Originally Posted by dulciusexasperis

I have mentioned Rate Parity here already reconstyle. I don't know how many people are aware of it or what it means however. Again, things are changing but people will continue to believe what they believe until the new 'curve' gains momentum.

I have just finished booking a hotel directly. It is a 3 star boutique hotel in a mountain village in Switzerland. I booked 2 double rooms for a 7 night stay in June. We know this hotel from a previous visit and I was able to book 2 specific rooms on the 'right' side of the hotel (mountain/valley view). Preferred location rooms in other words. After booking by phone, I then checked several OTAs for comparison, specifically to show on this thread what the difference was.

Booking com price $4400 total.
Trivago sent me to Booking com to actually book and their price was $3750.
So in fact, Booking had 2 different prices depending on how you arrived at the actual booking page. Huh?
Tripadivor sent me to Expedia to actually book and their price was the same $4400.
Hotels com price was the same $4400.
Kayak same $4400 sent to Hotels com.

In one case they show a nightly rate varying over the weekend. In 2 cases the price was non-refundable/cancellable. Why the Trivago price was lower I don't know. Probably a mistake since I can't see Booking com having two different prices. But otherwise it is clear that 'Rate Parity' is alive and well.

So how did they compare to my direct booking? Not even close. I do have to add one caveat though for full disclosure. All the OTA prices were for superior rooms. Obviously, the hotel is not giving them access to their standard rooms (which is what I booked knowing there is little difference since we have seen them in person. It is a simply a case of a bit larger room size.) Nevertheless, a bit higher price is justifiable for superior rooms if you want a bit larger room( around 3 square metres/yards difference). I know what difference I would have to pay for them though and so can provide an 'apples to apples' comparison.

I booked our 2 rooms for $110 per night per room. No prepayment, full cancellation up to 24 hours. A total of $1540. If I had wanted superior rooms, it would have been an additional $64 per night/room for a total of $896 added and grand total of $2436 vs. $4400 'apples to apples'. The OTAs were as I said, not even close. What's more, the OTAs would not have let you see that there was a cheaper option which I booked for $1540.

No blind booking, no prepayment, no non-refundable/cancellable, specific choice of best view rooms (kinda important in the Swiss Alps. The other side of the hotel looks at the village streets/houses.) All for between half and a third of the OTA prices.

Obviously this is only one example and the naysayers will quickly point that out. My question however would be how many examples they need before they start seeing the picture. The picture is changing. At the bottom of the hotel's own website there is a line saying, 'Book direct for a better price.' They are listed on all the major OTAs and do business with them because they have to when 70% of all bookings travellers make today are done through OTAs. They have no choice but to list on them, you cannot ignore how 70% of people are booking. However, it is quite clear that this hotel is reserving its best prices for direct bookings and not giving the OTAs prices that come near to matching their direct price offers a simple phone call or e-mail will get you. There may not be that great a difference with other hotels, this particular hotel is a gem when it comes to having great direct booking deals they offer without a doubt, but other hotels may also have great deals to offer that the OTAs do not show you. So much for all the 'we find you the best price' the OTAs love to spout.