hotel affiliates

[addoc]

Hi,
Does anyone know how affiliate hotel schemes work. I undertstand affiliates as in if something is sold through your site you get a % of the sale price.
But if you look at hotel affilaite websites they are cheaper then the actual hotel website itself and get a % of the cheaper price.

Eg consumer product iped
affilaite site price 100 (affiliate get 10%)
actual site price 100

in the case of accomadation
eg affiliate-hotel.com price price 80 for a room for actualhotel. (affiliate get 10%)

actualhotel.com price price 100 for a room.

so on the affiliate site the room is cheaper and pay commision?

any ideas

 

[mneylon]

Most of the affiliate schemes aren't run by hotels. They're run by booking agencies that handle multiple hotels and get better rates than are listed on the hotel sites directly

 

[Martina]

Hotels have a dilemma really.

These affiliate sites often have high online visibility and high visitor traffic. Even though the affiliates demand the lowest room rates and commission, the hotels know that they can shift rooms through them.

But by doing so they reduce the value of their own website, and ensure that people will shop around for better deals (for which the hotels much pay commission). So - should hotels insist that they offer the lowest rates through their own official hotel website, which with few exceptions, can never hope to have the reach and traffic volume of the large affiliates? Or should they sell the rooms cheaply through affiliates, thereby diluting their own brand and encouraging people to actively seek out lower rates on affiliate sites?

Additionally affiliates will often ask for a guarantee of a certain number of rooms on an ongoing basis, so it's not as if the hotel can release rooms that haven't sold on an ad-hoc basis.

 

[mneylon]

Martina

If I want a hotel room in city X I will probably check one of the big portals such as CentralR. I won't even know the names of the individual hotels to check them directly ...

M

 

[Martina]

Exactly - that's why the hotels are forced to deal with the affiliates. I try to book directly with the hotel if I can - probably because I worked for one, and know how agressive the affiliates can be, but price is important and I do shop around.

 

[Martina]

Seeing as you mentioned CentralR, I have had dealings with them in the past, and I find their tactics unsavoury. They build websites based on the branding, logo and colours of official hotel websites. They optimise the site, run PPC campaigns and bid on the hotel's name. It is all set up so that the average visitor believes they are on the official hotel website. CentralR do this unauthorised, often duplicating official content and helping themselves to images and logos.

 

[addoc]

Thanks for the info. Interesting stuff. Its kind of ironic really that in this case, its cheaper goin through a 'middle man', goes against ecommerce somewhat. But i understand why. Maybe theres an opportunity here ... if some really thought about it. (Not that i have any ideas)

 

[mneylon]

Seeing as you mentioned CentralR, I have had dealings with them in the past, and I find their tactics unsavoury. They build websites based on the branding, logo and colours of official hotel websites. They optimise the site, run PPC campaigns and bid on the hotel's name. It is all set up so that the average visitor believes they are on the official hotel website. CentralR do this unauthorised, often duplicating official content and helping themselves to images and logos.

Can't the hotels do anything about that?