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Criticism of Rankings of Hotel booking portals

What are the Hotels booked on sites like Expedia, often depends crucially on how far up they are on the rank list. However, positioning is not always in the int

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Criticism of Rankings of Hotel booking portals

What are the Hotels booked on sites like Expedia, often depends crucially on how far up they are on the rank list. However, positioning is not always in the interest of the customers.

The methods of the larger hotel booking portals, you will encounter criticism from consumer advocates and Hoteliers. The reason is that In the search results, Hotels often get worse results, if you are offering on your own Website lower prices.

this was the result of a study conducted by the centre for European economic research (ZEW). "Not every positioning and recommendation in the case of large booking portals like Booking.com and Expedia is therefore in the interest of the users", - stated in the study. Accordingly, every fourth deal is on the hotel's own website is cheaper than a booking portal.

The scientists evaluated search results on Booking.com and Expedia and meta-search site Kayak for 250 cities in different countries in the period between July 2016 and January 2017. They compared the prices of the rooms offers more than 18,000 Hotels.

Website booking.com

booking portals "non-transparent and legally questionable"

The hotel industry and the study in their critique confirmed. The chief Executive of the industry Association, IHA, Markus Luthe, complained that the rankings of the booking portals to be "non-transparent and legally questionable to say the least."

By Luthes evaluation of the results of the ZEW study suggest that the portals, the Ranking is so optimized, that they achieved a maximum profit, but not to the consumer that for him actually, the best search result is displayed. "The guest should be clearly pointed out, if the Hotel placement other criteria as the Star rating, the guest rating, the room price or the distance is subjected to a desired destination," called Luthe.

Hotel deals are often cheaper

criticism also comes from consumer protectors: "in the end, Hoteliers are forced to make the best offer on the pages of the booking portals," says Felix Methmann, tourism expert at the verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband. "As a result, there is no fair competition, and that is not good for consumers. Only at the appropriate competitive prices come about for the customer."

The positions on the ranking lists have a decisive influence on which Hotels are posted on Internet portals and what not. "It would be desirable if booking portals would provide consumers with better information about how they calculate their 'Recommended' or 'Our Top tips' referred to rank lists", called ZEW researchers and Co-author of the study, Reinhold Kesler. Consumers could decide, to what extent would the recommendations actually follow.

market share of the booking portals is growing

Expedia said on request, the Hotels, the sections on the Websites of the best, were those who fulfilled the expectations of the customer, for example, with respect to the positive reviews and the prices. Such Hotels would be booked most likely and came in the sort order. In addition, customers could sort it with the settings of the search results according to your Wishes, for example by price, number of stars, or audited reviews.

Similar to Booking.com commented: are The Rankings based on an automated algorithm that is constructed from customer feedback. Accommodations were booked, showed that they were well received by customers. "Customers tend not to book accommodation with higher prices".

According to data provided by the German hotel Association has grown, the market share of the booking portals in the past year. So 2016 was reserved every fourth overnight stay in the hotel in Germany via online portals. It Booking.com the HRS Group, and Expedia dominated.

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