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The EU's "Digital Markets Act" is a law from 2022 designed to make markets in the digital sector fairer. Through this law, the EU has now designated Booking.com as a "gatekeeper." This could have a significant impact on the hotel industry today.
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"Gatekeepers" are large digital platforms, such as search engines, that often act as core platforms. By designating Booking.com as a "gatekeeper," it is categorized as a core platform and subjected to the regulations of the "Digital Markets Act," which dictates how they should operate as a digital marketplace.
For the hotel industry, OTAs like Booking.com have been both a blessing and a curse. The increased traffic from the platform has been beneficial for hotels, but using third parties is known to be costly, making it harder to build loyal customers and strong relationships. Now that Booking.com is more regulated, hotels will have greater control over their business operations.
One particularly interesting aspect for hotels with Booking.com being designated as a “gatekeeper” is that they now have to provide business users with access to the data generated through the Booking.com platform. This reduces the issue of data ownership based on where the guest booked their stay.
With hotels now able to access their own data from Booking.com, it becomes easier to gain insights into their guest base and thus create effective communication. Loyco's solutions facilitate simple and automated communication with your guests. Not only do we offer loyalty programs, but we also enable the import of data lists into the dashboard so you can communicate with your guests who are not loyalty members as well.
Want to learn more about Loyco's solutions? Feel free to email us or contact us through the form!
Sources:
European Commission (n.d.) Digital Markets Act. https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/index_en
European Commission (2024, May 13) Commission designates Booking as a gatekeeper and opens a market investigation into X* [Press release] https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/commission-designates-booking-gatekeeper-and-opens-market-investigation-x-2024-05-13_en
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When designing your loyalty program, segmenting your customer base by membership level should be considered. This will give you insight into the degree of loyalty of each individual customer, while automated communication can be adapted based on which segment they belong to.
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