Rate parity issues continue to challenge hotels in key markets

A quarter of hoteliers don’t believe they are in control of rate parity, according to a study by data intelligence platform OTA Insight.

As part of its Annual Hotel Parity Review, the company reveals that a further 26% think they are in control but are "not sure."

For the purposes of the report, a win for rate parity is measured as the percentage of arrival dates where the lowest-priced channel is more expensive than the hotel’s own website, while meeting rate parity is the percentage where the lowest-priced channel equals a hotel’s website.

Wholesalers are cited by 59% as the main reason for rate disparity, followed by online travel agents at 39% and technology/channel manager issues at 33%.

The report goes on to look at different geographies, with major hotel chains in North America negatively impacted almost a quarter of the time by non-contracted OTAs.

This compares to major chains in Europe, which are negatively impacted more than a third of the time. For independent hotels and local chains, the figures are higher.

In both Europe and North America, OTAs are more likely to have parity with major chains than independent properties and local chains.

The study shows that hoteliers incur significant revenue losses as well as see their direct sales undermined.

In Europe, independents and local chains face losses for more than 50% of tracked shops compared with 45% for major chains.

In North America, the figures are slightly less, with independents and local chains facing losses of 46% of tracked shops compared to 35% for major chains.

Hoteliers were also asked what players and technologies might have the greatest impact on distribution in the next three years, with Airbnb, Google and OTAs getting a mention.

Technologies expected to impact distribution are data analytics, business intelligence and artificial intelligence.