Bed & Breakfast News Issue #46 Spring 2018 | Page 6

6 | Bed & Breakfast News | Summer 2017
BBN46, p6-7
NB: half page vertical “Little Hotelier” ad now on p7

Online Travel Agent banned from
showing ‘Free Cancellation’ TV ad
Last Summer, the Bed & Breakfast Association complained directly to Booking.com
demanding it cease a marketing campaign advertising ‘Free Cancellation’ for consumers.
Writing about this issue for Travel Weekly Europe at the time, B&B Association chairman
David Weston described the relationship of the big OTAs with his members as “verging on
the abusive”.
He accused Booking.com and Expedia of
enticing consumers with “biased” search
results, “false discounts” and creating
“false urgency” through misleading claims,
and argues: “The imbalance of power is
extraordinary.”
In an email to Booking.com complaining
about their TV ad promoting free
cancellation, David complained: “The clear
message is: book what you want through
Booking.com and don’t worry because you
can cancel it later free.
“This promotion of casual cancellation has
led to a perception that it is OK to make
several alternative bookings and cancel the
ones you don’t want, that the hotel or B&B
will pick up the tab.
“It has already resulted in our members
seeing significantly higher cancellation rates
via yourselves than other channels, and
vastly higher than in direct bookings (where
cancellation rates in our sector have typically
been negligible). Your own team tell B&Bs to
live with the fact that one booking in every
five will cancel (your figure).”