Last-Room Availability Not the Norm... Yet

Nov 09, 09 | 1:56 am

Providing online travel agents with last-room availability, reportedly one of the big sticking points in the ongoing feud between Choice Hotels International and Expedia Inc., is hardly standard operating procedure in the hotel industry, a survey by HotelMarketing.com confirms. However, the self-reported survey of more than 500 hoteliers hints that the controversial practice is becoming increasingly prevalent.

Using the Choice-Expedia negotiations as a jumping-off point, the Web site asked readers whether Expedia or other OTAs have demanded last-room availability as a condition of a listing deal, as Choice CEO Steve Joyce claims Expedia is. Last-room availability, or LRA, requires hoteliers to make every guestroom in the hotel available to the OTA, which many hoteliers say effectively renders revenue management impotent.

About 90% of the respondents say they are not bound by LRA requirements in their OTA deals. Of the 10% that do have LRA deals in place, most of them are in Europe and North America, according to HotelMarketing, and some unnamed major brands are included.

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Source: hotelsmag.com