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The inevitable demise of hotel rate parity

June 27, 2012 | Hotel Marketing

Already a thing of the past in some markets, rate parity will maybe survive another round of OTA contracting in markets where demand is soft. But if the economy continues to turn around, hoteliers most likely will end the practice, according to a HSMAI panel, as revenue managers want to be able to strategically set different types of rates on different channels.

As the hotel distribution landscape continues to evolve, search engines appear to have little to worry about. The online-travel agencies, on the other hand, might need to batten down the hatches.

New innovations in social and mobile could begin stealing share from the likes of Expedia, Travelocity and Priceline. And then there’s the 800-pound gorilla, Google, which is making more aggressive strides into the hotel space. “Search will continue to be important. The guys that are probably at the greatest risk in the social and mobile space are OTAs,” said Scot Hornick, partner at management consulting firm Oliver Wyman.

Hornick was one of three panelists addressing the roles of search, social and mobile in hotel distribution during the opening session of HSMAI’s Revenue Optimization Conference. “Nobody has really come up with anything that’s going to take away search,” said Gareth Gaston, senior VP of global ecommerce at Wyndham Hotel Group.

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Read also "Does rate parity limit revenue managers?" at HotelNewsNow.com

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