Under a new Hyatt policy
announced Monday, travel agents have access to discounted room rates that are
primarily intended for customers who book direct, but ASTA is dissatisfied that
agents must book at a Hyatt website to get the discount.
Unlike Marriott
International and Hilton Worldwide (two companies that recently introduced book-direct
discounts and enabled agents to book the low rates, too), Hyatt isn't putting
the discounted rates in GDSs.
"Hyatt tells us that
while this new promotion is commissionable to agents, the agent can only obtain
it by booking directly through a Hyatt channel and not through their GDS. This
move makes comparative shopping harder for agent and consumer alike, and adds
to an agent’s workload by disrupting the standard booking process," ASTA
said in a statement.
Although ASTA praised
Hilton and Marriott for including agents when those hotel giants launched their respective book-direct initiatives, ASTA on Monday expressed bitterness that their ad
campaigns don't explicitly inform customers that agents can book the same low
rates.
“Nowhere but the fine
print is it obvious to the traveling public that consumers can get the same
rates or deals by using their trusted travel agent as they can by booking
directly with the supplier,” ASTA said. “And in fact in some cases, it isn’t
even in the fine print — you have to ask.”
With their recent initiatives, the large hotel companies are looking to push more of their sales through direct channels and away from OTAs, the hotels' most expensive distribution channel. OTA distribution can cost hotels 15% to 25% of room revenue.