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Online Travel Update: Airbnb’s Adoption of All-In Pricing Is Official

Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending December 16, 2022, is below.  This week’s Update includes updates and additional details on several stories we’ve featured previously, including Airbnb’s new all-in pricing and ongoing parity investigations of OTAs’ practices in Australia.  Enjoy. 

    • Airbnb’s Adoption of All-In Pricing Is Official.  Beginning this month, Airbnb users in the United States (and other countries where local laws do not already mandate the display of all-inclusive pricing) will now see prices displayed on the platform inclusive of mandatory fees and charges (e.g., cleaning fees).  The all-inclusive prices will not include taxes.  Beginning next year, all-in prices will be the default rates shown on the platform unless a user elects otherwise.  All-in prices will be featured on listings, maps and when filtering search results.  What this change might mean to hosts continued use of cleaning fees (which have been the subject of many traveler complaints) and other mandatory charges, only time will tell.   How might this change affect the pricing practices other short-term rental platforms, that too remains to be seen. 
    • History of Australia’s Treatment of OTAs.  This past week Australian news outlet, ABC, provided a helpful overview of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) history with OTAs and the new pending investigation re-examining OTAs’ rate parity requirements.  If you are not familiar with how Australia has historically viewed these requirements or the new pending investigation, which many believe will result in an outright prohibition of all rate parity requirements, I encourage you to read the story. 
    • EY to Expand Use of Blockchain Booking Portal.  Having successfully completed an initial 6-month test of its new blockchain-powered leisure travel booking portal, EY has plans to expand the portal globally and to offer hotels alongside its current air offerings.  Through the portal, EY has made available to its U.S. based employees direct connections with at least 2 U.S. airlines interested in providing EY employees personalized, discount travel offers.  In the weeks ahead, EY plans to expand the portal globally and to add extended stay hotel options for employees needing accommodations for longer periods for work projects.  EY has already identified two hotel partners (not disclosed) that in addition to the extended stay work related offerings, plan to offer leisure content as well.  While EY has no immediate plans to pursue similar direct connectivity options for its traditional corporate travel, the lessons learned by EY are sure to make an impact. 

For those of you celebrating holidays this week or next, Happy Holidays. 

Airbnb Debuts Total Prices Before Taxes With Plan to Make It Default View

December 14, 2022 via Skift

Skift Take Airbnb's pricing changes will likely have a ripple effect, prompting some hosts to reduce cleaning fees and property management websites to switch to showing total prices. Dennis Schaal Dennis' Online Travel Briefing Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, Executive Editor and online travel rockstar Dennis Schaal will bring readers exclusive ...

A government investigation is looking at whether hotel booking sites keep prices high. This is how to get a better deal

December 13, 2022 via ABC (Australia)

Booking a place to stay on holidays has become a reflex action. The first thing many of us do is open a site such as Wotif, Hotels.com or trivago (all of which are these days owned by the US firm Expedia), or their only big competitor, Booking.com from the Netherlands. ...

Property Managers and Hosts Report Lack of Progress in Direct Bookings: Survey

December 12, 2022 via Skift

Skift Take It's clear that vacation rental hosts and property managers crave direct bookings, and many may be making inroads. Still, the marketing power of big brands is tough to compete with. Dennis Schaal Despite lots of vacation rental industry talk about making inroads in attracting more direct bookings, a ...

Air France-KLM suspend booking tool due to fraud cases

December 12, 2022 via Business Travel News Europe

Air France and KLM have suspended access to their joint booking tool for TMCs and travel agencies after detecting a “number” of fraud cases. In an urgent email sent to trade partners, and seen by BTN Europe, on Monday (12 December),

Trade Groups Urge High Court To Take Up Hotel ADA Fight

December 10, 2022 via Law 360

The U. S. Chamber of Commerce and hospitality and trade groups have asked the nation's high court to review a conflict among appellate courts over accommodations for disabled people and accessibility information provided by hotel websites, saying "testers" are pushing ...

EY Ready to Expand Blockchain Booking Experiment

December 9, 2022 via Business Travel News

About six months into an experimental project of providing a blockchain-based portal for U.S. employees to book leisure trips, EY's travel team is ready for global expansion and an added hotel component. More importantly, however, it is coming away with a "clear case" that such a set-up could be used ...

  • Greg  Duff
    Principal

    Greg is Chair of the firm's national Hospitality, Travel & Tourism practice, which is directed at the variety of matters faced by hospitality and travel industry members, including purchase and sales agreements, management ...

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About the Editor

Greg Duff founded and chairs Foster Garvey’s national Hospitality, Travel & Tourism group. His practice largely focuses on operations-oriented matters faced by hospitality industry members, including sales and marketing, distribution and e-commerce, procurement and technology. Greg also serves as counsel and legal advisor to many of the hospitality industry’s associations and trade groups, including AH&LA, HFTP and HSMAI.

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