Winners, Losers In Choice-Expedia Feud

The real losers in this deal will be the property owners and that is a shame. I understand that 25% plus best rate plus 100% availability is too much. The problem is that this is not the time to fight this battle because it's too hard to make ends meet now. It may be that owners will get fed up and drop the brand and Expedia. Jeremy Horton www.HotelSiteDesign.com

It would be hard to believe that the author of this article has ever been a hotel owner. The hotel controls rates, yield and inventory. Not a third party. I think that Choice is doing is the right thing for its franchisees.

Where are "other" Franchisors? What happened to "United We Stand" slogan? Strength is in numbers. Let's take actions and re-unite all hotel chains. If all hotels got togather to fight a common cause then Expedia will have no choice. Kudos to Steve Joyce of Choice Hotels International.

Of all the value that is given to the guest in exchange for their money, does anyone really believe that Expedia or other websites contribute 25-30%??? So how have they been able to bully the hotel industry into taking nearly 1/3 of their revenues?

Expedia is attempting to strong- arm all independent hotel operators into 25-30% margins and at daily base allotments which consume up to 25% of an individual hotel's inventory...Why? They are protecting their share of the market against the other OTAs like Booking.com and making the hotels pay for it. Choice should drive business to its web site and the numbers will speak for all independent hotel operators.

I am pleased to see the "return to negotiate" between these two. I am sure they both know it is not in anyone's best interest not to do so. There is no winner. Expedia needs to understand this and do the right thing so the hotels can manage their inventory and rate as they please. LRA clause was the most dissapointing clause. I am sure that better sense will prevail.

Dear all, we wanted to make sure that you saw this follow up article regarding the Choice issue that was published by Hotels Magazine in which our CEO responds to the controversy with an offer to the entire hotel industry. www.hotelsmag.com/article/CA6703495.html

Its kind of funny, but I manage a Choice property and find it insulting that Choice cannot negotiate a contract. The hotel has always had control of inventory and rates. My hotel is large with many rooms going unsold and Expedia has helped me fill them! Choice needs to get off the high horse and start caring about their franchisee's and the employees we are laying off in this economy. Choice does little to no marketing and the average traveler doesn't even know choicehotels.com exists, but anyone who is anyone knows who expedia is...

Interesting to me that there is no mention regarding the real issue with Expedia and Hotels.com which is their total lack of nextt generation seamless technology which results in overbookings usually at the wrong net rate and only over the highest demand dates.

Well done Steve Joyce for having the guts to stand up to Expedia. For far too long OTA's like Expedia think that it's normal for the, "tail to wag the Dog." Hotels have to find their bark again and take control of their tails.

Regarding , going broke in florida commented:The comment that Expedia is the most advanced in technology is inaccurate. They were the last to the party with single use credit cards and still lack for some chains real time inventory sync so I would disagree with your statement.

I run a Choice branded hotel in Orlando. We are now in the process of replacing Expedia's business with Hotelbeds, Virgin, etc. So far all of our long term partners have been cooprative. Expedia makes the mistake of thinking there is no alternative distribution channel.

Hi Bullshit Choice I am in the same boat. Ring up your other OTAs and do some Advanced purchase rate agreements to get base business on your books. Steve has no idea Choice own website does not do 1/2 the job Expedia does.

I am owner of few choice properties, and to me unfortunately I should be the one who should be deciding as to what needs to be done. My loss is going to be in 100K's per property. One should ask Steve and his pupetts as to how many motels/hotels do they own. But again who am I to say I did sign multiple contracts :(

Way to Go Choice. I hope other hotel chains follow suit and show expedia and travellers that obviously the best rate, service and guarantee/cancellation policies will be available at the brand website. Why prepay and stick to crazy cancellation policies when you can get flexible terms with privilege points, airline points when booking directly with the chain. 100% SUPPORT FOR CHOICE.

Big Guys? Expedia? Expedia will start losing revenue if a couple other hotel chains do the same as choice hotels international. I think Choice is on the right path. The OTAs seem to forget that they do not have a real product and that if they get too greedy with margins and inventory control, they may very well be prepared to see their revenue go down. Also, expedia thrives on providing options for travellers and they are down by 6000 options already as chioce pulls out. Dealing with Expedia in NYC - thier biggest market is a nightmare. They never solve problems - only create them. Talking to other GMs the only real solution Expedia ever has with hotels or hotel chains is to take them off the site.. well we'll see who has the last laugh. Effective revenue management tactics can bring in more revenue and expedia will not even be missed at choice...so long Expedia

this debate is largely in vein. Instead of hating one OTA or the other, choose a selected few that you feel comfortable working with. If you have an active sales and marketing team, your share of OTA business will be balanced against the rest of your business portfolio. Furthermore, we will undoubtedly witness an influx of Choice franchisees that will approach other powerful aggregators such as Hotelbeds or GTA to regain the lost market share. So it is back to square one for Choice Hotels.

Why would a 3rd party company have the best rate? Obviously Expedia is making money, so their rate has their profit added in. If consumers really want the best rate they should get it directly from the brand's website (www.choicehotels.com) and not give Expedia a dime. All Expedia is doing is pimping someone else's hotel for their gain. I support Choice 100%. Way to go Choice for setting the presidence.

One thing that many people forget is that Expedia and the other OTAs grew to prominence by providing a valuable service in past economic downturns, albeit on much more favorable terms. I commend Choice (full disclosure, I work for Choice) for standing up to Expedia as they try aggressively to exploit what they see as yet another opportunity at the expense of our hotels. At a time that Choice Hotels, our regional ownership groups, and other hoteliers shift even greater resources toward supporting our properties, we are all rightfully outraged by companies attempting to use strong arm tactics at our expense. Yes, all is fair in business, but Expedia has made a decision that they will presumably regret in cutting off our hotels. Remember, although they control a significant amount of the OTA business, Expedia's customer loyalty is not at a point where the company can justifiably support its latest value proposal to hoteliers. There are still too many good alternatives out there. So, while the rest of the industry remains highly competitive for market share, Expedia should have to do the same. It's time that they innovate to make up for their losses rather than try to squeeze more out of clients who are already being squeezed from every other angle. Meanwhile, Choice Hotels has provided bold leadership for the rest of the industry to follow, and it is impressive to see the groundswell of support that has already ensued. Expedia, we look forward to seeing you again at the negotiating table.

I recently returned to the hotel industry as a GM of a Choice Hotel after taking a 3 year break. While the experience has been a bit of a nightmare for me, I support Choice for standing up to Expedia. I am a small property and to give Expedia what they want would kill me on so many levels. Stay firm Steve Joyce.

We own two choice products and we have been seriously injured by Choice's decision. We were totally blind sided by this and Choice so for as done little, if anything, to mitigate the financial blow we have suffered in the loss of expedia/hotels.com business.

Someone should ask Expedia to pay sales taxes on guest room sales. Why are they exempt? Expedia/Hotels.com is a pariah.

WELL DONE MR. JOYCE..KEEP IT UP..N PERSUADE WYNDHAM & BESTWESTERN TO FOLLOW THE SAME..WHILE AIRLINE COMPANIES R NOT PAYING ANYTHING FOR BOOKING DONE BY EXPEDIA..WHY SHOULD HOTEL INDUSTRY PAY..ITS THE FRANCHISEE ( HOTEL OWNER ) WHO SUFFER..I THINK HOTEL GROUPS HAVE ARRANGEMENT WITH EXPEDIA N OTHER OTA..TO SPLIT THE EXORBITANT COMMISSION OF 25/30 %...IN TODAYS WORLD ITS EASY TO FIND HOTELS ON SEARCH ENGINE..WHICH GOOD FOR HOTEL WHO R TAKING THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS RISK..N WORK LONG HOURS..N GOOD FOR GUEST TOO...AS THEY DONT HV TO PREPAY N GO THROUGH OTER INCONVENIENCY...REMOVE COMMISSION FROM ALL `OTA`..LIKE AIRLINE INDUSTRY...THEY( OTA ) CN CHARGE THE BOOKING FEE TO GUEST WHO WANT TO SHOP AROUND ON OTA SITES...THEY ARE PROVIDING SERVICE TO GUEST AND NOT THE HOTELS...KEEP IT UP CHOICE...70 % FRANCHISEES ( HOTEL OWNER ) R WITH U....

Bad news for some hotels but good news for my business because we offer GDS systems and don't have to go along with Choice Hotels. More information can be found on our site at www.prosearchplus.com

Let’s establish that Hotels and OTA’s are partners. OTA’s cannot sell rooms without hotels and hotels look to OT’s as one of many market channels to sell unsold rooms and as long as that relationship of equal partners exists it’s good for both companies. What has happened with Expedia is they lost their connection to our industry and thought that as long as they could negotiate separately they could work one chain against the other many hotel brands allow the franchisees to negotiate commissions. Let’s remember that Expedia is a price position site, hotels that offer the best profits are put into a better position on the site. Service scores, Stars, Brand awards mean nothing! Hotels are told by Expedia account manager that better prices would get them more bookings and Expedia has made deals with some hotels to guarantee several hundred rooms night in a city market based on getting the “right price” so it not uncommon for Expedia to made 30%. The problem is they have no loyalty, let’s say you make a deal and you are on the first page of the site for your city. If the account manager for Expedia can get a higher commission from another property guess what, you get dropped back! But it gets better, Expedia now offers a (sponsored listing) so lets say you are that property that allowing a 30% commission. Expedia is taking money from your competitors and placing them ahead of your property. They will not show the rate only the stars but it’s very clear what they are doing. I say that Expedia lost touch with hoteliers because on linkedin in we had several discussions about issues that we felt were not being addressed by Expedia. We have posted that the sights lack any security in that any can go to the site and create a long in as an owner which is not checked by Expedia, ask Andrew Travers who is s linked in member he did it and brought it to Expedia’s attention. We have brought to Expedia’s attention the fact that any non guest can make comments on the Trip Advisor web site. They can make a negative comment about any hotel in the world and no reservations confirmation is required. No one checks to confirm the guest stayed before it is posted the sight which is owned by Expedia and when we finally got a representative to respond they said they had too much volume to police it and it was an opened sight. Tell that to Marcel Andewieg whose hotel got slammed by a non guest. It gets better, so you get a bad comment on your property from a guest who has not stayed. You go to the web sight and write your comments but posting your comment will not have any affect on your Expedia and Trip advisor scores. They stay the same the disputed comments are included in your properties score. Also if you had a problem with a guest seven years ago guess what, that comment stays posted Expedia does not purge comments after one year or two they stay with you forever. I commend Stephen Joyce of Choice and hope he considers these other options to make the transition much easier. 1. Work a deal to Kayak.com they are a very popular sight and list multiple hotels in cities but when you select a property by rate they can take you to the brand sight instead of Expedia. 2. Get all the brands to work with the search engines Google, Bing, Yahoo and offer to co develop a travel tab that selects hotels and takes them to the brand sight or if the search engines wants 10% of the travel market they can work together and develop a sight to cut out OTA”S. Hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue can be made. 3. Work out national agreement with major travel agencies American Express, AAA, and Carlson offering them a higher percentage in commissions. 4. Last but clearly the best is work more with Expedia’s key competitors let them get a taste are you listening Travelocity!

Consider this issue from the consumer's perspective: Travelers usually check more than one OTA as well as a brand or two before making a booking. If Choice brands show up on Travelocity and the others, then Expedia loses the business. Expedia needs Choice more than the reverse. I say this is worth the fight.

Our hotel does not use Expedia due to issues such as: the high commission rate, lowest guaranteed price, last room availability, lost control over inventory & pricing. Expedia receives payment at time of booking and has the use of the funds until the guest checks out, all this in addition to the high fees they earn. Too high a price to pay. Unfortunately, too often our industry ignores the future implications of an agreement. Hopefully the attention to issue will serve a positive outcome and put more balance into the service that Expedia provides!

We never charge any travel business for any of our services at TheTopTravelClub.com. Simply offer net rates or member-only specials to our members and visitors using our TopTravelVouchers or a unique page on your own site only accessible to our members. Full details and application form onsite - front page click on 'add site info' ...KISS..keeping it super simple. Our members 'go direct' to you ...we do not sell travel or take res. Tony Humphrey, tony@thetoptravelclub.com

Have a look at the attached link, a great example how Expedia was forced to fold on commission www.traveltrends.biz/ttn337-expedia-slashes-australian-commission-rate/ The Hotel industry is now their main source of revenue, true they are a quick fix. What would you do if a global agent like Amex turned round and demanded 30% com to bring it into line with the com taht expedia wants.

I manage about 20 hotels in Paris, plus our company does websites and marketing for about 250 of them. Everyone has something to say about Expedia and how they have become way too greedy. We take off any hotels we manage from Expedia since they force you to overbook, give expert advice "lower your prices". There are many other better solutions out there and we fill our hotels despite the current financial crisis.

As a Revenue Manager I stand behind Choice 100% on this! I am more than willing to lose a little in the short term to gain long term benefits.

Its scary to read that some hotels are getting greater than 5% business via Expedia (Dont you have marketing and sales teams?) Do you own your hotel or does Expedia.

The industry is trying to pull through it. Franchisors and franchisees, as well as mgt. companies and owners are trying to reach compromises to to get through a tough recession. During these times businesses are more reliant on 'activating' leisure demand through all possible channels to stay in business and keep people employed. As such, the bargaining power has shifted to Expedia and OTAs, and Expedia are taking full advantage. The appropriate thing would be for Choice and Expedia to agree an amicable short-term agreement while they has out their differences and to stop hurting the foundation of our industry - the hotels. Shame on you Expedia.

I am a general manager of a Choice property in a market that has declined 15% from last year. My hotel, on the other hand, has done fairly well this year by comparison. That is, until now. I consider OTA's to be a contract account with a negotiated rate and have always given them last room availability as I do with my other key accounts. I manage my mix of business, and that has a favorable yield for my property. Expedia alone accounts for 13% of my business - that is the largest single account we have. This move on Choice's part is about a few people at Choice being unable to play well with others, in my opinion, and it should have never gotten this far.

As a Revenue Manager, I can only stand with Choice. They may have some short term loss, but this is a great example for everyone else on how to take decision based on long term. Expedia can't dictate availably or rates for hotels.

it is about time, all brands should jump on this and play a little hard ball with Expedia and see how they like it. I think that the roosters have come home to roost. Good on Choice I suport them fully

It looks to me like a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Neither Choice nor Expedia own the hotels that have to invest capital and look after the guests 24/7. They both figured out that there was more margin in the marketing function. The only difference is that Choice is a 1950s, pre-internet business model trying to 'modernise' its service. Expedia is a true agency with zero loyalty to anyone. Both companies milk their hotel providers. The fragmented nature of the industry coupled with the fear of starvation will prevent any major peasant revolt.

As an owner/operator I never really appreciated the overall franchisor control Choice forcefully took with respect to breaking the relationships with OTA's franchisee's once had; However, I did see the need for a system to help curve the margins OTA's were getting while creating an overall system for rate parity. It seems that if a franchisee is willing to give up margin then that should be the choice of the franchisee. The more unused inventory a property has then the more margin the operator might be willing to give up. Simple economics of supply and demand. Hotels that do not rely on Expedia and Hotels.com should not have an incentive to build a relationship with these companies but for the hotels that are in need of selling off inventory it is a bit frustrating particularly in an economy that has many owners going out of business. Unless Joyce is able to get other franchisors to stand next to him it seems to be a losing battle. From a moral standpoint he is doing the right thing. It would be nice to gain a better bargaining position against these OTA's. There is no easy working alternative because even with money being spent to help the brand, individual operators may not see the benefit financially. With so many similar Choice properties in the same city brand advertising will compete the properties against themselves. The only useful working alternative would be to renegotiate with Expedia. Give them the ability to negotiate margins and packages with their individual franchisees while keeping the rate parity issue at the forefront. Of course, the best working alternative would be to get the backing of other franchisors who see this as an opportunity to stand behind the greater good of the hospitality business. More margins to the property means more PIP that can be implemented resulting in greater customer satisfaction. It is true that if you book on Expedia or Hotels.com you more than likely will get a room w/a work order or two. Good Luck.

As a Choice Franchise I can easily see both sides of this issue. But as an owner who is slowly drowning in this economy I have to say that most owners in Florida need every sale we can get. Expedia and Hotels.com had over 20million unique visitors to their sites in Sept and Choicehotels.com had only 2.3 million. There is no way choie can deliver the needed volume to their hotels to make up for the loss of revenue from Expedia. Expedia epitomizes the worst in greedy business moguls but they built their business model while the Big Hotel Magnates continued with the business as usual approach and ignored the internet. Whose fault is that? I had a contract with expedia long before Choice got into the game and once they got into the mix they tried bullying expedia on rate parity with an internet savers rate which was less than the expedia rate so both sides have played games. The problem that we little guys have is this big ego's going at one another with absolutely no care for the damage they do to the individual hotel owner operator. We learned long ago if we wish to remain in the top of the sort order we had to always have inventory and had to participate in promotions. One way of dealing with this was to manage rates agressively and raise them with demand. The problem I have is that all the 3rd parties have different levels of technology as does choice. Expedia has the most advanced and thus staying in parity is impossible if you wish to participate in expeidas promotions to stay up in the sort order. Earlier this year choice required its franchisees to stop doing the promotions with expedia since they could not be match on Choice Hotels .com. This resulted in huge losses year over year for most of the choice hotels that I know. We were told the rest of the industry was going to prohibt participation in this promotions but choice stood alone and in the worst economy since the 30's we are going broke. The new found promotion money from choice is too little too late!!!

GO CHOICE, Time to show Expedia!!!

What a bunch of hypocritical, ungrateful whiners. I of course am talking about the majority of people writing on this message board. If you don't like Expedia, don't use them. Heck I hope all of you Expedia bashers back up your brave message board words by actually pulling your product off their site. That will do nothing but push more volume my way! They offer a service that you cannot replicate on your own by getting your no name, hole in the wall hotels in front of millions of people that would otherwise not know you exist. So if you think they are greedy and gougers, please do me a favor and drop them. My business will only benefit! You sheep are all rallying behind a very vocal and ignorant shepard. Didn't your mother ever teach you to look at both sides of every story? Just because Joyce is the more vocal party out of the two involved, does not make him right.

Expedia has a horrible reputation relative to all other OTA's. They have gone as far as to work out a deal with the convention bureau in San Antonio and exclusively represent the booking engine. It is time all hoteliers give Expedia and all other OTA's a reality check. The hotel has the burden to clean the toilets, pay the mortgage, pay all operating expenses and maybe earn 10% profits. Expedia can earn up to 30% and control inventories for hotels? Bottom line is that there needs to be a collective gathering of minds to eliminate greed that is going on.

I have no choice but to use Expedia as we have very little brand recognition in the market. However, I always rate match with EXP if someone calls in. So I undercut the reservation going through to EXP--if I can. Also, there are times when they fill my hotel, so what can I do? If I want production I have to use them. And their customers are using them since they get the lowest rate. So, then the guest comes through and gets the worst room b/c they paid through the OTA. That is what happens.

I have owned/managed a little econo lodge for 20 years. We pay expedia 20%, which is ridiculous. As stated above, they make higher margins on these rooms than our franchisor and the hotel at times. I use them for "advertising". Guests read the reviews, and often call us directly, at which point we can offer a senior, corporate or AAA discount. Guest gets 10% off, we make 10% more. Everyone happy. Also, we aggressively ask Expedia guests to call us directly for better rates on their next stay. We have picked up a ton of loyal, repeat business this way. Works for us. I will not work with any OTA on a last room available basis. They get limited availability, period. When their inventory is gone, it's gone, and everything left over sells at normal rates. On those days you have high demand, the last thing you need is to fork over 20% to these bloodsuckers. I support Choice 100%. It would be great if other franchisors walked away as well.

I am sort of appalled how people have defended Expedia at all. It's amazing... that "Nonsense" article by Salerno, as well as some of the commenters here get it wrong.... CHOICE did *NOT* make this decision. They were in negotiations, and Expedia stonewalled them with greed. It is *NOT* our fault or doing as a hotel industry for the situation.... it is the OTA's that capitalized off of down economies. As far as I am concerned they are as insidious as the way unions work. That being said.... it's insane to say that other brands are the winners. YOU ARE HOTELS MAG.com Not pro or anti-choice.com. This is about our industry vs. OTAs. I am so disappointed that people are defining this through their own changing prism. This is a fight for control of your hotel inventory... it isn't some passive match we are watching between two opposing teams. This is pathetic. Choice didn't decide to become unlisted, but I say it's time for every brand to go at once and KICK THESE IDIOTS IN THE BALLS. It's ridiculous.... if we don't take back our inventory now, we will never have control again.

Choice is taking the stand now similar to what IHG and Holiday Inn did years ago. We should have followed their leadership then. I hope that other brands follow this time. Support Steve Joyce and Choice. The margins that are collected by Expedia are being used against hoteliers to both lower prices and take the cash flow we need to pay our staff and lenders. They are not creating new travelers. They are pitting us against each other.

I am wyndham hotel owner.I am stand with Choice hotel.I am telling all hotel owner to send email to CEO this article& comments.so they know our anger.

Expedia, Orbitz and the others are third party websites not Online Travel Agents, how many TAs get 25-30%, stop calling them OTAs. Likewise they are not wholesalers, how many of your wholesalers publish their rates to the general public? Finally and maybe most importantly the Expedias create a value problem for hotels and their guests. The guest purchases the room at an inflated 25-30% rate, the hotel sells the room at a 25-30% discount. Is there a possibility that each side views this sale differently? Is a $150 a night room the same as $100 a night room? I have always found a place for the third party sites selling difficult rooms my sales staff didn't want to move and never had problems with the discounting, but to give them run of house, last room availability with 25-30% discount is poor business and needs to be dropped.

I stand with Choice. The author must work for Expedia

Hooray! FInally someone who was willing to stand up to the bullying by the staff at Expedia. They used to be such a pleasure to work with...but something changed over the last 2 years. I work with them now strictly out of necessity...but my go-to people are at orbitz, travelocity and priceline.

Hey Wyndham, Hey IHG, Hey Hilton and Hey rest of you franchisors, how long will you stand by and whatch these OTA's take more money per room-night revenue than you the franchisor and even your hotel owners. Wake up and beat these OTA's at their only game - marketing !! Put your money where your mouths are. Every franchisor teaches how to outperform your competitors in form of "marketing plan." How about you do the same and figure out how to "outperform" these OTAs. Choice - Bravo to you !!!

I droped Expedia a year ago with very little impact to my hotel. Expedia is gouging. This may have been an issue the chains created however its time it was fixed. Expedia needs the hotels to exist not the other way around.The cost of reservations is high from expedia. Good riddence of bad OTA

All the hotel brand has to follow to Choice Hotel & terminate the contract with all OTA.

An unoccupied room is an unoccupied room. Once the day has past, you have lost the opportunity to make money on it. OTA's are there to fill those unoccupied rooms and it costs money to do that. Fill the room at a lower margin or don't fill the room at all. Greedy or not they are providing a service, and as a Hotelier it is your choice whether you wish to pay for the service or not. It's really that simple.

I agree with Choice on this one. Expedia no longer offers a real benefit to hoteliers. Their popularity can not be denied, but since the conception of the OTA's travelers have become more informed and shop between OTA's to find the best deal. Expedia should be competing with other OTA's not demanding that hoteliers give them the competitive edge over their competitors. We have our own competitors to worry about.

Hey Jeff, Based upon the comments thus far it looks like you have the winnere/loosers reversed. Thats all for now. Have to speak with my broker about shorting Expedia's stock.

The way things are going with the Economy. Expedia should bring down there fee's. All Franchise should follow, Choice hotels, and abandon all the rip off third party web sites, for there Bookings. I tell you if all do, EXpedia, will chnage threre attitude pretty Quickly, so will the rest !. It's all about saving money currently

I agree with 101:40 Bob. Lets put the OTA's out of business. They are greedy parasites.

Choice gave a wake up call to these OTAs. I applaud them for this. I think all hotel companies need to take a very serious look at this business model and do what is right for their franchisees. The net revenues to the hotel from these OTA bookings are not very great. But we do certainly consider the OTAs our friends. I am not sure if the OTAs do the same. The relationship should be symbiotic and not parasitic. The LRA clause does not seem right to me. The hotel should have the right to yield manage not the OTAs.

As a revenue manager their 25% cut has been ridiculous since day one, normal travel agents take 10%. I agree 9/11 didn't help the hotels either, and that really blossumed the OTA's to the consumer. Yet for a hotel like the one I work for who doesn't have a big name brand or marketing budget, then of course we have to dance with the devil. Because of recent developements, I see Expedia just trying to hold the line with its revenues, and not being flexible with changing times - for even they are trying to bully us for gtd inventory and rate parity, more now than ever before. They should adapt to changing times, be more flexible on their mark up and on how they sell the hotels on their site, and work with their key producers, than try and bleed them, and give them a take it or leave it approach. Then more chains would be more apt to play with them more like a normal travel agent, than the kid on the block who grew to much for its britches.

I fully agree with the comment of Bob. Expedia has decreased the average rate, because they use the rate as the only marketing tool

I support Choice. I am the GM at an upscale full service in a different segment of brands and we are seriously considering removing our participation with Expedia as a show of support. If not, our brand may be the next targeted by these unscrupulous parasites of our industry.

I can't help but feel that the author is being a little one-sided here. Everyone knows that OTA's play an important role in the hospitality industry, but their role is NOT to manage a property's inventory or rates. Expedia has seriously overstepped their boundaries here, and I applaud Choice for taking this stand. More hotel companies should hold the line when it comes these types of aggressive practices. In the end, Choice and its franchisees will be just fine, but one can only wonder if Expedia will be able to say the same if and when other hotel companies decide to join them.

For long time now OTA's are benefitting as middle person without giving due share either to customer or hotel. They have become too greedy for their own good ala trave agencies back in the days. Hotel companies need to take action now while giving support to Choice for their brave stand.

Choice Hotels are doing the right thing. Rev has been dropping for years at hotels and expedia is just triing to get more and more from the brands to off set their loses. This is not right and the trend should be back to the branded sites where you get a better deal on hotel rooms. Choice needs to make this stand and maybe the other brands will follow.

The heavy lifting is done each and every day at the hotel by its' staff and ownership. Epedia has virtually no investment risk or long hours as hotel staffs are cut in response to the economy. The truth is that the best rates are and should always be on the brands web site. Market that to the public and put OTA's out of business.

I hope that all the brands follow the path set by Choice and that makes the relationship between the OTA and hotel owners more equitable.

It's intriguing that only one side of the story is being told. One wonders how much money Choice may collect from the standard "retail" discount that Expedia is charging Choice franchisees: 25% and 30%. Since that is so high ( what an independent single hotel pays ), one can't but wonder what happens behind the scenes.

As an owner of many brands except choice brands I agree that this could be seen as a win for all the other brands. However that view is very shortsighted. For the greater good of the hotel industry, I would hope all the brands would join Choice on this. It is ridiculous that these OTA's have flourished at the expenses of hotel owners' bottom line. Does it really matter that Choice will miss out on sales when the margins on those OTA sales are razor thin?

Expedia is getting way too greedy.

As g.m. for small econo lodge in a tourist byway. this has been worst year since 9/11. My Experience with Expedia in past wasn"t very Favorable they have Often pushed reservation through whether inventory or not was available. So I tend to stand with Choice on this.