Dick Smith on Foreign Booking Sites

[Major]

Dick Smith has released a video where he unloads on foreign booking sites.

It makes for interesting viewing and worthy of discussion

 

[Hvr]

Dick Smith made him a fortune on cheap Chinese imports. Typically hypocritical of him to whinge about others doing the same.

His hatred of Aldi ignores the bad behaviour of the big two supermarket chains who charge companies huge fees to get shelf space and other dubious practices.

 

[RooFlyer]

I lost respect for Dick Smith many years ago.

 

[NoName]

He is sounding more and more deranged IMO. The Aldi rant was laughable.

 

[Forg]

Too long, didn't … some word for view that starts with 'R'.
However I've been stung by foreign booking site stuff, won't do it again now I've been stung - but I booked a pair of J return tickets to Europe via some NYC based travel agency which was a couple of hundred dollars less than going through the airline directly, except that going through the airline directly I wouldn't have copped a FEW hundred dollars in unexpected currency-conversion fees against the credit-card I'd paid with.

 

[pauly7]

It’s unfortunate it’s delieverd in that fashion but I must agree, I have started calling properties directly (for my personal travel not corporate) and they have been matching sometimes even beating the third party sites offerings including ancillaries and booking flexibility and quite often throwing in extras like breakfast as well! So it does work

 

[davidj]

Great video, and he has a good point.

The same thing is happening with other 'middle men' such as Groupon taking a slice and probably sending it offshore.

Not sure anything will change. People are lazy and want goods/services presented to them with least effort.

 

[dajop]

Emotional rant with some flawed examples but the core message is sound. There is quite a concentration of market power in the online accommodation booking sector - with Priceline and Expedia owning many brands. I do note though that needitnow is still Australian owned! I always check an online booking service and the hotels website - preferring the latter unless it is unrealistically priced.

But the math is quite astonishing - if you had, say a 25 room motel, with 60% occupancy at $100/night - at 15% commission that’s $82k a year if everyone booked through those channels, and still $40k if half booked that way.

 

[ajd]

If I could pay a subscription fee for a hotel search service which took no commissions, and just provided a neutral search service with a useful interface that just lets me search for hotels with the useful characteristics I want, and without having a billion "BEST DEAL - 5472472 PEOPLE ARE LOOKING AT THIS HOTEL RIGHT NOW" flashy bits around the place, I would definitely consider paying for it.

Somehow I doubt such a service would be profitable though. Such are the ways of e-commerce.

 

[straitman]

I lost respect for Dick Smith many years ago.

I thought he was a good bloke until I met him!

 

[Deleted member]

How about the call centres off shore/ why not have a rant about them Dick?

 

[theblank]

Dick Smith has released a video where he unloads on foreign booking sites.

If anyone is clever enough to figure out how to post on an online forum like AFF, then they already clever enough to check the actual hotel site for a comparison. Otherwise its a great insight for travel rookies.

(even my missus knows this and she doenst know how to turn a computer on)

 

[LC50]

Dick Smith is a bit of a has been ... try finding a good barber, a decent stylist, and having an occasional shower and welcome (finally) to the new millenium.

You made your money flogging cheap cough to the Australian public, then decided to publish Australian Geographic (printed in Asia cheaply) but "all Aussie" and then your Aussie ripoff products onto supermarket shelves. Jeez, they sold well mate, didn't they? Mmmm, is it time to retire gracefully Dick and shut uppa ya face?

I'm sorry, but that man really peeee's me off.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

So Dick Smith would feel better if there was an Aussie owned equivalent to the foreign hotel booking services? And he thinks the Aussie company would do it for free? I doubt it. The Aussie consumer (and motels) would still be ripped off just the funds would stay locally rather than overseas.

And does Dick Smith expect foreign tourists to call all the local hotels? If I'm going to USA, Italy, France - whatever - I don't want to have to find the local number, call at the right time, and deal with language issues. If a property isn't on one of the major sites, with reviews, they'll likely miss out.

 

[The man with no name]

If anyone is clever enough to figure out how to post on an online forum like AFF, then they already clever enough to check the actual hotel site for a comparison. Otherwise its a great insight for travel rookies.

Hotels in Australia and overseas do themselves no favours at all. I'm currently booking a 4 night stay In Paris at a hotel called Le Cinq Codet and am getting a price of AUD $1786 booking directly through the hotel versus $1589 on Booking.com. Both include breakfast and are non refundable.

The hotel mentions a few extras for booking direct but upon closer inspection I found most are included in the Booking.com rate anyway. It's no wonder that consumers follow the path of least resistance. It often pays to do so.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hotels in Australia and overseas do themselves no favours at all. I'm currently booking a 4 night stay In Paris at a hotel called Le Cinq Codet and am getting a price of AUD $1786 booking directly through the hotel versus $1589 on Booking.com. Both include breakfast and are non refundable.

The hotel mentions a few extras for booking direct but upon closer inspection I found most are included in the Booking.com rate anyway. It's no wonder that consumers follow the path of least resistance. It often pays to do so.

Indeed. Perhaps that's one of the upsides of booking sites? At least there's competition through (a) various sites willing to forego some of their commission to pass it on to consumers with lower prices, and (b) all the hotels see what others are charging and compete with each other (even if that's via the big booking sites).

If we all had to call the hotel direct what would that mean for prices? In Australia it would likely mean sky-high pricing I suspect

 

[romney]

Hotels in Australia and overseas do themselves no favours at all. I'm currently booking a 4 night stay In Paris at a hotel called Le Cinq Codet and am getting a price of AUD $1786 booking directly through the hotel versus $1589 on Booking.com. Both include breakfast and are non refundable.

The hotel mentions a few extras for booking direct but upon closer inspection I found most are included in the Booking.com rate anyway. It's no wonder that consumers follow the path of least resistance. It often pays to do so.

We had an issue where we were already staying in a hotel (in Stockholm) and needed an extra night of accommodation. I looked on Booking.com where we had originally booked and the price for the next night was about 20% higher than what we had originally paid, so we went to talk to the front desk thinking they would be cheaper. We were told if we wanted the room it would be even more expensive by another 10% to go with them direct than if we booked the Booking.com price! I was astounded, and told them what it would cost me if I used my phone right there to book online, and they didn't care!

We went somewhere else.

 

[The man with no name]

We had an issue where we were already staying in a hotel (in Stockholm) and needed an extra night of accommodation. I looked on Booking.com where we had originally booked and the price for the next night was about 20% higher than what we had originally paid, so we went to talk to the front desk thinking they would be cheaper. We were told if we wanted the room it would be even more expensive by another 10% to go with them direct than if we booked the Booking.com price! I was astounded, and told them what it would cost me if I used my phone right there to book online, and they didn't care!

We went somewhere else.

I guess the people on reception at these hotels are probably not the owners in most cases so it's probably hit or miss whether they give a damn what you do. Unfortunate for us and the owners of the property.

Slightly off topic but I find that wineries do the same thing with their pricing in that you can sign up to their clubs or mailing list and buy direct, only to find Dan's have the same product 20% cheaper.

 

[The man with no name]

Indeed. Perhaps that's one of the upsides of booking sites? At least there's competition through (a) various sites willing to forego some of their commission to pass it on to consumers with lower prices, and (b) all the hotels see what others are charging and compete with each other (even if that's via the big booking sites).

If the pricing is the same then I'm going with the booking site simply because I get to rate the property afterward. I for one actually read a few of the reviews before I buy just about everything and regularly contribute my own experiences, good and bad.

 

[romney]

"Slightly off topic but I find that wineries do the same thing with their pricing in that you can sign up to their clubs or mailing list and buy direct, only to find Dan's have the same product 20% cheaper.

Yes. Last time I went on a wine tour I stood there and Googled each of the wines I was interested in to see the price at Dan Murphy's. Some were a lot cheaper.

If you do want to book through sites like Booking.com but don't want to give all the commission to the overseas company, find an Australian with an affiliate link and click through their link to book. They then get a small percentage of the commission rather than it all going overseas. Not a complete solution, but a partial one.

I'm happy to share one such link for Booking.com if wanted