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Re:The Drivers Cooperative by beefield on Friday March 26, 2021 @07:31AM (#26590815)
> companies will then use your site for lead generation but encourage people to book directly

Of course. That would be the whole point. In that case the OTAs would need to start figuring out how to actually produce value to both end customers and hotels instead of just rent seeking.

Re:The Drivers Cooperative by VBprogrammer on Friday March 26, 2021 @07:53AM (#26590975)
I for one consider that being able to compare prices and availability across a large segment of the market to be consumer friendly behaviour. Additional fees for the privilege, not so much.

Hotels are of course free to decline a business relationship with the various OTAs and traditional travel agencies for that matter. So long as no one OTA has a monopoly I don't think there is a problem.

Re:The Drivers Cooperative by beefield on Friday March 26, 2021 @08:06AM (#26591060)
> Additional fees for the privilege, not so much.

But you understand that as the end customer, you end up paying the fees anyway, even if they are not visible in the bill? If your customers were unhappy about the extra cost, maybe you were not open enough about them or maybe the customer did not think your service worth the extra fee? After all, if the end customer is the one paying the fee, hotel has no incentive to try to get the customer past the OTA. They get the same money anyway.

Re:The Drivers Cooperative by VBprogrammer on Friday March 26, 2021 @08:12AM (#26591108)
You could say that for any marketing activity. You don't expect a hotel to add an additional fee for the fact that you seen an advert in a glossy magazine, or for providing their own website for that matter.

I'm sure you are aware that the entire travel industry, predating the advent of OTA, works on a commission basis.