Booking.com changes rules: more freedom for hotels, better prices for travelers
Booking.com is introducing changes that should give hotels in Europe more freedom to set prices on their own websites and other sales channels. For travelers, this may mean that prices for the same accommodation will often vary depending on where they book.
The changes apply throughout the European Economic Area, including hotels in Croatia.
The hotel can offer a better price on its website
The most important change for hoteliers is quite simple.
Booking.com will no longer consider the price offered by a hotel on its own website or other sales channel when deciding whether to include the property in the Booking Sponsored Benefit program.
This is a program through which Booking.com sometimes further reduces the price displayed to the guest, and the discount is financed by the platform itself.
In practice, this gives hotels more room to offer a different or more favorable price on their own website, without the fear that this price will affect their participation in this program.
Booking.com is also announcing clearer rules for the Genius, Preferred and Preferred Plus programs. It should be easier for hotels to understand why they participate in a particular program and what influences it. their position on the platform.
What does this mean for hoteliers?
The main benefit for hotels is greater control over sales.
A hotel, for example, may decide to offer a lower price, free parking, breakfast, or more flexible cancellation policies on its own website to attract guests to direct bookings.
This is particularly important because many hotels want to reduce their dependence on large OTA platforms and increase the share of direct bookings, where they usually do not pay the same level of commission.
HOTREC data shows how important Booking.com is to the European market. Booking Holdings generates almost 69% OTA bookings in Europe, so changes to its rules can have a major impact on hotel distribution.
And what changes for passengers?
For guests, there probably won't be any major changes in the way reservations are made overnight.
But one thing could become more pronounced: the same room will not necessarily have the same price on all channels.
The hotel will have more space for special offers on its own website, while Booking.com can simultaneously offer its discounts through Genius or other programs.
However, it will make more sense for travelers to compare several channels before booking. It is not enough to just look at the basic room price. It is also worth comparing breakfast, cancellation policies, parking, the ability to change a reservation, or other benefits.
This does not mean that direct bookings will always be cheaper, nor that Booking.com will lose its price advantage. But hotels are given more freedom to decide where to offer the best price or the best conditions.
It will be the practice that will show whether hotels will actually start to use this freedom more often and whether guests will check the direct hotel channels more often before making a final reservation because of this.
