The Worst Hotel Ad Listing Parity Offenders to Stay Away From

If you’ve ever taken to the internet to book a hotel, you’ve probably found yourself comparing and contrasting various rates online. You may have even stumbled across a rate on an unfamiliar website that seems too good to be true. Spoiler alert - it probably is!

In the hotel industry, maintaining rate parity is a fundamental component of a successful pricing strategy. Rate parity ensures that the room rate a hotel advertises is the same across all distribution channels in order to create a fair and competitive environment for both companies and consumers. It’s common for hotels to have rate parity clauses in their agreements with travel companies. However, some travel companies either unintentionally or (sometimes) intentionally disregard these agreements and advertise rates that can undercut the hotel’s own website which has the net effect of ‘stealing’ the reservation, creating discrepancies that can potentially harm both the hotel and the guest.

Learn about the worst ad parity offenders you should be wary of and why:

NAME	LOGO	Email & CEO	Company Address
Vio.com		partners@vio.com CEO: Oz Har Adir	Nieuwe Looiersdwarsstraat 1 (1017 TZ) at Amsterdam
Super.com		legal@super.com CEO:Hussein Fazal	SnapCommerce Holdings, Inc. DBA Super 260 Queen Street West Unit 400 Toronto, ON Canada M5V 1Z8
GoSplitty		support@gosplitty.com CEO:Eran Shust	Not Available.
Roomagic		Support@Roomagic.com	Not Available
Prestigia.com		reservations@prestigia.com CEO:Thami Tazi	5 Secretary's Ln, Gibraltar GX11 1AA, GI
Clicktrip.com		support@clicktrip.com CEO:Doug Costello	Staktoften 3, DK-2950 Vedbæk | Denmark
Bravofly		Communications_Team @lastminute.com CEO:Luca Concone	BravoNext SA in Vicolo de’ Calvi 2, 6830 Chiasso, CH
Musetrip		cs@musetrip.com CEO:Rikin Wu	DidaTravel UK Limited, 36 OLD JEWRY LONDON, EC2R 8DD
Destinia		atencioncliente@destinia.com CEO:Amuda Goueli	Calle Gran Vía 22 Duplicado 4º dcha 28013 Madrid – Spain
Travelup		admin.usa@travelup.com CEO:Ali Shah	TravelUp LLC 999 Ponce de Leon Boulevard Suite 625, Coral Gables Florida, 33134
rehlat.com		dpo@rehlat.com|help@rehlat.com CEO:Bader Albader	305, Building no. 10 Internet City, Dubai United Arab Emirates
Mobytrip		help@mobytrip.com CEO:Misha Plotkine	459 Columbus Ave, Unit #1013 New York, NY 10024
Booketta		customerservice@booketta.com CEO:Robert James HOBBS	Utopiar Digital Media Ltd T/A Booketta 32 Byron Hill Road Middx HA2 OHY, United Kingdom
Stayforless		customerservice@hotelogical.com CEO:Bader Albader	Stayforless.com, Inc. 2424 E. York Street Suite 320 Philadelphia PA 19125
Hotels Ugogo		customerservice@hotelogical.com CEO:Robert James HOBBS	Utopiar Digital Media Ltd T/A HotelsUgogo 32 Byron Hill Road, Middx HA2 OHY United Kingdom
Tripening Hotels		help@tripening.com CEO:Baruch Yudasin	27 Skylark Drive, Spring Valley NY 10977
PrimaStay		customerservice@primastay.com CEO:Robert James HOBBS	Utopiar Digital Media Ltd T/A PrimaStay 32 Byron Hill Road, Middx HA2 OHY United Kingdom
Staypia		support@staypia.com CEO:Jun Woong Doh	Teheran-ro 5-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Blowwow.com		info@irejamtours.com CEO:Unknown	1 Yonge Street Suite 1801 Toronto, ON, M5E 1W7
Best Hotel Deals		customerservice@besthoteldealsglobal.com CEO:Unknown	BestHotelDealsGlobal, Inc. 2424 E. York Street Suite 320 Philadelphia PA 19125
TUYITRAVEL		tuyi_travel@hktuyitrip.com CEO:Roy Chow	Unit 1507B, 15/F., Eastcore 398 Kwun Tong Road Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
BusinessHotels.com		legal@priceline.com CEO:Drago Maximov	800 Connecticut Avenue, Norwalk Connecticut 06854 USA
Hutchgo		marketing@hutchgo.com, cs.ca@hutchgo.com	Hutchison Travel Services Limited Room 22 2/F, One Marina Plaza 12 Tak Fung Street Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Bookingbargains		customerservice@BookingBargains.com CEO:Unknown	4545 MURPHY CANYON ROAD SAN DIEGO, CA 92123
Cheaptickets		ravel@chat.cheaptickets.com CEO:Barney Harford	Expedia, Inc., 1111 Expedia Group Way West, Seattle, WA, 98119
Edreams		customerservice-en@contact.edreams.com CEO:Dana Dunne	Calle de Manzanares, nº 4, Planta 1º, Oficina 108, 28005, Madrid, Spain
Getaroom		customercare@pps.priceline.com CEO:Matt Davis	3010 LBJ Freeway, Suite 1500, Dallas, Texas 75234
Goodhotelclub		privacy@Good Hotel Club.com CEO:Unknown	Travel Booking Support Inc, Legal department, 459 Columbus Ave, Unit #1013, New York, NY 10024
Goseek		EMAIL:Unknown CEO:David Adler	Unknown
Hometogo		info@hometogo.com CEO: Patrick Andrae	Pappelallee 78/79 10437 Berlin Germany
Hotelscombined		Email: Unknown CEO: Unknown	7 Market Street Stamford, CT 06902, USA
Nextdayhotels		privacy@NEXT DAY HOTELS.com CEO: Unknown	459 Columbus Ave, Unit #1013, New York, NY 10024
Qantashotels		PrivacyOfficer@qantas.com.au. CEO: Unknown	Unknown
Hotelwhales		cs@hotelwhales.com CEO:Unknown	71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 9JQ
Hotelwiz		customerservice@Hotelwiz.com CEO: Max Starkov	San Diego, CA, United States, California
Reservationlodge		privacy@Reservation Lodge.com CEO: Unknown	459 Columbus Ave, Unit #1013, New York, NY 10024
Hotwire		support@hotwire.com CEO:Heather Kernahan	Expedia, Inc. 1111 Expedia Group Way W. Seattle, WA 98119"
Momondo		legal@momondo.com CEO: Unknown	Momondo A/S Farvergade 10, 1 DK-1463 Copenhagen K Danmark
Qantashotels		PrivacyOfficer@qantas.com.au. CEO: Vanessa Hudson	Qantas Airways Limited 10 Bourke Road Mascot NSW 2020 Australia
Reservations/		support@reservations.com CEO: Yatin Patel	Reservations.com c/o Benjamin & Brothers LLC 390 North Orange Avenue, Suite 1605 Orlando, FL 32801
Reserving		privacy@reserving.com CEO:Ricardo Buil	Plaza San Lorenzo 2 bajos, 22330 Ainsa
Skyscanner		legal@skyscanner.net CEO: John Mangelaars	Quartermile One, 15 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9EN
smartertravel		copyrightagent@smartertravel.com CEO: Jordan Staab	1 Washington Mall #1150 Boston MA 02108
Stayforlong		help@stayforlong.com CEO: Luis Osorio Solé	Ronda Sant Pere 17, 3ro 3fra 08010 Barcelona, Spain
Tiket		cs@tiket.com CEO: George Hendrata	Jalan Pasar Kenari MAS Blok F No.31, Senen, Kota Jakarta Pusat, Jakarta, Indonesia
Travelmyth		Email: Unknown CEO: John Nousis	Githiou 22, Chalandri 152 31, Greece.
Zenhotels		support@zenhotels.com CEO: Not Available	17 Karaiskaki Street, Office 22, Agaia Triada, Limassol, Cyprus, 3032
Tripbtoz		cs@tripbtoz.com CEO: Jiha, Jung	(06160) L7 Bldg., 415, Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

What is Rate Parity?

Before delving into the specifics, let's understand rate parity. Hotel rate parity means that a hotel's room rate should be the same across all distribution channels, whether it's the hotel's own website, online travel agencies (OTAs) like Expedia.com, Hotels.com Priceline.com, or the more traditional travel agent. The aim is to avoid price wars and maintain the hotel's brand value. Hotels often use a channel manager to ensure that room rates are consistently updated across all platforms. This is a time-consuming process, but it is necessary to maintain the integrity of the hotel's pricing strategy. While rate parity sounds like a straightforward concept, there are a few nuances, and two overall types of rate parity:

• Wide rate parity: The hotel must offer the same room rates on all distribution channels, including its own website.

• Narrow rate parity: The hotel can offer lower rates on its own website and offline channels but must offer the same rates to all OTAs.

Rate parity agreements emerged in the early 2000s due to the increasing influence of OTAs in the hotel booking process. While OTAs can provide hotels with increased marketing, visibility, and reach, they also typically charge significant commission or service fees. To avoid these fees that cut into the hotels' profits, hotels will often incentivize direct bookings by offering lower rates on their own website, typically with loyalty programs or specialty package offers. It’s often argued that rate parity restricts competition, leading to higher prices for consumers.

Price Comparison Sites

Price comparison sites, like Google, TripAdvisor, Trivago, Kayak, and Bing, are also known as metasearch marketing sites for hotels. Metasearch sites collect hotel room rates from various sources, such as OTAs, airlines, and the hotel's direct website, and display those rates in a list for the shopping consumer, where the consumer can click on the rate being offered and complete a reservation.

Here is an example of what this can look like:

Understandably, metasearch sites are popular because they allow consumers to compare prices, ratings, availability, and other features from different sources in a convenient and single location, rather than having to manually search across multiple websites. However, these metasearch sites can often contribute to discrepancies in room rates, as they rely on multiple OTAs and other sources to aggregate data, which don’t always abide by rate parity agreements.

Parity Problem Sites or RANDOMS

What are radnoms? Simply put, randoms, or Rate and Distribution Parity Offenders, are sites that give travelers a headache. These pesky platforms often present inaccurate rates, masquerade as official hotel listing sites, or employ other deceptive tactics to lure unsuspecting travelers. These tactics not only confuse potential guests but also undermine the integrity of legitimate hotel brands by sowing distrust. When searching for accommodations, it's essential to be wary of these offenders. They can lead to overpaying, booking non-existent rooms, or falling into other traps that can turn a dream vacation into a nightmare. By being informed and cautious, travelers can avoid these pitfalls and ensure they're getting the best deal from genuine sources.

The problem is even worse than you think!

So why should you be wary of a good deal? These rates seem too good to be true because they are! When hotels work with online travel companies, specific availability, rates & inventory (ARI) are negotiated and contracted for distribution. When these 3rd parties knowingly offer up a different price, this can sometimes be viewed as tortious interference and (technically) illegal for them to execute on knowingly under certain circumstances (such as when it violates an existing contract or pricing agreement with the company that is “feeding” them rates – if that company has an agreement with the hotel not to distribute rates in this manner or within certain set rate guidelines). And the sad part, is that the guests are often the ones who suffer the biggest consequences. The breach of contract can result in legal actions for the responsible company which then lead to them recanting the offer, even if already paid. Reservations get lost, removed, canceled, or even not accepted by the hotel, leaving guests without a vacation.

Rate parity often tends to benefit online travel agencies (OTAs) more than hotels or consumers. With parity in place, customers have less incentive to book directly with the hotel since they can get the same rate from an OTA, often coupled with the convenience of comparing multiple options. This dynamic increases the influence of OTAs, which may take substantial commission fees from hotels, thereby affecting their revenues.

This problem only becomes worse with the rise in technology. At 33%, travelers 40 and under make up a majority of the travel market. Of those, 56% use general online travel agencies to book their vacation hotels. This is where metasearch functions in booking engines come in to play a vital role.

Bait and switch on a metasearch engine is a common sales tactic used by unethical booking channels to lure customers towards a lower price. This happens when OTA channels use booking engines to advertise a lower rate on a meta-search engine to entice guests to their channel. However, once beginning the booking process, issues such as hidden taxes and service fees or the advertised rooms becoming “unavailable” despite being advertised will arise.

Rate parity can also limit a guest’s choice and value. If a customer can find the same price everywhere, they may miss out on potential deals or better value offers that could exist in a more competitive environment. Limit competition prevents hotels from offering lower rates on their own websites or through specific channels. This restriction leads to higher overall prices for consumers as hotels are discouraged from offering discounts to attract direct bookings.

Solution

In a world where misinformation can be rampant, particularly in the realm of online hotel booking, it's easy for travelers to fall prey to websites showcasing deceptive hotel rates. Westgate Resorts collaborates with industry giants like Triptease, a frontrunner in hotel distribution management, to empower hotels to reclaim their distribution, challenge unscrupulous hotel ad listing practices, and crack down on these dubious platforms. By identifying and taking action against websites that display unauthorized or false hotel rates, we strive to not only ensure fair play in the market but also ensure guests get the genuine deals they deserve.

So, what can be done about hotel ad listing parity offenders? There are also several ways that you yourself can drive down costs and protect yourself through a fair and transparent booking process. If you come across a suspected case of rate parity violation, there are a few steps you can take:

Research your Reservations: Always research your source. Find out things like how long the organization has been around if it is owned by a parent company, and look up reviews from fellow travelers.

Book Directly: from the hotel or resort's website. Aside from knowing you’re getting a reliable price quote, many establishments will offer additional perks you can’t get anywhere else, such as early or late check-in and check-out, upgrades, or complimentary guest services.

Gather Evidence: Before reporting a violation, ensure you have gathered enough evidence. Take screenshots of the disparity in rates across different platforms, clearly showing the date, time, room type, and other relevant details.

Contact the Hotel: Reach out to the hotel directly and inform them about the disparity. It could be a simple oversight, a technical error, or an issue with the hotel's channel manager not updating the rates correctly across all platforms.

Report to OTAs: If the disparity is found on an OTA's platform, you can report the issue to them. Most OTAs take rate parity agreements seriously and have mechanisms in place to handle such reports.

Notify the Rate Parity Agreement Holder: If the hotel and the OTA do not take action, you can escalate the matter to whoever holds the rate parity agreement. This could be a franchisor, a parent hotel company, or a distribution partner.

Consult Regulatory Bodies: In some jurisdictions, regulatory bodies may oversee rate parity agreements. For example, in the European Union, the Competition Commission has jurisdiction over such matters. If you suspect a systemic violation of rate parity, you may report it to these bodies.

Seek Legal Advice: If none of the above steps resolve the issue, it might be prudent to consult a legal professional specializing in hospitality law. They can guide you on the appropriate course of action depending on the laws and regulations in your specific region.

Hotel ad rate parity is designed to prevent confusion and maintain trust among consumers, but when illegal or immoral tactics are used, everyone loses. To protect yourself and your vacation from ad listing parity offenders remember it’s always better to be safe rather than sorry. If you’re using an online travel agency, always remember to thoroughly research anyone you purchase with. When in doubt, contact your hotel directly. And last but not least, pay it forward and report or take steps against fraudulent companies.