Article: Hotels Fight Back Against Sites Like Expedia and Priceline – Aaron M. Kessler and Julie Weed.

When booking a hotel room for your next trip we tend to turn towards sites like Expedia and Priceline because of the commercials on TV and advertisement that are constantly being shown, but hotels aren’t too happy with that. When you book from this sites the hotels are automatically required to give part of the commission to the websites. Certain hotels have found new ways to make customers steer away from the online sites and book directly with them.  They are offering perks such as rewards points, digital check-in options, free meals, WIFI, and even picking  your own room. I mean if I could pick my own room just by booking with the hotel I would. Of course its easier said than done because hotels lose money either way. Booking online guarantees a customer a cheaper price then booking directly with the hotels and hotel aren’t allowed to because of the contracts they have with these online booking sites. Expedia lately has been on a huge takeover, they now own travelocity and an Australian booking site and is in the works of picking up Orbitz. From the hotels stand point they say if Expedia continues to grow it won’t be the hotel that have to pay for it but the consumers(us). Amy Klobuchar the senator of Minnesota states “The whole idea of cheaper hotels is very good, but if it all starts to come under one company, you can easily foresee the situation where they can charge higher commission that are then passed on to consumers.” Of course Expedia disagrees with this statement but it’s a debate that is still being settled and both parties both have valid points.