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The trick of Booking.com with city tax

In general, this is a practice concerning a wide range of hotels in Greece, and it's not just Booking.com doing this. Many OTAs display different rates in Trivago than in the searches performed directly through their websites.

After a random search about the rate parity of one of our clients we found out that the rates in Booking.com and in the client’s official website were exactly the same. However, the case was different when we visited Booking.com page through Trivago!

We chose a hotel which maintains a rate parity for a specific date and checked the prices on its official website, on the website of Booking.com, as well as Booking.com accessed through Trivago.

Results are the following:
Search Details:

  • Date of search: 30th June 2014
  • Booking date: 15-18 October 2014
  • Room type: Junior Suite
  • Rate: Flexible
  • Rate on the hotel’s website – 780 EUR
  • Rate from directly visiting Booking.com – 780 EUR
  • Rate on Booking.com through Trivago – 776,30 EUR

The difference between the two results is that in the second case (through Trivago) there is no 0.5% city tax included (you can see it in the fine print under the room’s image), a trick that helps Booking.com appear to be the cheapest offer; therefore winning a comparative advantage in meta-search.

We proceed with the booking process. The rate customers think they book is the same they saw on Trivago. The note about city tax is always in the fine print. Of course the booking the hotelier receives is of the regular price and not the reduced one with the city tax excluded. In this way they are never aware of the trick.

The final result is that the customer will eventually choose to book with Booking.com due to the ostensibly better price. The hotelier will pay a commission for bookings that could be directly completed through their website.

In general, this is a practice concerning a wide range of hotels in Greece, and it’s not just Booking.com doing this. Many OTAs display different rates in Trivago than in the searches performed directly through their websites. The rates vary day by day and in many cases they are even lower than the 0.05% of Booking.com.

Dimitris Serifis is CEO and Co-Founder at Nelios.com.

Co-Founder & Managing Director - Travel Media Applications | Website | + Posts

Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.

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