Dick Smith on Foreign Booking Sites

[trooper]

They are "forced" to sign up to compete, or they will miss out on business. The online TA's do have a monopoly and despote the number of them there is really only two i think.

and that was his point. He doesnt neglect this at all.

So they want the exposure.... but not the cost? The benefit, but not the obligation? Nice work if you can get it. if they ALL pulled out of those sites then we wouldn't be able to book except through their own websites or by phone... maybe they need to organise and take action as a coherent group?

 

[agentgerko]

These hotels had a ready-made and cheaper booking system via ordinary travel agents., however their promised 10% commission cheques rarely arrived and in the end most agents just stopped doing regional hotel bookings, opening the door for companies like Expedia who charge them a damn sight more than 10%. They blithely thought that agents would do all the work giving them bookings for no return and now its bitten them on the bum. These hotels and motels should be aiming their anger at their own associations and not at the online TA's. It's rather like all the Taxi Councils who thought they could sit back and do nothing because nobody could reinvent the wheel, until of course Uber did.

 

[theblank]

These hotels and motels should be aiming their anger at their own associations and not at the online TA's..

what anger?

these hotels and motels are not aiming anger at anyone. Its Dick Smith who is having a crack at the OTA's and encouraging Austrlians to consider booking direct. Thats all. There is nothing wrong with a "Buy Australian" campaign.

 

[744]

The hotel/motel business globally has found itself in a self inflicted trap with these booking sites by not working harder to ensure consumers get a better deal by booking direct. If most people are like me they've tried booking directly once or twice in the past and found there was little if any benefit.

As described in an earlier post, I tried to go direct via a hotels website in France to find zero benefit, in fact booking.com was a little cheaper. I'm certainly not going to waste my time calling them and besides I don't speak French.

I'd also dispute that the prices have been forced up because of the booking sites. It's easy to make claims like that but I'd expect the reality has been the opposite. Not because of the booking sites but because of Airbnb.

It's driven prices up at my establishment because I charge more on the OTA sites!! Always cheaper to book direct with me.

These hotels had a ready-made and cheaper booking system via ordinary travel agents., however their promised 10% commission cheques rarely arrived and in the end most agents just stopped doing regional hotel bookings, opening the door for companies like Expedia who charge them a damn sight more than 10%. They blithely thought that agents would do all the work giving them bookings for no return and now its bitten them on the bum. These hotels and motels should be aiming their anger at their own associations and not at the online TA's. It's rather like all the Taxi Councils who thought they could sit back and do nothing because nobody could reinvent the wheel, until of course Uber did.

Never happens here. My rates are non commissionable and agents are aware of that. We get very few bookings via bricks and mortor agents for mum and dad anyway. We get corporates and the agents they use charge their clients a booking fee. Same with Government bookings.

So they want the exposure.... but not the cost? The benefit, but not the obligation? Nice work if you can get it. if they ALL pulled out of those sites then we wouldn't be able to book except through their own websites or by phone... maybe they need to organise and take action as a coherent group?

We had a meeting with all the motel operators in this town to do just that but sadly some were not confident enough to go ahead with it.

 

[The man with no name]

It's driven prices up at my establishment because I charge more on the OTA sites!! Always cheaper to book direct with me.

So you are one of the very few that is cheaper. My point was that most people will compare direct prices versus booking sites a few times and use the cheaper method into the future. It was only this thread that prompted me to check the hotel I wanted in Paris and my previous experiences were repeated. I won't bother checking next time.

 

[dajop]

It was only this thread that prompted me to check the hotel I wanted in Paris and my previous experiences were repeated. I won't bother checking next time.

I've found that to be the case in Europe, most non-chain hotels are cheaper on the online facilitation sites for some reason. I guess it might be so competitive that hoteliers need to have a competitive online pricing when appearing on search engines. In other parts of the world, for non -chain hotels I've found it less consistent - sometimes cheaper to book direct, sometimes cheaper on websites. For the big chain hotels, generally speaking the best place to look is the chain's own website, unless some deals, packages are released elsewhere, but moreso than ever the chains have good control - but they also have market power.

To be honest though, it is fanciful and lala land to suggest people book direct by calling, people these days want to book, ideally through an app. Maybe it's time the motel assocation bandied together and create and promoted a go to app for local bookings, based on a subscription rather than commission model ... and if wildly successful sell it out to either priceline or expedia (the highest bidder) in a few years time

 

[theblank]

To be honest though, it is fanciful and lala land to suggest people book direct by calling, people these days want to book, ideally through an app. Maybe it's time the motel assocation bandied together and create and promoted a go to app for local bookings

there is already an app that does this, its called the Internet.
Its very rare for any hotel/motel to not have online bookings on their own websites. And most (especially caravan parks) seem to be using the same third party backend.

 

[gphamor]

I have used booking.com quite a few times and the most appealing thing is that they often allow no fees for cancellation up to a certain time prior to the booking. It is more expensive than the fee for no cancellation but the peace of mind is valuable; like an insurance policy.
A number of direct booking sites will not allow cancellation once the booking is made.

 

[jastel]

At small country town motels saying "I have cash and don't want a receipt" gets me the best deals...

Still no tax paid but at least the money stays local.

 

[Himeno]

I've booked a number of hotels over the last 2 weeks for my upcoming RTW trip.
I generally use the 'deal' search sites like hotelscombined, which scan the OTA sites and compare the prices for the same hotel, to short list hotels, then go to that hotels own site and check the rates there (and look for more hotel info that the booking sites might not list). Then only use the OTA rather then direct book if the OTA is cheaper.

Of the 14 accommodation venues for this trip, 8 were booked directly, 2 via the booking sites, 1 as part of a hotel/event ticket "tour package", 1 with a group for another event and have the last 2 stops still to book.

 

[744]

I have used booking.com quite a few times and the most appealing thing is that they often allow no fees for cancellation up to a certain time prior to the booking. It is more expensive than the fee for no cancellation but the peace of mind is valuable; like an insurance policy.
A number of direct booking sites will not allow cancellation once the booking is made.

I have a stricter cancellation policy on my booking.com bookings. My direct bookings are very flexible, so not only a cheaper price but also easier cancellations.

 

[744]

there is already an app that does this, its called the Internet.
Its very rare for any hotel/motel to not have online bookings on their own websites. And most (especially caravan parks) seem to be using the same third party backend.

Exactly. I think just about all motels have their own website with a booking button. They are not difficult to find but you do have to make a conscious decision to do so because the behemoths make us harder to find.

 

[burmans]

what anger?

these hotels and motels are not aiming anger at anyone. Its Dick Smith who is having a crack at the OTA's and encouraging Austrlians to consider booking direct. Thats all. There is nothing wrong with a "Buy Australian" campaign.

There's nothing particularly right with it either. My main consideration in choosing a service is whether the service meets my need not because it's Australian. If the Australian business meets my need then yes, I'll probably give it my business but not because of some jingoistic "Buy Australian" tag which often ignores the fact that these business aren't actually meeting the mark on their merits and hence have to appeal to our "patriotism".

 

[drron]

Well if booking something locally I will look up the properties availabe in town and read the reviews on an OTA then google the properties website and book direct.
Or if not a holiday period rock up and usually get a cheaper rate than through the OTA.

 

[744]

Well if booking something locally I will look up the properties availabe in town and read the reviews on an OTA then google the properties website and book direct.
Or if not a holiday period rock up and usually get a cheaper rate than through the OTA.

Thank you drron!

 

[VPS]

It looks like Dick has fired up the debate

Hotel owners speak out against booking websites

 

[serfty]

 

[agentgerko]

what anger?

these hotels and motels are not aiming anger at anyone. Its Dick Smith who is having a crack at the OTA's and encouraging Austrlians to consider booking direct. Thats all. There is nothing wrong with a "Buy Australian" campaign.

No anger? There has been considerable anger expressed by the various local accommodation associations towards the online booking sites. As for Buy Australian, look around and you'll see the majority of motels and motor inn are part of Accor, Choice, Quality, Travelodge, Best Western and other foreign owned management groups. So I don't see why they don't mind paying fees to, say, Best Western, to get bookings but not to Expedia.

 

[agentgerko]

Never happens here. My rates are non commissionable and agents are aware of that. We get very few bookings via bricks and mortor agents for mum and dad anyway. We get corporates and the agents they use charge their clients a booking fee. Same with Government bookings.
.

Then you are part of the problem. You get few direct bookings from bricks & mortar agents because you expect us to do your work for you, without any recompense from you. As for charging corporates a fee, by adding that fee suddenly our price becomes higher than available elsewhere or direct so we lose business. And for govt bookings, you give them a lower rate than the public gets anyway. So I book my corporates through Expedia as I don't need to charge a fee and I get paid a commission. Last year I earned over $10K in local commissions through Expedia for doing bookings that in the past I wouldn't handle because there was no money it in. The corporate client gets a lower rate and I get a commission, and you get stuck with paying 15-20% to Expedia. As per my original email, if hotels and motels had paid us the flat 10% they promised years ago, and not expected us to work for free, then you would have been getting heaps of bookings from bricks & mortar agents and it would have cost you less.

 

[GliderM]

I have used booking.com quite a few times and the most appealing thing is that they often allow no fees for cancellation up to a certain time prior to the booking. It is more expensive than the fee for no cancellation but the peace of mind is valuable; like an insurance policy.
A number of direct booking sites will not allow cancellation once the booking is made.

It isn't booking.com that allow no fees. It is the motel property directly who makes that decision. The property will set their own cancellation policy - be it 2, 5, 7 days etc. and that differs for each motel property - so, if it fits in with that, it would be free anyway. Otherwise the OTA must refer directly back to the property for the OTA to request the cancellation for free. It's not the OTA who decides, but maybe they charge a premium (insurance) to their customers to provide for those circumstances. Booking direct most smaller operators are usually ok not to charge a cancellation fee, unless they are fully booked, in which case if they resell the room, they often would not charge the fee.