It's a common situation; you're hotel searching for your next big getaway only to be accosted at the start line by third party bookers advertising their unique-exclusive-limited-time-only offers.
But how much are these deals really saving you?
According to a conducted by the UK Competition and Markets Authority the answer is most likely nothing.
Under pressure
The multiple year investigation found that sites such as Expedia, Booking.com, Trivago and three others are using pressure selling techniques to cheat consumers out of their travel budget.
For example, ever been eyeing a sweet room with a view only to have a pop-up appear and inform you that there’s 10 other people fighting for that 35-square-footer?
Yeah, according to the investigation those people might not even be looking at the same dates as your vacay.
Other “pressure selling” tactics these sites have been caught using include:
- Advertising a bargain basement price but not including taxes and other fees (actual prices found to be up to 27% more than what’s advertised).
- Portraying the regular price of a room as a discount.
- Just straight up pulling discounted stays from nowhere.
In the UK, the CMA has given these sites until September 1st to clean up their acts and make their selling tactics more transparent.
This includes making it clear how a hotel’s ranking is influenced by how much commission the website receives and portraying total costs of rooms straight up instead of hitting consumers with taxes and fees at the checkout.
“Six websites have already given firm undertakings not to engage in these practices," CMA chairperson Andrew Tyrie said.
They are some of the largest hotel booking sites.
“The CMA will now do whatever it can to ensure that the rest of the sector meets the same.”
What about Aussies?
The question now is will the same crackdown on these pressure selling tactics make its way to Australia.
A quick flick through these websites Australian sites find a lot of simple pressure points being used to upsell and stress consumers.
Just a quick search for a Gold Coast hotel in time for the Eurovision Australia Decides concerts finds a consumer with bold, bright fonts and pop ups pushing a quick sale.
Source: Hotels.com, Expedia, Booking.com
Just a quick search for a Gold Coast hotel in time for the 'Eurovision: Australia Decides' concerts finds a consumer with bold, bright fonts and pop ups pushing a quick sale.
The Feed contacted Expedia (who also own Trivago), Hotels.com and Booking.com for comment but did not receive a reply at the time of publishing.
According to consumer advocate group Choice's there are a couple of things you can do to avoid getting stung.
- ABC (always be cross-checking): Don’t take the first price you see. Make sure to check out the hotel’s official website before you book third party.
- Beware the booking site algorithm, the top offering might not always be the best.
- Know your when it comes to third party booking sites.
Happy holidays!
