FT. LAUDERDALE— As the world of electronic distribution matures, with the Internet playing an increasingly important role, several key issues have emerged that are impacting the way distribution takes place. These concerns, and future strategies for fair and profitable e-distribution, served as the focal point for the recent 2001 HEDNA Global Meeting held here. More than 300 industry experts and HEDNA (Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association) members gathered at the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 here to address a few of the major concerns regarding the e-distribution arena, including Internet biasing and discounting. Additionally, industry experts from around the world laid out new strategies for future distribution in an effort to shape the growing global distribution network. A new White Paper study conducted by HEDNA titled, Biasing, What You Need To Know, was unveiled at the event, detailing information on fair and unfair biasing practices taking place through GDSs and Internet distribution channels in the hospitality industry. The study also explores how bias impacts revenue and distribution planning for hotels, particularly on the Internet. While it’s no secret that the methods used to present hotel data to end-users is sometimes altered to influence a purchase being made by a consumer, not much has been reported on this topic to date, said Caryl Helsel, president, HEDNA.“The bottom line is, it’s happening everywhere,” she said, adding HEDNA hopes that by educating the industry on this issue, unfair biasing will stop, or decrease. The four major types of bias discovered were: • User-defined bias, which means consumer preferences would determine the types of hotels that were presented to them, a kind of bias considered fair by most in the industry. • Bias resulting through merchandising practices, which generally includes hotels paying for priority on-screen placement— it is widely practiced, but its fairness is questionable. • Bias driven by marketing practices, which includes manipulating displayed data by hotels entering rates pre-negotiated by other properties as part of a marketing agreement. • Bias through commercial relationships, which translates into a hotel— or hotel company— exerting unfair influence by having an ownership stake in a particular website. In some instances, biasing on the Internet or GDS runs so deep that a property in a large city is forced to pay for a “slot” on a travel portal, like Travelocity, otherwise it will be placed after those who have paid for priority positioning. Many times the property that hasn’t paid for its position suffers with lower booking percentages, due to poor placement on the second, third or even fourth page of search results (studies show consumers rarely pass the second page). Fees for good “positioning” can run as much as $3,000 per hotel per city, some experts said. Experts also urged hoteliers to educate themselves on who has control over rates and access to restricted/special rates. In some instances, unauthorized users are accessing promotional rates. Bookings should be tracked so the hotel knows where business is coming from. Another HEDNA initiative is to increase its global membership and influence.“We really are working to globally educate the hospitality industry on electronic distribution, and are building our global influence as an association,” said Helsel. As such, Helsel said that the association’s “University” would be holding sessions in Europe and Asia this year. Within the next four to six weeks, HEDNA will hold its first University session in Singapore to educate and attract new members. A similar event in Rome is also expected in the near future. Furthermore, HEDNA is looking into adding board members from other parts of the world like Asia and Latin America to represent their respective countries and bring attention to the problems/opportunities they face in this arena. “We are aiming to penetrate all parts of the world,” said
