Award Date

8-2010

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Hospitality Administration

Department

Hotel Administration

First Committee Member

Mehmet Erdem, Chair

Second Committee Member

Sarah Tanford

Third Committee Member

Pearl Brewer

Graduate Faculty Representative

Keong Leong

Number of Pages

62

Abstract

Hotel guests are facing a variety of different hotel rates when booking online. The transparency of the Internet is driving hotel prices towards rate parity. This study investigates room rate parity, room and hotel availability, price consistency, and rate guarantee. The study examines 240 property-date combinations, focusing on ten metropolitan areas, using a sample of 120 hotels for two booking dates, and analyzing three hotels per four hotel segments. The results suggest that Orbitz, an indirect distribution channel, is the best choice when booking rooms in budget and midscale market segments. Furthermore, Expedia offers the best room prices for luxury properties. Room availability is still an issue for third-party distribution channels, while a phone call is still the best channel to ensure room availability.

Keywords

Distribution channels; Hotels – Rates; Hotels — Reservation systems; Rate parity; Travel – Computer network resources

Disciplines

Hospitality Administration and Management

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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