Rate parity in 2026: can your hotel be cheaper when booked direct?
For years hotels were told they could not undercut the booking sites on their own website. In the EU that has changed — but the details, and your contracts, still matter.
Rate parity is a contract term that stops a hotel selling a room more cheaply on one channel than on another — most often, more cheaply on its own website than on a booking site. In the EU, Booking.com was designated a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act in 2024 and may no longer impose such parity clauses on hotels. Other platforms’ terms and national rules still vary, so check your own contracts.
Wide and narrow parity
- Wide parity meant a hotel could not be cheaper anywhere — not on its own site, not on another booking site.
- Narrow parity allowed other booking sites to be cheaper, but not the hotel’s own website.
Several EU countries had already banned parity clauses in national law before the DMA. In September 2024 the EU Court of Justice also ruled, in a case about Booking.com, that parity clauses are not automatically justified as a necessary part of the service.
What that means in practice
For a hotel in the EU, offering a lower price on its own booking page is now an ordinary commercial choice in respect of Booking.com. It is still worth:
- Reading every channel contract you have, not only Booking.com’s.
- Keeping the comparison honest. A crossed-out “booking site price” must be the price the guest would really see there for the same room, dates and conditions.
- Not breaking your own rules on one channel by accident — for example, a closed-group or mobile rate leaking into public prices.
How much cheaper?
There is no right number. The direct discount needs to be visible and believable, and it should be smaller than the commission it saves you. A few percent, plus something only direct guests receive — breakfast, late check-out, free cancellation for longer — usually does more than a large cut alone.
Doing it honestly, automatically
The cleanest way to keep a struck-through price true is to derive it from the price you actually send to the booking sites, not to type it in. Then it cannot drift.
In Revio
RevioDirect has a “cheaper when booked direct” setting in RevioCRS: a percentage off rates that are also sold on booking sites, shown with the booking-site price struck through. It is true by construction — the struck-through price is the one Revio sends to those sites.
This article explains a commercial and regulatory topic in general terms and is not legal advice.
Questions
Is it legal to show a lower price on my own website?
In the EU, Booking.com may no longer impose price parity on hotels under the Digital Markets Act. Other platforms' contracts and national rules vary. Read your own agreements and, if in doubt, ask a lawyer — this article is not legal advice.
Should the direct discount be large?
It only has to be clear. A modest percentage shown against the booking-site price, plus something only direct guests get, is usually enough to tip a guest who already found you.
What is a 'struck-through' price?
The higher price shown crossed out beside the lower one. It must be a price the guest could really get elsewhere for the same stay; inventing one is misleading and, in the EU, can breach consumer law.
Sources
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