The Price Is (Still) Wrong: Why Hotel Parity Is a Ghost That Still Haunts Us

Ellis Connolly, CRO at Laasie

One year ago, Europe's highest court made headlines: Booking.com's price parity clauses were ruled illegal.

Hoteliers celebrated. It felt like a win in the long-running power struggle between hotels and OTAs... a moment when control of pricing and distribution might shift back toward operators. And for a brief time, it did... OTAs in the U.S. eased off enforcement. States began questioning parity’s legality. The balance of power felt… possible.

But here’s what we’ve learned, twelve months later: Price parity didn’t disappear. It evolved.

The New Face of Parity: Algorithmic & Invisible

Parity used to be simple. Legal language. Contract clauses. A rule you followed or broke at your own risk. Now, parity is algorithmic. Invisible. And more dangerous than ever.

Hotels that post lower rates on brand.com are quietly pushed down in OTA sort order. Page visibility tanks. Conversions drop. There are no cease-and-desist letters. No rep calls. Just a silent, steady decline in your OTA performance and no clear explanation why.

Parity is no longer enforced by lawyers. It's enforced by code.

What Smart Hoteliers Are Doing Instead

At Laasie, we support hundreds of hotels navigating the loyalty and distribution landscape. We’ve seen firsthand how the most forward-thinking revenue teams are adapting:

Fenced Rates

Discounts behind a login or a member wall (think: loyalty program, email promo, exclusive code). These are technically not public rates, which gives you more room to offer better pricing without triggering OTA enforcement.

Value-Add Perks

Same rate, better deal. Direct bookings that include a local experience, merchant incentive, parking, upgrades, or early check-in. It's often overlooked by OTA systems, but not always... Proceed with awareness.

Surgical Undercutting

Just $5–$10 less on your own site can nudge guests to book direct, especially when paired with rewards or a better experience. The trick is subtlety. Big gaps set off OTA alarms. Small ones fly under the radar.

The Worst Strategy? Doing Nothing

The hotels getting burned right now are the ones doing nothing. No fenced offers. No value-added perks. No loyalty incentives. They’re stuck in a losing cycle... matching rates with OTAs, paying commissions, and missing the chance to build real guest relationships.

The best hotels aren’t just offering lower rates. They’re offering more value.

What We Advise at Laasie:

Watch your OTA visibility. Monitor your average sort order, search-to-pageview ratio, and conversion metrics.

Test everything. The tactics that worked last quarter may be hurting you now.

Own the guest experience. Instant rewards, email journeys, first-party data, and loyalty perks aren’t just marketing tools. They’re armor.

Final Word: Parity May Be Dead But Pricing Still Drives Power

In a world without formal parity clauses, the opportunity isn’t just to beat OTAs, it’s to rethink your entire direct channel value proposition. Because when a guest sees the same price across every channel, they'll choose the most convenient option.

But when they see a better experience, a better reward, or a better relationship? They’ll book with you.