𝗜’𝗺 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁.
Best Available Rates — the pricing parity standard that has locked hotels and Expedia together for over two decades — is officially dead.
Why? Expedia Group’s OneKey Member Pricing now consistently undercuts hotel BAR rates, rendering traditional rate parity irrelevant.
Example: For next Tuesday night in Boston, more than half of hotels listed on Expedia offer member-exclusive discounts of 10% to 25%. (Screenshot in comments.) Yet, the hotels’ own websites must still display higher “Best Available Rates,” bound by parity agreements.
Notably, 95% of these undercut hotels in Boston are independent properties—not franchises of Marriott, IHG, Accor, Hyatt, or Hilton.
What can independent hoteliers do?
1. 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲. The EU restricted Expedia’s parity agreements in 2015 because they were found to be anticompetitive — likely why over 60% of Expedia’s lodging revenue now comes from the U.S.
2. 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 asking nicely if they could kindly stop undermining your rates.
3. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 — just like Expedia — by offering exclusive discounts below BAR to your loyalty program members. Chains already use this strategy effectively, and it’s becoming the go-to approach for an increasing number of independents as well.
With OneKey Member Prices, Expedia leverages a contractual loophole that allows them to disregard BAR agreements. It’s time that hotels, and especially independent properties, stopped playing by the old rules and regained control of their pricing.
