Comment: What hoteliers have learned about the big two OTAs during COVID-19 crisis
Robin Shepperd, chairman and chief executive of Bespoke Hotels, contrasts the approaches to partnership taken by booking.com and Expedia in the coronavirus pandemic
Why is it that when Covid-19 comes along we realise that we are not insured against the unknown, not even the unknown unknowns made famous by Donald Rumsfeld?
What we do know is that our insurance industry will find an escape clause - and one that we always knew would be unknown to us?
In that case, we are asking why insure at all and how do we protect our businesses better? One way is to work with our OTAs and directly with our, and I mean our, customers.
Booking.com has always insisted that hotels are their partners.
This has changed in the last few weeks, with Booking.com introducing forced cancellations and invoking Force Majeure to override contracts with guests - while being at pains to say that they are actually not party to these contracts, effectively hindering 'our' ability to offer the guests any alternatives that might limit damage to our businesses.
The government has been clear that we are all in this together.
