Alice in Wonderland

This past week a news item came across our desks at Hotel Resource that Best Western has reduced it’s commission on Internet Booking in half to 5%. I posted the item to our discussion board and received this response from Professor Ron Feldman, which sort of says it all:

In a message dated 99-11-01 08:37:21 EST, you write:

<< Subj: Best Western Commission

Date: 99-11-01 08:37:21 EST

From: twahl@hotelresource.com (Thomas Wahl)

Sender: owner-HOTEL-L@cornell.edu

Reply-to: HOTEL-L@cornell.edu

To: discuss_hotel@listbot.com, HOTEL-L@cornell.edu

Dear Colleagues,

I am not sure if you are aware that Best Western has reduced their commission on internet bookings to 5%. Any thoughts and or comments?

Thomas >>

Dear Thomas:

Thank you for the great piece of hysterical information. Let me give you my "personal experience" on this one, because I founded Hotel Connections in 1985 and sold it in 1995, and was the "model" company for Citicorp World Travel Payments in terms of "guaranteeing" travel agents their commission.

What "I learned" about working with "travel agents" (because our company did not do any "consumer direct" individual hotel booking business) is that the travel agent community was "mature"...and, there was a "great segment" of travel agents who were "computer shy". So, it's a "no harm/no foul"

situation in my mind, because I suspect that 99% of the travel agent community doesn't even know that they can book a "commissionable" room on Best Western's sites. In fact, based on what the airlines have done, I suspect that 99% of travel agents believe that the only commissionable situations are booking through their CRS (Central Reservation System aka SABRE, Galileo, etc.), and booking through CRC (Central Reservation Center) by phone. So, in my mind, "the real danger" is that the "concept" of cutting travel agent commissions for hotel bookings, like the recent cuts in airline commissions is a situation where "brands" will "jaundice&qu mstheme-->