UK discount hotel booking site Skoosh has issued an angry open letter to metasearch site Kayak after finding its contract terminated without warning.
Skoosh says the Norwalk, Connecticut-based company gave a 30-day notice period on its five-year old partnership (Skoosh fed property deals into Kayak's hotel channel) in mid-October, without explanation.
Director Dorian Harris claims the contract was worth around $1 million a year to Kayak in referral fees and was one of the only independent hotel providers on the site.
In the open letter to Kayak CEO Steve Hafner, Harris says:
"I see that you’re planning to grow in Europe and yesterday I read about your forthcoming IPO. I realise your future doesn’t depend on Skoosh but I don’t see how you can compete effectively as a price comparison site when you only have a handful of companies listed on your site and they’re all enforcing price parity.
"What’s the point of a price comparison site if all the suppliers are offering the same rate?
"There’s no urgency but I would ask you to reconsider your position in light of the above or at least explain in more detail your reasons for wanting to cut ties with Skoosh. We’ve had no replies to our calls and emails since you notified us of the termination."
However, the language in correspondence to the media is far more conspiratorial.
"Days after informing Skoosh that the contract would be terminated, Kayak launched Fairsearch together with their [sic] partner, Expedia. Skoosh had previously reported Expedia for price fixing."
Harris is now asking Kayak to reconsider its position and work with Skoosh once again.
Metasearch engines typically have a range of criteria for working with hotel sites, including strength of the host brand, variety of stock and pricing, volume and commercial terms.
Skoosh may have fallen foul of any one of these. However, when contacted, Kayak said: "We have no response to this letter."
This is not the first time Skoosh has used the open letter tactic in battles with other travel companies.
In September 2010 Harris posted a letter to Booking.com over hotel rates. It did the same a few weeks later over a similar spat in Canada.
The company's complaints have triggered an investigation by the UK's Office of Fair Trading.