Hotels Hope Member Discounts Will Save Them From Travel Website Commissions
Hotel operators worldwide, including Hilton and Marriott, are sick of paying commissions to Expedia and Priceline, so they are offering lower prices to directly purchasing customers.
Chains are offering discounts, sometimes as high as 25%, to members of their loyalty programs who book with the hotels directly so they can avoid paying double-digit commissions to online travel agents, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Earlier this year Hilton launched an advertising campaign to try and get people to book through its website or app. The firm also believes it can circumvent language in its contracts with third-party websites that prevents Hilton from offering lower rates on its own site by only offering the lower rates to members of its loyalty program. [WSJ]
