TripAdvisor Wants a Piece of Hotels' Book-Direct Special Rates


Skift Take

Whether it's on hotel, online travel agency or metasearch sites, having attractive pricing is a very powerful thing. We think Kaufer is a smart guy. He knows he isn't going to get hotels' special rates for loyalty program members today, but he's trying to lay the groundwork for a deal later on.
TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer wants hotel chains such as Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, and InterContinental Hotels Group to offer their special, book-direct rates for loyalty program members on TripAdvisor. It's not a huge surprise that TripAdvisor wants to offer hotels' lowest rates either through TripAdvisor metasearch, which sends leads to the hotels' website, or through TripAdvisor Instant Booking, which has consumers completing their bookings right on TripAdvisor. But it likely won't be happening anytime soon because the whole point of hotels