Hilton Negotiated Favorable Concessions From Online Booking Sites


Skift Take

Hilton's CEO's statements that the chain achieved three key goals in negotiations with major online travel agencies show that the parties' standard ways of doing business are evolving. If Nassetta's statements are to be believed, then Hilton won some tools for improving its economic position and winning back some direct traffic.
Hilton Worldwide completed a series of negotiations with major online travel agencies over the last quarter and wrangled important economic and marketing concessions, according to CEO Chris Nassetta. Nassetta said Hilton Worldwide won the right to lower the commissions it pays to online travel agencies such as Expedia and Booking.com. In Nassetta's telling, Hilton Worldwide also won concessions that amount to a further withering of standard hotel chain-online travel agency contracts, including rate parity and most-favored n