London, Denver & Singapore, September 29, 2020 - OTA Insight, the cloud-based data intelligence platform for the hospitality industry, today announced the launch of the Rate Parity Distribution certification programme. The certification is the world’s first independent program dedicated to assessing if Distributors are in compliance with a protocol of parity best practices.
With the Distribution programme, OTA Insight now offers an independent Parity Distributor certification process that consists of an online audit, paired with proof samples by which organisations can seek Parity Certification. The program highlights the importance of system configuration controls, contracts and legal enforcements, as well as ongoing monitoring and customer references.
Upon successful completion of the audit, Distributors will receive a credential that acknowledges certification. Certification benefits include: web, and email badges white-labelled definition of Qualified/programme detail links, sales collateral and proforma attestation. Participation is open to all Distributors.
"As we've been working with hotels and their distribution partners to help resolve rate disparity, we discovered the majority of issues are related to poor communication, process or technology," said Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO of OTA Insight. “OTA Insight is the first independent organisation to recognize the importance of certified parity standards and best practices to enable Distributors to better support their hotel partners."
Fastpayhotels is the first recipient of the Parity Certification program. "Fastpayhotels is delighted to be the first distributor to receive this prestigious accreditation that certifies that we distribute rates responsibly to travel agents. This program is a great advance for our industry and one I hope hotels will soon recognize as the global standard of how best practices should work in distributing hotels, said Alex Gisbert, CEO of Fastpayhotels. Especially under current trading conditions, it is key for a tech-enabled B2B distributor like ourselves to show hotel partners have their distribution under control and ensure no one, including Brand.com, is being undercut in the market.”
Today’s Distribution ecosystem calls for solutions that offer clear and consistent rate parity processes. Parity Certification is a fast and simple program that will become the standard for the industry, enabling hoteliers to benchmark against both current and future distributor relationships.