1. ACE conference, Madrid, 17 November 2017
Evaluating hotel price differentiation using metasearch data Analysis of the ECN working group
ACE conference, Madrid, 17 November 2017
Jan Sviták | Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets

2. Outline Monitoring Characteristics of the analysis Results
Issues and questions

3. ECN Working Group
Monitoring in reaction to changes in MFN clauses between online travel agents and hotels
In 2016
Belgian, Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Dutch, Swedish and UK national competition authorities and DG Competition

4. Characteristics of the analysis
Search level data on a stratified sample of more than 4600 hotels from a major MSS
Looking at effects of changes to narrow MFNs, Loi Macron and prohibition decision against Booking.com in Germany
Difference-in-differences analysis with Canada as a control group
Fixed effects on hotel level
Price differentiation as a dummy variable signaling non-parity of prices across OTA’s

5. Results
Increase in observed price differentiation in all countries except NL
Driven by chain hotels
Robust to selection of OTAs

6. Issues – what do we measure?

7. Interpretation of the results
What does a positive effect mean?
Both price and product differentiation increase
Price differentiation increases more than product differentiation decreases
Product differentiation increases more than price differentiation decreases
Differentiation in:
Price: + Product:
Price: > Product:
Price: < Product:

8. Key questions
Are we only interested only in “pure” price differentiation or also other parameters of the offer?
Can differences in availability have similar effects as differences in price?
Does that influence the usefulness of the MSS data?
What is the counterfactual?