News

New collaboration with hotels to increase competition between online travel agents

Competition and Consumer Authority collaborates with Danish Chamber of Commerce and HORESTA to help Danish hotels get better deals with and increase competition between online travel agents (OTAs).

Deputy Director of the Competition and Consumer Authority Jacob Schaumburg-Müller says:

"When up to half of the hotels are unaware of their possibilities for entering into agreements with the OTAs, then the industry has the potential for better agreements, which we would like to help realise."

"We work to secure well-functioning markets, and this applies to both companies and consumers. Against this background, it’s obvious that, in collaboration with the Danish Chamber of Commerce and HORESTA, the Competition and Consumer Authority help shed a little more light on the formal framework for agreements with OTAs."  

Hotels have the option of setting different room rates on different OTAs, and offering lowThe reason for the Competition and Consumer Authority’s cooperation with the Danish Chamber of Commerce and HORESTA is that an analysis conducted by the European competition authorities shows that 47 percent of hotels surveyed were not aware of the possibilities for making new agreements with OTAs.

By entering into different agreements with different OTAs, a hotel can obtain several benefits. Firstly, consumers are presented with a wider range of offers depending on which OTA they visit. Secondly, it enhances competition between OTAs to the benefit of both hotels and consumers.

In the collaboration, the Competition and Consumer Authority's knowledge of the competition rules is combined with the Danish Chamber of Commerce’s and HORESTA's wide industry network.

For further information, contact the Competition and Consumer Authority’s communication department, tel. +45 41 71 50 98.

Examples of some of the options for hotels:

  • The hotels have the option of setting different prices and terms for hotel rooms on the OTAs. This means that the hotels can negotiate individual prices and terms (e.g. that a hotel stay is inclusive of breakfast) with individual OTAs.
  • The hotels have the option to offer a customer a lower room rate than the OTAs if the customer inquires personally, e.g. at reception, or through other direct channels (such as by telephone or email), as long as this takes place through sales channels other than the hotel's own, open online sales channels. The hotels also have the option to offer lower room rates and other favourable terms to closed customer groups, e.g. through loyalty programmes.
  • The hotels have the option to market themselves to past customers, including those who booked through OTAs. This means that the hotels can make direct contact with a former customer even if the customer booked the hotel room through an OTA. This gives hotels the ability to market themselves directly to the customer, e.g. with advantageous offers.