Rate parity is an evergreen topic. I wrote an article on rate parity for hotels in 2023, and all the way back in 2015. It’s an issue that seems to stir up a lot of concern at the asset management and property levels.
NB: This is an article from Vikram Singh
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Even as I write this, there are hotel industry professionals Googling rates and taking screenshots in the Google Hotel ads section to bring to their next revenue management meeting. Seasoned revenue managers are mostly ignoring these emails loaded with screenshots, as we have already addressed rate parity to the highest degree possible. Plus it’s hard to explain to our bosses that their belief that “we control our rates and distribution” is not quite true.
We want to think that nobody online ever lies, cheats or misrepresents just to get a click. We want to have complete control over our own online presence. So I empathize with those of you who feel angry or frustrated. But the truth is that, at some point, all of us have to go through the five stages of dealing with hotel rate parity acceptance.
As a commercial services provider, I get emails from asset managers, owners and hotel teams who are all in different stages of their rate parity journeys. I feel their pain, but they have to go through these steps in order to come out on the other side. Think of me as a spiritual sherpa trying to help you seek parity enlightenment.
Stage 1: Denial ⇒ “Rate Parity Is the Only Way Forward!”
This is where a lot of newbies find themselves. They cannot believe that the OTAs, and resellers that pull inventory from OTAs, are displaying a rate lower than the hotel’s. Some of them become obsessed with the concept that rates need to be in 100% parity; if not, then someone is definitely asleep at the wheel.
They start to spend time hunched over their laptop, frantically taking screenshots of Google Hotel Finder rates as if they are documenting a UFO sighting or locating the rate parity Bigfoot. They are living in an ideal world where loading identical rates across all channels should mean that nobody can possibly undercut them unless someone on their team has made a mistake.
Meanwhile, the hotel distribution world is busy evolving around them. OTAs have merged and multiplied; more channels are pulling inventory from your hotel than you think. You can choose to stay in denial and continue to harass your revenue teams… but they see you as a modern age Don Quixote tilting at windmills for rate parity honor.
