Franchisees Stuck Between Choice Hotels and Expedia

Choice Hotels and online travel agent Expedia have not been able to agree on a new contract, so Expedia last week announced it will no longer offer Choice properties through its online booking engine. And if that weren't bad enough for Choice franchisees, Choice Hotels sent an email forbidding its franchisees to make seperate agreements with Expedia.

Expedia contends these terms are commonplace throughout the industry. In its own letter to Choice franchisees obtained by HWN, Expedia wrote, “we feel it is important to clarify that we did not ask Choice for anything we do not already have in place with other strategic, long-term lodging partners.” (Read the full letter here.) Latture said the Expedia letter, which invites individual hotels to partner with the OTA, sparked the letter from Choice forbidding such partnerships.

“We may or may not agree,” Latture said, “but we’re just at the mercy of the parent company. You’re just not going to start as a one-off trying to fight a big corporation.”