yours, you can sell them. If they are Booking's, you cannot. Hotel owners in France, trying to sell their business and take retirement money, found most of the value of their goodwill gone as bank of buyers could not be convinced it was part of the purchase...
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So, the appearance is that I am making more with these reservations than if they did book directly. (Of course that's not true because of the commission!)