Booking.basic was first spotted on Booking.com’s listings for hotels in Asia-Pacific in July 2018. The feature appears on Booking.com’s hotel listings and offers a non-refundable rate from third parties when the price provided by a hotel is not the cheapest available online.

At the Direct Booking Summit in Singapore, we spoke to Yusuf IJsseldijk, Managing Director at Simia Solutions, about the implications of Booking.com’s new feature.

Yusuf’s 25 years of experience in the hospitality and travel industry means he is well-versed in the potential implications of features like Booking.basic. Here’s what he had to say:

“It’s a wakeup call for hotels. I believe they will have to go back to the drawing board, review their rate structures and contracts, and see how they can stop rate leakage to channels like Booking.com.”

Hear more from Yusuf and other hotel revenue, marketing and distribution experts (including ONYX Hospitality Group, GCP Hospitality, The Surin Phuket, The Lancemore Group and more) in Triptease’s new series Spotlight On… Hotels In Asia-Pacific.

Get more insights into Booking.basic:

• Download our recent report on third-party rates on OTAs Are we on the verge of a parity nightmare?
• Watch our webinar recording Hotels, OTAs, wholesale and Booking.basic, in which we answered questions from our audience about Booking.basic and wholesaler rates, and gave tips on how to identify high-risk moments for your hotel - and prevent them.