Booking has decided to raise the fee charged to hotels that want better positioning on their platform.
According to Preferent, booking has launched a new 'premium' service to increase the remuneration it receives for processed reservations.
The hotel distribution giant, both in Spain and Europe, has informed the hotel owners that as of Tuesday, June 15, the new program 'Preferent Plus' will be launched, which seems to differ only from the current 'preferred' program in the cost that hotels will assume: they will go from paying the 18% that they currently pay to 23%. The basic rate will remain at 15 per cent.
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The measure has raised criticism among hoteliers who, consulted by the media, have shown their indignation at the platform for taking this step at one of the worst moments that the sector is experiencing due to the health crisis that continues to plunge tourism.
According to these sources to Preferent, this increase in commissions causes booking to lose one of the competitive advantages that differentiated the platform from competition, thus becoming a more expensive distribution tool for hotels.
In declarations to Business insider Spain, booking specifies that the 'preferred' program is an "optional initiative, only by invitation", for the most popular and best valued properties on the platform, as determined by customers. These properties have the option of proving how additional visibility could further help your business, they explain.
"with the new level of the optional 'preferred' program, the 'preferred Plus' program, the properties pay a slightly higher Commission for the additional visibility involved in being a 'preferred Plus' partner, and this additional fee is transferred directly to our customers in the form of travel credit for a future stay," they add from the platform.
A study by Hotrec points out that the portal accounts for 68.4% of hotel sales made by online travel agencies, followed by Expedia and HRS, which account for 16.3% and 7.2% of the market, respectively.
The measure will have a greater impact on small establishments that require this better positioning in order to promote themselves, as opposed to large hotel chains.
