Looking at the recent finding on rate parity trends in Europe by RateGain, is it too early to believe that in light of the upcoming London Olympics, hotels in London are making an effort to generate direct bookings by offering their best rates on their brand sites?
For the time period between February and April 2012, 30% of 3 star hotels, 16% of 4 star hotels and 23% of 5 star hotels in London are cheaper on their brand sites instead of OTAs. Similar trend was seen in the last report for the months of November, December and January – 34% of 3 star, 17% of 4 star and 24% of 5 star hotels across London were cheaper on brand sites.
From rate parity perspective, 29% of 3 star hotels, 17% of 4 star hotels and 8% of 5 star hotels in London are maintaining similar rates on their brand sites as well as their partner OTA channels. For the months of November, December and January, 24% of 3 star hotels, 23% of 4 star hotels and 8% of 5 star hotels in London were in parity.
It clearly reflects that ahead of Olympics, hotels in London are putting together right technologies in place to maintain strong centralized control through single image inventory and effective pricing strategies. These hotels are offering their best rates on their brand sites as well as maintaining a consistent parity of their rates across all distribution channels. In fact, RateGain has seen almost 65% increase in inquiries from hotels in Greater London area for its online distribution and rate shopping solutions. In the last 8 months, company’s subscriber base especially in Greater London has grown by 82%.
Trend reveals that percentage of hotels in parity as well as cheaper on their brand sites has also increased in some of the other top European cities between November 2011 and March 2012. Hotels in Paris, Venice, Zurich and Edinburgh are also showing a positive trend towards maintaining rate parity and offering their best rates on their brand sites instead of OTAs to generate direct bookings.
Although, the market is still clearly dominated by OTAs but this is a positive trend being seen especially in the European region unlike other regions like North America, Asia and Middle East.
Get the full story at RateGain Blog.
About RateGain
RateGain offers web-based solutions to leading online travel agents, airlines, wholesalers and hotels across 70 countries. RateGain products for the travel industry have earned numerous awards for innovation. The company is a leader in SaaS based solutions in channel management, online brand reputation management, competitive price intelligence, and social media marketing. Established in 2004, RateGain is headquartered in India with offices in the US, Thailand, Spain, Dubai and the UK. For more information, please visit www.rategain.com.
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