Choice, Expedia resume negotiations

Choice Hotels International and Expedia are at the bargaining table looking to hammer out an agreement that would get the room inventories at Choice’s more than 5,000 hotels listed again on the Web sites that Expedia operates.

Those Web sites, including Expedia.com and Hotels.com, have not had Choice properties listed in their inventories for about two weeks. In a previously released statement, Expedia said it pulled Choice hotels from its site because of the inability to reach a new agreement after numerous extensions.

Read the statement here.

The rift focuses on Expedia’s alleged desire to have last-room availability from the Choice properties to sell on its sites. Choice rejected the notion, prompting Choice CEO Steve Joyce to tell Hotels magazine that “Expedia wanted Choice to literally give up control of its inventory and pricing and wanted to penalize franchisees who did not give Expedia 100 percent access all the time.”

Anne Madison, Choice’s senior VP for Corporate Communications, said the two organizations resumed negotiations late last week.

Anne Madison“We are back at the negotiating table and having productive conversations,” Madison said Wednesday afternoon.

Choice’s No. 1 goal is simple: “The one thing that has to be maintained is franchisees have control over their own businesses,” Madison said.

The fact that the hotel industry is moving more and more into the online space makes it more important to have a cohesive and comprehensive online strategy and policy, she said.
“We’re an online society. That’s why you see all the major hotel chains building strong ecommerce presence with their own channels,” Madison said.

She declined to reveal data regarding Choice’s Web site, including traffic to the site and bookings made through the site, because it is proprietary information.

“We were the first to come out with a hotel reservations Web site in ChoiceHotels.com, and since that time it has changed dramatically.” She said. “We feel very good about the performance that we have online.”

Choice’s goal is to focus on the value that online reservations bring to its franchisees, according to Madison. She declined to specifically say if Choice franchisees could pursue individual agreements with third-party sites such as Expedia.com and Hotels.com.

“A strong part of an Internet distribution strategy is to have approved channels,” she said. “We have an Internet policy and strategy that go hand in hand.”

Several comment boards on industry Websites, including HotelNewsNow.com, have indicated strong support in the industry for Choice’s stance on the issue. Madison said the company isn’t interested in speaking on behalf of the industry.

“The most important thing is to do what’s right for our franchisees,” she said. “We are really speaking for our franchises, not the industry. We want to operate in the best interest of our franchisees.”

Expedia, a publicly traded company that is expected to release its third-quarter earnings report today, was unavailable for comment.