Ennis, Sean, Ivaldi, Marc and Lagos, Vicente (2020) Price parity clauses for hotel room booking: empirical evidence from regulatory change. TSE Working Paper, n. 20-1106, Toulouse

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Abstract

This paper examines the impact of most favored nation (MFN) clauses on retail prices, taking advantage of two natural experiments that changed vertical contracting between hotels and major digital platforms. The broad E.U. intervention narrowed the breadth of “price parity” obligations between hotels and major Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). Direct sales by hotels to customers subsequently became relatively cheaper. Comparisons with hotel pricing outside the E.U. confirm the reduction in prices for mid-level and luxury hotels. France and Germany went further and eliminated all price-parity agreements. This stronger intervention was associated solely with a significant additional price-reducing effect for mid-level hotels in Germany. Overall, wide MFNs are associated with higher retail prices. Regulating MFNs reduced prices with primary effects coming either from the narrow price-parity intervention or, perhaps, from direct sales becoming cheaper than OTAs in both E.U. and non-E.U. countries, and, interestingly, not from complete elimination of MFNs.

Item Type: Monograph (Working Paper)
Language: English
Date: May 2020
Place of Publication: Toulouse
Uncontrolled Keywords: Price Parity Clause (PPC), Most favored nation (MFN), Most favored customer (MFC), Hotel Industry, Impact Evaluation, Online Travel Agency (OTA), digital platforms
JEL Classification: K21 - Antitrust Law
L14 - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation; Networks
L42 - Vertical Restraints; Resale Price Maintenance; Quantity Discounts
L81 - Retail and Wholesale Trade; Warehousing; e-Commerce
Subjects: B- ECONOMIE ET FINANCE
Divisions: TSE-R (Toulouse)
Institution: Université Toulouse 1 Capitole
Site: UT1
Date Deposited: 19 May 2020 07:51
Last Modified: 22 Nov 2022 08:01
OAI Identifier: oai:tse-fr.eu:124308
URI: https://publications.ut-capitole.fr/id/eprint/34990

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