Expedia Mulls Matching Booking on Resort Fee Commissions

With Booking.com making the controversial move of charging commissions on hotel resort fees for the first time this week, rival Expedia Group isn't ruling out matching the new stance. "We're observing, we're listening," said Cyril Ranque, Expedia Group's president of lodging services, who added "we're trying to get as much information as we can." He said Expedia has not changed anything about its commission collection policies, and pointed out, "we are hearing, despair, high concerns from our hotel partners. We're trying to get as much information as we can." Ranque isn't a fan of resort fees in part because Expedia loses out on commissions because it only collects them on the room rate, and also the resort fees are misleading to consumers. For example, a deluxe room with two queen beds at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for a June 11 stay goes for a nightly rate of $84, but it's only when consumers click through to a checkout page on Expedia.com that they see the fine print that there is an additional $42 daily resort fee. Expedia collects a hotel commission on the $84 nightly rate while Booking.com's new policy has it collecting commission on the combined $126 rate plus resort fee. In addition to losing out on the larger commission, Ranque said he doesn't like resort fees because of "the negative customer experience" in that travelers think they are paying a certain rate when they see the lead-in price, but actually they are often shelling out a lot more. "They think they had a price," he said. "They book it and then all of a sudden they get hit by a series of fees that the customer has no choice in payi