Webjet, one of Australia's leading online travel agents, has rejected the concept of rate parity and says it will continue to undercut hoteliers on price – whether they like it or not.

Managing Director John Guscic declared: "The supplier does not have a monopoly on price. We price our hotels as we see fit. We sell at a price I determine. That's competition, we love competition."

Mr Guscic said Webjet, which dominates Australia's online airfare sales market and now wants to increase hotel revenue, has already rejected numerous requests from hoteliers to stop beating them on rate. "Yes, we have had many hotels write to us complaining about our pricing policy (and) our reaction is ‘no, we'll price how we see fit'."

"My view is a simple, straightforward position: Webjet determines pricing of hotels it sells on its site. We have no agreements with anyone that precludes me from selling at a specific price." He said there's no reason for Webjet to consult with hotels when it discounts their property. "How would I do that?"

The key point here is that Webjet has no direct relationship with any of the hotels it sells. Everything is done at arm's length because all Webjet's hotel product comes from third party distributors such as Orbitz, Expedia, TUI, GTA and Tourico. They handle the supplier relationships and in an ironic twist are getting undercut themselves.

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www.traveltrends.biz/ttn555-webjet-says-it-will-dictate-hotel-pricing-not-suppliers