MoneySavingExpert highlights sites that allow commercial factors to determine ranking

MoneySavingExpert highlights sites that allow commercial factors to determine ranking

Site issues warning to travel bookers to be aware of practice

Influential consumer champion website MoneySavingExpert.com is highlighting which popular travel websites rank hotels higher in results based on the commission they are paid.

The site has issued a warning to travel bookers to be aware of the practice after finding that eight leading sites rank properties higher if they receive commission for reservations.

The site has published a table (see below) setting out its findings which show that the practice is commonplace on Booking.com, Expedia, Kayak, Agoda, ebookers, Trip.com, Hotels.com and Trivago.

In contrast lastminute.com, Skyscanner, Travelsupermarket, Zenhotels, Netflights and Getaroom all said their results are not affected by commercial factors.

Guy Anker, deputy editor at MoneySavingExpert.com, said: “Ranking hotels based on commission could be harmful to consumers, but you could argue that sites are at least being transparent about their practices.

“Yet don’t see the fact that a hotel booking site could skew its rankings as a reason not to use one. After all, they may still offer the best price.

“But you’ll need to keep your wits about you to find the best deal, so don’t automatically go for the hotel at the top of the search.

“Before choosing, read reviews, compare prices between sites and the hotel direct, and also check location, booking flexibility, room type and what extras are provided, such as breakfast.”

Site Default ranking Are hotel rankings affected by commercial factors? What sites say
Agoda ‘Our picks’ Yes – Agoda didn’t respond to our query, but its site warns “commission earned affects the order of your results”.
Booking.com ‘Our top picks’ Yes – Booking.com told us it says “in a banner at the top of our search page that commission paid may affect an accommodation’s ranking”.
Ebookers ‘Recommended’ Yes – Ebookers told us its site warns: “Where we are displaying properties with a similar offer, then a booking from which we earn more compensation will feature higher in our search results listing compared to other properties with similar offers where we are paid less compensation on the booking.”
Expedia ‘Recomended’ Yes  Expedia told us its site warns: “Where we are displaying properties with a similar offer, then a booking from which we earn more compensation will feature higher in our search results listing compared to other properties with similar offers where we are paid less compensation on the booking.”
Getaroom ‘Best Sellers’ No – Getaroom told us: “Commission is not a factor. The main factors are value and customer demand.”
Hotels.com ‘Featured’ Yes – Hotels.com said its site warns: “The compensation which a property pays us for bookings made through our sites is also a factor for the relative ranking of properties with similar offers.”
Kayak ‘Recommended’ Yes – Kayak told us: “The ‘recommended’ hotels algorithm is based on a few key factors. This mainly takes into account the price, the hotel’s guest rating and its popularity as well as the average revenue potential for us from each hotel result.”
Lastminute.com ‘Recommended’ No – Lastminute.com told us category, location, review score, pricing, promotional discounts and popularity are factors, but added: “We do not accept commission-based bonus system for hotel ranking.”
Netflights ‘Most popular’ No  Netflights told us it determines “which hotels are ‘most popular’ on the Netflights website according to their cumulative sales. The ranking of a particular property would only be otherwise affected if their listing is sponsored – and those are clearly labelled as such to the user.”
Skyscanner ‘Best’ No – Skyscanner told us “our ‘best’ sort filter isn’t determined by commercial agreement. When a traveller completes a search for a hotel, our hotels page calculates a score based on: distance to city centre, guest rating, image, review counts, stars, chain, descriptions, price and conversion rate.”
TravelSupermarket ‘Popular’ No – TravelSuperMarket told us: “No form of extra payment is taken from any hotels or providers of hotels. The Popular ranking aims to put the most relevant and ‘bookable’ hotels in front of users. The ranking is based on guest reviews and those hotels which are booked the most.”
Trip.com ‘Recommended’ Yes – Trip.com didn’t respond to our query but its site says: “Results are sorted by user ratings, room prices, location, and commission rates.”
Trivago ‘Our recommendations’ Yes – Trivago told us it did “consider the compensation booking sites generate for Trivago when a user clicks on an offer; however, this is just one factor among several that determines which hotels are initially shown to users.”
ZenHotels ‘Popularity’ No – ZenHotels says its popularity filter works on “average index of two factors: a number of search requests on the hotels and a number of bookings of the hotel”.