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289 | OTA Protest: Reform Lodging members to blackout rooms
Since the coronavirus pandemic crippled the U.S. lodging industry beginning in mid-March, tens of thousands of hotels have struggled to keep their lights on and attract business.
However, a new group of hoteliers this week hopes to disrupt third-party booking channels with a blackout campaign to protest the commissions charged by online travel agencies during the COVID-19 crisis.
Reform Lodging is asking its nearly 2,000 members to shut off their branded room inventory from Expedia Group and Booking Holdings on Friday and Saturday in what it calls a “symbolic” act of defiance.
In this episode of Lodging Leaders podcast, we report on the “Lights Out, OTA!” campaign and explore the financial implications of OTA commissions and franchiser’s reservation fees on owners of branded hotels.
We feature Sagar Shah of Philadelphia, co-founder and president of Reform Lodging and managing principal at Yatra Capital Group; Parth Patel, president of VIPA Hospitality in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and a member of Reform Lodging; and Robert Cole of Dallas, Texas, a senior research analyst in lodging and leisure for Phocuswright. We also include sound bites from second-quarter earnings calls with CEOs of Expedia Group and Booking Holdings.
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By Jon Albano and Judy Maxwell
4.8
7474 ratings
Since the coronavirus pandemic crippled the U.S. lodging industry beginning in mid-March, tens of thousands of hotels have struggled to keep their lights on and attract business.
However, a new group of hoteliers this week hopes to disrupt third-party booking channels with a blackout campaign to protest the commissions charged by online travel agencies during the COVID-19 crisis.
Reform Lodging is asking its nearly 2,000 members to shut off their branded room inventory from Expedia Group and Booking Holdings on Friday and Saturday in what it calls a “symbolic” act of defiance.
In this episode of Lodging Leaders podcast, we report on the “Lights Out, OTA!” campaign and explore the financial implications of OTA commissions and franchiser’s reservation fees on owners of branded hotels.
We feature Sagar Shah of Philadelphia, co-founder and president of Reform Lodging and managing principal at Yatra Capital Group; Parth Patel, president of VIPA Hospitality in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and a member of Reform Lodging; and Robert Cole of Dallas, Texas, a senior research analyst in lodging and leisure for Phocuswright. We also include sound bites from second-quarter earnings calls with CEOs of Expedia Group and Booking Holdings.