London, Denver & Singapore - OTA Insight, the cloud-based data intelligence platform for the hospitality industry, today announced the launch of the Rate Parity Distribution certification programme. The certification is the world's first independent program dedicated to assessing if Distributors are in compliance with a protocol of parity best practices.

With the Distribution programme, OTA Insight now offers an independent Parity Distributor certification process that consists of an online audit, paired with proof samples by which organisations can seek Parity Certification. The program highlights the importance of system configuration controls, contracts and legal enforcements, as well as ongoing monitoring and customer references.

Upon successful completion of the audit, Distributors will receive a credential that acknowledges certification. Certification benefits include: web, and email badges white-labelled definition of Qualified/programme detail links, sales collateral and proforma attestation. Participation is open to all Distributors.

"As we've been working with hotels and their distribution partners to help resolve rate disparity, we discovered the majority of issues are related to poor communication, process or technology," said Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO of OTA Insight. "OTA Insight is the first independent organisation to recognize the importance of certified parity standards and best practices to enable Distributors to better support their hotel partners."

Fastpayhotels is the first recipient of the Parity Certification program. "Fastpayhotels is delighted to be the first distributor to receive this prestigious accreditation that certifies that we distribute rates responsibly to travel agents. This program is a great advance for our industry and one I hope hotels will soon recognize as the global standard of how best practices should work in distributing hotels", said Alex Gisbert, CEO of Fastpayhotels. "Especially under current trading conditions, it is key for a tech-enabled B2B distributor like ourselves to be able to demonstrate to our hotel partner their rates are being distributed correctly."

Today's Distribution ecosystem calls for solutions that offer clear and consistent rate parity processes. Parity Certification is a fast and simple program that will become the standard for the industry, enabling hoteliers to benchmark against both current and future distributor relationships.

Interested parties may contact Carl Benefiel: [email protected] or visit the Parity Certification program information page.

Media enquiries: For further press information please contact us at [email protected].

About OTA Insight

OTA Insight empowers hoteliers to make smarter revenue and distribution decisions through its market-leading suite of cloud-based business intelligence solutions including Market Insight, Rate Insight, Parity Insight and Revenue Insight. With live updates, 24/7 support from our customer success team, and a highly intuitive and customisable dashboard, the OTA Insight platform integrates with other industry tools including hotel property management systems, leading RMS solutions and data benchmarking providers.

OTA Insight's team of international experts are based all over the world, including the UK, US, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, Australia and India, and supports more than 50,000 properties in 168 countries. Named the UK's 17th fastest-growing private technology company in the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 in 2019, Number 103 in the FT/Statista list of Europe's 1000 fastest growing companies in 2020, Best Rate Shopping & Market Intelligence Solution in the 2020 HotelTechAwards, and Number 38 in the Sunday Times Sage Tech Track 100, OTA Insight is widely recognised as a leader in hospitality business intelligence. For more information, visit www.otainsight.com and follow us on Twitter (@otainsight) and LinkedIn.

About Fastpayhotels

Fastpayhotels is a tech enabled B2B accommodation distribution platform. The company's mission is to evolve the current relationship between hotels and travel agencies by offering a simple distribution platform that makes it easier for hotels to give the best rates and availability to agents, with the ability to pay hotels on the day of booking. Over 38,000 hotels are currently signed up to the platform in over 78 countries and more than 15,000 travel agents and Tour Operators are already using the software.

For more information, visit www.fastpayhotels.com.

Adam Swart
Global Head of Brand