Originally Posted by
rasheed
This is not observational, but directly in all of PCLN's investor filings - a similar trend is being indicated.
On the hotel side, it appears that spoiling inventory has really fallen off in a number of cities. Many hotels have no concern about offering opaque pricing that is similar to retail (or maybe discounted) retail pricing.
The explosion of hotelscombined/trivago/kayak have also made knowledge of 'hidden' pricing much more comprehensive and useful as well.
However, I still see this as only because of the current cycle where demand is very strong. Should there be a downturn due to whatever reason, opportunities will arise again.
Similar situation happened in NYOP air, which has been dropped entirely.
I believe the only category that still has useful inventory is NYOP car rental. Mostly due to competition from using Uber/Lyft instead I think. However ABG, the major vendor to PCLN has indicated in their investor releases that they are much more choosy about their opaque pricing and what business they take from there. I feel the argument is pretty weak as the car rental industry continues to hurt (although, they did get a bunch of cars really cheap recently due to problems in new car sales).
In summary, worth a glance at Express Deals (which now also appears for car rentals from time to time), but with fees, a slightly higher rate that also accrues elite value will be more useful.
Rasheed
Thanks Rasheed, that's very useful info. I never thought that NYOP air was a useful product, because for minimal savings, you lost the ability to control what time of day your arrival/departure was, but I used the hotel and rental car products frequently.
With respect to car rentals, in recent years, I've generally found that the optimal use of the product was to intentionally underbid, with the knowledge that successive failed bids would get PL to reveal the best fully cancelable rates from their vendors, and to use these as a placeholder for the opportunity to get spoiling inventory no more than a couple of weeks before, and then possibly again just a couple of days before the actual rental, where such inventory exists.
But with respect to NYOP bidding for hotels, I miss the days of getting 5* properties in Asia for well under $100 a night (I once got the JW Marriott in Bangkok for $73, and the Renaissance in Beijing for $97), and legitimate 4* properties from major chains like Starwood, Marriott, Sol Melia, and Hilton in Mexican resorts for under $50 a night (On successive trips, I paid $44 and $46 for the Westin and the Marriott in Puerto Vallarta, $55 for the Sheraton in Cancun, and $57 for the Sol Melia Cabo Real). Those days are long gone.