I think it is, as has been said, toe curlingly painful. I just don't see how it will sell anything.
The Company behind it is, like all comparison websites, on a hiding to nothing. They have an business model that has no long term future, I feel. Increasingly with hotel bookings I find that if I use a comparison site and then contact my preferred hotel directly I get a lower price. So the comparison web site doesn't get paid.
Glad to see you're doing that Peter about booking direct. When the hotel booking sites first came out they hammered out how much cheaper the equivalent hotel room would be booking thought their comparison site than direct with the hotel. Bearing in mind that a hotel owner can be charged anything between 15 to 22% commission to the booking agent it doesn't take long to realise who is benefitting from this. Furthermore, in many countries including the UK these online booking platforms have a parity clause in them meaning that the hotel owner has to guarantee the booking platform that they do not sell the identical rooms at any different price.
If you deal direct with a hotel they may get round this by offering free upgrades etc. We, along with many other holiday cottage/villa owners in the last three months have been battling against the Owners Direct/Homeaway/VRBO platform that worked very well fr many years by us paying a considerable amount of money to advertise on their platform on return for communicating directly with prospective property renters.
Since Expedia bought them out last year and are now changing their website ultimately to be for online bookings only and bypassing direct contact with the property owners they have implemented a "Service Charge Fee" adding 9% on to the cost of a holiday that goes direct to Expedia via an unregulated company in The Republic of Ireland. This can add up to £300 to the cost of a holiday. It as reported on NASDAQ that in two years time this should bring Expedia's shareholders a bunce of just under $1bn for doing nothing. It is being 'sold' on the basis it is providing payment protection to people who make card payments online through this system but this is untrue due to the payment company being unregulated. Payments taken through owners card facilities, such as ourselves, are protected in the UK by our own banks.
In a long and roundabout way I want to thank you again, Peter, for booking direct your hotel accommodation as it will be much appreciated by the owners and you will benefit too. We are working with other holiday cottage/villa owners to promote the hashtag #bookdirect in social media as people do not realise how they are paying a high price for the convenience of seeing a selection of places to stay on one platform.
I'll get of my
and apologise for hijacking the thread.
