Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/172539 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
DICE Discussion Paper No. 278
Publisher: 
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE), Düsseldorf
Abstract: 
We analyze the best price clauses (BPCs) of online travel agents (OTAs) using meta-search price data of nearly 30,000 hotels in different countries. We find that BPCs influence the pricing and availability of hotel rooms across online sales channels. In particular, hotels publish their offers more often at Booking.com when it does not use the narrow BPC, and also tend to promote the direct online channel more actively. Moreover, the abolition of Booking.com's narrow BPC is associated with the direct channel of chain hotels having the strictly lowest price more often.
Subjects: 
best price clauses
hotel booking
MFN
OTA
vertical restraints
JEL: 
D40
L42
L81
ISBN: 
978-3-86304-277-6
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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