The discussion around the pros and cons of rate parity has been around for almost a decade now. Regulations on the issue are, at best, patchy, with some countries where RP clauses are strictly prohibited (such as France, Austria, Italy, and Belgium), partially prohibited (Germany and Sweden), announced (Switzerland), or still unregulated (US and Latin America). With lower volumes of booking coming from OTAs during the pandemic, moreover, the debate about rate parity became even more heated: some properties decided to work in wide rate parity to avoid OTAs' dimming and improve their online visibility at the expenses of direct revenue, while other ones preferred to openly break rate parity on their top-performing channels. Both the OTAs and major hotel brands complicated the issue even further when they began offering out of parity “member only” rates, hidden behind an easily obtained loyalty program password. With so many different approaches and fragmented regulations, how should hotels deal with rate parity, especially after the whole industry has been severely hit by COVID-19?

Silvia Cantarella
Silvia Cantarella
Revenue Management Expert and founder at Revenue Acrobats
Nicole Adair, CRME
Nicole Adair, CRME
Director of Revenue Management Services at SHR, Sceptre Hospitality Resources, LLC
Federica Salvatori
Federica Salvatori
Revenue & Commercial Strategy and Founder of Federica Salvatori Consulting
Ira  Vouk
Ira Vouk
Hospitality Technology and Revenue Management consultant
Jonathon Liu
Jonathon Liu
Director of Revenue & Marketing Strategy @ glh Hotels UK
Timothy Wiersma
Timothy Wiersma
Principal | Revenue Generation, LLC.
Max Starkov
Max Starkov
Hospitality & Online Travel Tech Consultant
Jens Egemalm
Jens Egemalm
Director of Distribution at Pandox AB
Diego Fernandez Perez De Ponga
Diego Fernandez Perez De Ponga
Corporate Director Revenue Management Palladium Hotel Group
Michail Tzouvelekis
Michail Tzouvelekis
Director of Global Marketing, Fornova
Klaus  Kohlmayr
Klaus Kohlmayr
Chief Evangelist and Development Officer, IDeaS
Trevor Stuart-Hill
Trevor Stuart-Hill
Founder and president of Revenue Matters
Christoph Hütter
Christoph Hütter
Non-traditional Revenue Manager & Consultant
Niki Van den Broeck
Niki Van den Broeck
Product Manager Parity Insight and Rate Insight
Oleksii Kapichin
Oleksii Kapichin
Revenue Management Expert