GDU Ninja Update 29 - Rate Parity Banned in Europe
RATE PARITY BANNED IN EUROPE
Rate Parity appears to be well and truly banned, and the OTA's are not too happy with it!(https://www.ft.com/content/68ac85f5-dcb1-4308-a2bf-85746386bc9d). Our Hotel customers seem to divide into 2 groups, those who have always used an uplift (Increased the rates when they jump across to the OTA's) and those that have 'toed the line' to avoid the dreaded phone calls from the OTA's.
The suspicion is that even with Rate Parity being banned, the OTA's will find other ways to get even rates from the hotels, however we have seen recently a rush of customers who want to put an uplift in place, and we thought we would mention other ways of competing with the OTA's without an uplift in place. After all increasing your rates on the OTA's has to have an impact on room sales somewhere.
INVEST IN SALES AND MARKETING - Capitalised because this is THE most important area for Hotels who seem strangely reluctant to invest in this critical area.
Keep back specific room types- Especially those 'spare rooms' that you keep back because they are subject to noise or have not yet been refurbished. (Every hotel seems to have one or two!!). They cant be fully described on an OTA but normally you can be clear about the 'issues' in the descriptions on your own website.
Keep back specific rate plans - ie Advanced Purchase. These lost popularity during COVID but they seem to be back with a bang. However even when a reservation has been sold 'Advance Purchase' the OTA's may still request a 'waiver to fees' so maybe it make sense to offer it just through your own website where you have more control over the application of the Terms and Conditions.
Prioritise Special Offers - OTA's struggle to display Special Offers ie 2 B&B + 1 Dinner so why not push these through your own website. They dont have to include food, they could be as simple as a discount for a 2 night stay.
Use Secret Offers (ie Corporate Rate Plans) - We have talked about Corporate Rates elsewhere (https://www.guestdiary.com/blog/the-hidden-benefits-of-corporate-rates) but in this context the key advantage is the reservation comes direct without OTA commission.
Use 'Opaque Channels' - ie Promotion Codes in FaceBook.
Use 'Channel Prioritisation' - ie Close out availability on days you know you can sell rooms through your own website (Summer/St Patricks Day/New Years Eve?)
INVEST IN SALES AND MARKETING - Yep we have repeated it to emphasize the importance.