Margin for error in hotel bookings

Who speaks for the hotel industry? The war of words between the Irish Hotel Federation and online reservation site Hotels.com shows that it is not just the industry’s booking model that has been turned on its head by the advent of the internet.

On the one hand you have Hotels.com – which sells about one of every 10 room nights in Ireland – saying that prices are up 10 per cent since the start of the year.

On the other you have the industry lobby group quoting the Central Statistics Office and claiming that the figure is actually 3.5 per cent, which is a far more attractive figure when you are seeking the retention of a special low rate of VAT in the upcoming budget and any other support you can manage.

The IHF argues that Hotels.com’s figure is misleading because the “vast majority” of rooms are sold through other sources, including directly by the hotels themselves.

The inference being that prices are higher on booking sites because of the quite substantial margins taken by the websites. However, the IHF may have been a little economical with the truth itself, as presumably the other sources to which they refer include the multitude of other online sites.

The internet being what it is, it would be surprising if there was much of a price difference between these sites and Hotel.com – and even more of a surprise if all these sites put together did not account for something in the region of 50 per cent of all room nights booked in Ireland.

How then do you explain the difference between the CSO figures and Hotels.com figure? It is a question best answered by the CSO and presumably reflects the extent to which they monitor prices on booking sites as part of their price survey.

Life may be a little too short for most people to try and get to the bottom of that particular statistical conundrum.

They may be more interested in the key point highlighted by the IHF that booking hotel rooms over the internet is usually more expensive than going direct.

The internet is clearly not what it used to be.