Hotels caught in middle of Booking.com controversy

By Tuba Sahin and Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - Ahead of the summer season, “We’re in trouble,” said Nazli Musaoglu owner of the Marin Hotel in Cesme, a resort town west of Izmir, on the Aegean Sea.

“Most of our customers are tourists from around Turkey.”

On March 29, an Istanbul court ordered the suspension in Turkey of the activities of Booking.com, a leading online travel agency, citing accusations of unfair competition, after a lawsuit filed by the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB).

“Eighty percent of the bookings are made through Booking.com. The suspension has directly and indirectly hit the tourism industry,” Musaoglu added.

Booking.com can still be used from foreign countries to make reservations for Turkish hotels, but not in Turkey for Turkish people.

Statistics are lacking on how much market share online booking services hold in Turkey, but online booking has been surging thanks its young population.

For instance, the Dutch-based Booking.com has thrived in the online booking market in Turkey thanks to their advantages in technology, capital, and the lack of need to pay taxes in Turkey.

But Booking.com’s suspension in Turkey has not been welcomed by Turkish hotel managers as it hurt their business.

Some 75-80 percent of boutique hotels in Turkey get their reservations through Booking.com, said Etem Hakan Duran, head of the Turkey Professional Hotel Managers’ Association.

“Resort hotels in tourist spots mainly work with travel agencies which offer package tours, so only 10-15 percent of their customers come through Booking.com,” Duran said.

Duran said aggregator websites like Booking.com give hotels price flexibility.

“On online channels as well as our websites we can either raise or drop prices. When the hotel is fully booked, we have the option to up fees to widen our profit margin. But this isn’t possible when working with travel agencies,” he explained.

He stressed that the suspension of Booking.com helped neither consumers nor hotels, which have already been facing tough times.

“If Booking.com’s operations violated local laws, the company could have been given penalties, not suspension, which is a great loss to Turkey,” Duran added.

- Boutique hotels hard pressed

Baha Can Gozeger, the manager of Luna Butik Hotel in Antalya, on the Mediterranean, said they get 80 percent of their reservations via Booking.com and so the suspension was a big blow ahead of holiday season.

"In Antalya’s Kaleici section, 99 percent of hotels are working with Booking.com. For now, we can’t book our rooms. There are similar accommodation websites but those generally serve foreign tourists' purposes," he said.

"Booking.com is selling our hotel rooms without making us advertise. We are small enterprises, and Booking.com was helping us advertise with its point-scoring system," he said.

The Marin Hotel’s Musaoglu said Cesme is a popular destination for local tourists, and hotels in the town usually get reservation through Booking.com.

"I think this decision is a blow to tourism before holiday season. We hope that it will be solved in a short time. We’re suffering from the suspension as we can’t get reservations," she said.

- Booking.com rebuffs accusations

Booking.com is a lawfully run Dutch company, said a website spokesman who asked not to be named.

"Booking.com always complies with local laws, in Turkey and in every country where we operate. As part of The Priceline Group, you can find more details on the taxes paid by the parent company through relevant SEC filings” on the Priceline Group Investor Relations website, he said.

"At Booking.com, our primary aim is to make travel as seamless and enjoyable as possible for our global base of customers, while helping all our accommodation partners around the world, including in Turkey, to grow their businesses," he said.

On the unfair competition accusations, the spokesman explained:

"Ultimately, a small guesthouse in rural Turkey is not in competition with Booking.com, but with the other guesthouses and accommodation in their village. We want to give them all a fair chance to be discovered by travelers and provide a transparent platform for consumers and accommodation providers alike that promotes global tourism in a healthy and competitive manner."

He added, "Booking.com is a technology company that hotels can use to generate more business. It’s completely free to list, and there are no commitments for partners.”

- ‘Agencies always ready to cooperate with hotels’

Basaran Ulusoy, head of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB), said that they understand hotel managers’ concerns but travel agencies all over Turkey are always ready to work with hotels.

"The main reason behind hotel managers' reaction is a habit that is created by Booking.com's unfair market share and marketing facility. Although it’s hard to get rid of a habit, the court decision shows that there is a situation against fair competition," he added.

There are many alternatives for those who want to reserve low-priced hotel rooms, Ulusoy said.

"We don’t think that there will be a gap in the tourism sector. TURSAB members are at customers' service both in offices and online platforms, along with the pre-booking reservation campaign launched in 2009," he explained.