How much can the price of the same hotel be booked on different platforms and channels? Maybe 3 times.
On July 1, Mr. Yu (pseudonym), who came to Shanghai for tourism with his baby, booked a room on the Meituan platform and stayed at W Hotel Shanghai on the Bund that night. The room type is shown as a 46-square-meter room with a magnificent view of the Bund. The price is 9,559 yuan (RMB, the same below) per night.
hotel reservation page. (Source: Photo courtesy of the respondent)
However, after Mr. Yu checked in, the price he saw on the guest registration form showed only RMB 2,980 per night. 
The price on the guest registration form shows 2980 yuan. (Source: Photo courtesy of the interviewee)
“Because many hotels describe better, I think it is worth the price, and yesterday was a special day, I have no doubt.” See the list that says At 2,980 yuan, Mr. Yu was shocked. Later, when Mr. Yu asked the hotel and Meituan to check out, he was refused and was “kicked a ball.”
“The hotel said that you booked at Meituan, and the hotel cannot refund; Meituan said that the price is the price put up by a third party (agent), you can contact for negotiation , And later said that I would refund 1,000 yuan later, and later that I would refund 2,000 yuan.” Mr. Yu said that the price was too far from the price he paid and was unacceptable.
The price difference of hotel bookings on different platforms and channels is three times different
On the morning of July 2nd, with the question of why the price difference is so large, the news (Www.thepaper.cn) checked all online travel platforms.
is also W Hotel. If you check in on July 2 and check out on July 3 as an example, the price shown on the Meituan platform including two breakfasts is 9885Yuan/night; Ctrip, Qunar, Qunar, Tongcheng and other platforms are all priced between 4,500 yuan/night and 4,700 yuan/night. 
On the morning of July 2nd, a screenshot of the reservation price of a room with a magnificent view of the Bund at W Hotel Shanghai on the Bund , From left to right: Meituan, Ctrip, Qunar.
It is worth noting that the prices of the above-mentioned online travel platforms are all booked through agents. Among them, the Fliggy platform shows that the “direct management” price of the flagship store of Marriott International Group is much cheaper, with breakfast included and the price is only 3634 yuan/night, but it has been sold out. 
On the morning of July 2nd, a screenshot of the booking price for a magnificent room with a view of the Bund at W Hotel Shanghai on the Bund, from From left to right: Feizhu and Tongcheng.
From the official channel, the news did not find the room type on the official WeChat applet of Marriott International Hotel reservations. On the Marriott International Group official website, the non-members of this room type does not include breakfast and the tax-included price is 3,707.88. Yuan/night. 
On the official platform, a screenshot of the reservation price of a room with a magnificent view of the Bund W Hotel on the Bund in Shanghai (Source: Marriott International Hotel Reservation Website)
In addition, online travel platforms generally have more room types than official channels. In response, the customer service staff of W Hotel on the Bund in Shanghai said: “Because they are all agents, we have many rooms occupied by them, so we don’t have any rooms here.” The customer service staff also said, “If the agent is an agent, it may be If you maliciously occupy the room in advance, and then sell it to other guests at a high price, it is recommended not to book from them.”
In the afternoon of the same day, the news also searched for other luxury hotels, and found that there was also a pricing difference between the booking prices from the official website and other platforms.
Take the check-in at The Peninsula Shanghai on July 2 and check-out on July 3 as an example, the booking price for the WeChat applet on the official website of the Peninsula Shanghai is 3614.6 yuan without breakfast. /Night, the price of the same room at Meituan without breakfast is 4314 yuan/night; Ctrip has sold out, but the price is still the same as Meituan; the cheapest price on Qunar platform is 3107 yuan/night; Feizhu platform The price is 2852 yuan/night, and the booking price on the same trip platform is 3153.14 yuan/night. 
A screenshot of the reservation price of a luxury garden-view room at The Peninsula Shanghai displayed on the afternoon of July 2, from left To the right are: official website, Meituan, and Ctrip.
A screenshot of the reservation price of a luxury garden-view room at The Peninsula Shanghai displayed on the afternoon of July 2. From left to right are: Where to Go, Flying Pig, Tongcheng.
In addition, in Meituan and Fliggy, you can also see that this room type does not include a price of more than 6000 yuan/night, and the aforementioned prices are all from different agents. In addition, for the same room type, the price for single occupancy is different from that for two occupants.
Whose “pot” is for the big price difference in hotel bookings?
In the eyes of travel industry professionals, it’s not entirely due to online travel platforms that the same room type in the same hotel has such a large price difference on different platforms and channels.” pot”.
A person from an online travel platform told the news that the price of the platform involves many factors. Since the price of the hotel itself fluctuates, the hotel isWhen the market is on the market, it will adjust its own prices, and the platform has not been updated in time; there are also factors of suppliers, and the suppliers will place them on the online travel platform according to their own prices.
An industry insider told the news that there are generally two types of prices in hotels, namely prepaid prices and collect prices. Both online travel platforms and the Internet are basically the same before entering the market. Pay-as-you-go prices, that is, you can sell as much as you want when you arrive at the hotel, but it is difficult to mediate the occupancy rate.
“In fact, the revenue management of hotels and air tickets is the same. On the one hand, it is necessary to ensure the occupancy rate. The higher the occupancy rate, the more money you can make. Price. Online travel platforms are a way to help hotels balance their revenue, especially for chain hotels that are not well-known.” The person explained, “But the difference between a hotel and an air ticket and train ticket is that, for example, a hotel may have three commodity warehouses. , The update of different platforms is not timely, and the three commodity warehouses have begun to solicit customers. It is possible that the cheap ones are sold out and only the expensive ones are left. The hotel price has increased, but the other platform cannot see it.”
The above-mentioned industry insiders continue to point out that the general online travel platform negotiates the price in advance, so the real-time price of the hotel is not synchronized with the price of the online travel platform. From the point of view of the hotel operator, if the hotel With a customer base and service capabilities, it is entirely possible to “beat down” the price, which is lower than that of an online travel platform. On the other hand, because the “intermediary fees” charged by online travel platforms are quite high and they have to compete with their peers, they will demand better prices, and the hotel and online travel platforms will also compete.
“In such a case with such a large price difference, the hotel’s follow-up behavior is problematic, and the platform’s supervision of agents is also problematic.” The person pointed out.
On the same day, Meituan responded to the news, saying: “The W hotel on the Bund in Shanghai booked by the user is provided by the partner to Meituan for sale. After verification with the partner, It dynamically adjusted the price according to the market supply and demand situation. We apologize for the bad experience brought to users by the price problem. At present, we have coordinated with our partners to compensate users for the price difference and obtain users’ understanding. Next, we will continue to optimize Partner price management work together to provide consumers with better services.”
Marriott International Hotels Group told the news that it needs to verify the relevant situation.
On the afternoon of July 2, the news found that the original reservation on the Meituan platform required more than 9,000 yuan for the magnificent room reservation at W Hotel on the Bund in Shanghai. The price was displayed as 3708.Yuan/night (excluding breakfast), the price with one breakfast is 3942 Yuan/night, and the price with two breakfasts is 7008 Yuan/night.