According to the Russian Union of Travel Industry, the reason was the increase of the base commission from 15 to 17% from February 1. Earlier hoteliers asked the aggregator not to increase the commission, but the company said that they would not change the decision. In total, about 50 thousand rooms are under the management of the chains, whose hotels have disappeared from the aggregator.
The aggregator creates a dangerous precedent
Hoteliers believe that the conditions imposed by the service do not correspond to market conditions and directly affect the increase in the price of accommodation. Many called the aggregator’s decision to raise the fee a threat to the stability of the entire domestic tourism industry. It sets a dangerous precedent and will inevitably lead to similar steps on the part of other players.
In the context of growing tourist tax and rising costs, each additional percentage directly affects the end consumer, whose sensitivity to the cost of accommodation has recently increased significantly.
A separate risk is investment in the construction of new hotels and complexes, especially in the regions and in the segment of small and medium-sized hotels. For some properties, further growth of fees becomes a question of business sustainability and financial model, rather than just margin reduction.
The press service of “Yandex Travel” said that the service works according to the scheme of an aggregator, collecting offers from different accommodation facilities and showing them to users of the service. The number of partners placed on the service is dynamic and depends on a variety of factors, including seasonality, demand, marketing strategy of hotels and so on.
