Rate parity in changing online distribution landscape
Urpelainen, Else (2013)
Lataukset:
Urpelainen, Else
HAAGA-HELIA ammattikorkeakoulu
2013
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2013060312596
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2013060312596
Tiivistelmä
The online distribution of hotel rooms has been in turmoil for some years now. Especially in the focus has been the hotel rate parity and the meta search of hotel rooms. In 2011, Google presented the hoteliers with Google Hotel Finder that at its best can present great threat and opportunity for the online distribution of hotel rooms. Therefore, this research tries to find out how the rate parity has been affected by the meta search of hotel rooms. The purpose and objective of this research is in establishing whether rate parity is really becoming obsolete and create an insightful model for the professionals to use.
First the reader is given short introduction to the hotel revenue management and the online distribution of hotel rooms. From there on the actual conceptual framework for the research is built on the key concepts – rate parity, meta search of hotel rooms and Google Hotel Finder.
The research was done by semi-structured expert interviews with revenue management professionals working either in hotel group level or in education/consultancy. The chosen approach to research was inductive, since the objective of this research is to create a new model for the industry professionals to use. Overall seven interviews were conducted during April and May 2013.
The main finding in the study was that rate parity is becoming obsolete and the hotels need to react. However, the respondents felt that there are advantages in having rate parity, especially to the customers. Furthermore, the meta search is proposed to have a negative effect on the rate parity. From these findings a model on the relationship between the rate parity and the meta search is created, which guides the hoteliers towards focusing on the diff
First the reader is given short introduction to the hotel revenue management and the online distribution of hotel rooms. From there on the actual conceptual framework for the research is built on the key concepts – rate parity, meta search of hotel rooms and Google Hotel Finder.
The research was done by semi-structured expert interviews with revenue management professionals working either in hotel group level or in education/consultancy. The chosen approach to research was inductive, since the objective of this research is to create a new model for the industry professionals to use. Overall seven interviews were conducted during April and May 2013.
The main finding in the study was that rate parity is becoming obsolete and the hotels need to react. However, the respondents felt that there are advantages in having rate parity, especially to the customers. Furthermore, the meta search is proposed to have a negative effect on the rate parity. From these findings a model on the relationship between the rate parity and the meta search is created, which guides the hoteliers towards focusing on the diff