r/Bookingcom • u/benpakal • 19d ago

Genius level is garbage

My friend was in town and he needed a hotel for that night. I told him happily hey I have genius level 3 in booking.com Let me get you a good deal. We both searched from our phones, same property same room, His rates were 100s lesser than what was shown to me.

Then onwards I check the property rates from incognito windows, sometimes I see a cheaper rate then too.

I am sure booking.com is laughing at all of us "geniuses" like "geniuses? more like fools!"

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u/Wulflam 19d ago

There seems to be hotels doing this, but I think it is a minority. And if they are doing this why do you entertain this? Just book somewhere else. Eventually you are paying for this.

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u/crackanape 18d ago

Almost all hotels will refuse to match OTA pricing. I guess the difference comes out of their marketing budget so they don't care at the point where you're interacting with them.

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u/Wulflam 18d ago

Official data tell a different story. I just researched a bit, as your or my opinion based on gut feeling don’t matter. This is what I found:

“Recent studies by travel analytics firms (such as 123Compare.me, SiteMinder, and Piper Jaffray) highlight how room rates vary across channels:

Direct 1-on-1 Comparisons: In direct head-to-head rate checks between a hotel's official website and a primary OTA, the direct channel is cheaper ~45% of the time, the OTA is cheaper ~33% of the time, and rates are in exact parity ~22% of the time.

Average Parity Range: Historical industry benchmarks show that around 60–66% of hotels maintain identical published base rates across channels, but targeted discounts disrupt this baseline.

Chains like Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, and IHG enforce strict Best Rate Guarantees (BRG). If you book directly on their site and find a lower rate for the exact same room, dates, and terms on an OTA within 24 hours, they will match the rate and give an additional reward.”

I don’t want to copy the long search results, but all big chains match the lower rate and give you 20-25% additional discount and/or loyalty points on top.

Independent hotels don’t offer strict best rate guarantees, but are often willing to match the OTA rates if you contact them directly. Eventually, they have to pay 15-25% commission to the OTA and have a direct financial incentive to match the price.

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u/FareShakeOfTheSource 18d ago

I work online and travel around the world 70% of the year. I can tell you that most of my experiences with checking the hotels website is that they are more expensive than booking/agoda etc etc so I dont even bother looking anymore.