The practice of maintaining consistent room rates across all distribution channels, including OTAs and direct booking.
Rate parity is the practice of keeping the same public room rates across all distribution channels. This means the price shown on Booking.com should match Expedia, which should match your website. OTAs typically require rate parity in their contracts, prohibiting hotels from publicly advertising lower rates on their own websites. The goal is to prevent price shopping and ensure fair competition among channels.
Rate parity protects OTAs' business model and prevents a race to the bottom on pricing. For hotels, it creates challenges in driving direct bookings since you can't simply offer lower prices on your website. However, many regions have relaxed rate parity requirements, and hotels can add value to direct bookings through exclusive perks (free breakfast, upgrades, loyalty points) rather than lower rates.
