marriott and travelnow

fixed fee commission?

[soapystar]

I am being told by travelnow that marriott hotels now only pay a fixed fee commission. Anyone else heard this?

[bobothecat]

Yep... $5.00 no matter how many room nights - minus the commission from TravelNOW and you'll get $2.50 per reservation.

Ironically lodging.com still pays a standard percentage for Marriott properties.

[rcjordan]

I expect hotel bookings to follow airline tickets in some sort of online commission melt-down.

Hotel chains have always tried altering the scale on the booking engines. I believe Best Western pulled something like this about 3 years ago.

I'm also noticing spotty participation by Hampton Inns in some markets.

[soapystar]

well how can lodging pay a percentage?..if marriott are paying a fixed amount then lodging must get a fixed amount..no?

[rcjordan]

> must get a fixed amount..no?
No. There are all kinds of "consolidator" arrangements out there.

[edited by: rcjordan at 3:32 pm (utc) on Feb. 12, 2003]

[bobothecat]

Soapy,

All I can assume is that lodging.com must have a different agreement with Marriott. I deal with both (lodging & travelnow) and my commissions from lodging.com are percentage based ( I think it's around 4% or something close ), versus the 'standard' $2.50 from TravelNOW.

Hilton also cut their commission to 5% from 10% ( This would include Doubletree, Hampton Inn, etc... ) - think this happened a couple of months ago.

[soapystar]

yup.. also deal with both..but id been switching more over to travlnow because hotels seem to pay quicker with them...guess i'll switch the marriott back then....