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| Bed & Breakfast News | Summer 2017
Our Chairman, David Weston, met officials at the CMA early last September and made all the above points forcefully, illustrated by many comments from B & B Association members, and screenshots from OTA searches and simultaneous direct B & B website screenshots – so show clearly where OTA‘ discounts’ and availability statements were demonstrably fictitious.
The following month( 27 October), the CMA announced they would be formally investigating false discount and availability statements, misleading and incomplete search rankings etc- ie some of the specific things we raised with them. We asked our members to submit their views and evidence to the CMA.
OTAs can of course be a great boon for B & Bs and guest houses by providing a strong source of bookings- BUT this advantage has come at a high price, as the two global giants who have 80 % of the OTA market between them have exploited their grossly disproportionate bargaining power with B & Bs and hotels to dictate terms with are sometimes( to put it mildly) less than fair.
They have gained their huge and growing market share by giving consumers the perception that it is cheaper to book through an OTA than direct with you- and have done this partly through the practices the CMA outlined in their October announcement about their probe into OTAs- for instance, in the CMA’ s own words:
“ Discount claims: [ the CMA is investigating ] whether the discount claims made on sites offer a fair comparison for customers. For example, the claim could be based on a higher price that was only available for a brief period, or not relevant to the customer’ s search criteria, for example comparing a higher weekend room rate with the weekday rate for which the customer has searched.”
“ Pressure selling: [ the CMA is investigating ] whether claims about how many people are looking at the same room, how many rooms may be left, or how long a price is available, create a false impression of room availability or rush customers into making a booking decision.”
The CMA are also investigating search rankings – i. e.“ how hotels are ranked after a customer has entered their search requirements, for example to what extent search results are influenced by other factors that may be less relevant to the customer’ s requirements, such as the amount of commission a hotel pays the site”
The CMA say that their next‘ investigation update’ will be in“ Spring 2018” – so it should be imminent. We will of course keep members informed.
Meanwhile, many thanks to all our members, who fund us and enable us to fight our corner with Governments and regulators. Our objectives are, as always, to inform, support and represent you.
As always, give us your views at comment @ bandbassociation. org