Join our upcoming webinar to dive deeper into the challenges of OTA undercutting and learn how Triptease’s Price Match tool can solve your rate parity issues for good. We’ll be sharing performance insights from a test group of hotels whose guests were 6X more likely to book when they saw auto-matched prices on the booking engine. Register here to solve parity for good.
For most revenue managers, achieving rate parity with OTAs is a time-consuming, ongoing battle. Triptease has worked for over a decade to provide the tools hoteliers need to monitor their price parity, negotiate with OTAs who undercut them and show guests that the best price is direct. Today, this challenge has intensified. More people want to travel, but with tighter budgets. As a result, they are increasingly turning to OTAs for their competitive prices.
Three rate parity issues that Revenue Managers need to solve
Managing disparities takes time
Rate disparity in the hotel industry refers to the difference between prices listed on a hotel’s website and those offered by OTAs such as Booking.com. For revenue managers, maintaining rate parity requires considerable time and resources to monitor rates across multiple distribution partners. These administrative challenges make it nearly impossible for hotels to consistently maintain rate parity. When a hotel falls victim to OTA undercuts, it’s the direct relationship with a guest that is lost.
Attempting to price match is manual, slow and inaccurate
Price matching is currently resource-heavy, manual work for hotels, often relying on front desk staff to handle price match claims daily. One hotel we spoke to reported dealing with hundreds of price match queries every week, creating hours of tedious work. Hilton asks guests to submit a form which they respond to over the next few working days - this delays the direct booking and increases the chance of guests booking with an OTA.
Guests will always find the best price
Across multiple regions, hotels are still falling victim to OTA undercutting. In fact, Triptease Global Data shows that your conversion rate drops by 32% when you are undercut on the booking engine.
The pandemic proved beyond doubt the value that consumers place on vacations and escapes and, despite fluctuating economies and layoffs, the demand is still there. However, continued economic uncertainty means that online research now plays a pivotal role in making the right financial decisions.
This means guests are willing to spend time more finding the best price, so having a tool in place that addresses these needs is pivotal if you want to remain competitive.
Hoteliers like Don MacCorquodale, Director of Revenue Management at One King West, understand the importance of always having the best price. He stated:
In today's economy, where every dollar counts due to rising living costs, interest rates, and more, people are searching for true value. A good quality hotel that presents value clearly, especially through strategies like strikeout pricing, becomes much more appealing.
Game Over OTAs: Having the best price everywhere
The strikeout pricing Don referred to is Triptease’s Price Match on Metasearch. It works by automatically detecting OTA undercuts and adjusting the direct price by just enough to ensure that the hotel has the best price.
Closing the loop: Introducing On-site Price Match
Triptease is now closing the loop and bringing our price-matching technology to the booking engine.
Triptease conducted a controlled test with a select group of hotels, ranging from budget-friendly beach resorts to boutique properties. The performance confirmed one thing: all guests want the best price. One of the key findings was that guests are *6x more likely to convert if the hotel is using Price Match. Providing competitive pricing is crucial to driving direct bookings.
Learn more in our webinar
Join our upcoming webinar to dive deeper into the challenges of OTA undercuts and learn how Triptease’s Price Match tool can solve your rate parity issues for good. We’ll be sharing performance insights from a controlled group that saw guests six times more likely to convert seeing a Price Match message on the booking engine. Register here to solve parity for good.
