The Best Available Level (BAR), also known as Best Rate Guaranteed (BRG), is one of the latest pricing mechanisms, which is increasingly used by hotel and hotel chains across world. It was introduced as a result of the hotel industry that mimics the aviation industry, which sets prices by forecasting demand.
There are several interpretations and executions of BAR in the hotel industry. Sheryl E. Kimes defines the price of BAR is "an attempt to reduce confusion and to ensure that guests are quoted the lowest available rate for any night of a few nights stay." Galileo, the provider of the Global Distribution System, defines the BAR as a "publicly available tariff that does not require prepayment and does not impose cancellations or alter fines and/or fees, other than those imposed as a result of normal hotel property cancellation policies." However, some hotels include "fenced" fares as part of their BAR strategy.
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Parity Value
The practice of hotels and their distributors agrees to sell rooms at a BAR rate known as Rate Parity. The degree of parity is widely used in the hotel industry although in recent years its value has been questioned. In 2010, the UK competition authority, later to be known as the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), opened a formal inquiry into a parity-level practice after receiving complaints by an Online Travel Agency (OTA), Skoosh. Since the OFT investigation, many European countries have challenged parity-level legal status (as a form of pricing or resale of maintenance prices) including Britain, Switzerland and France. In February 2014, a Texas court judge rejected a class action lawsuit of parity. In September 2014, the appeals court overturned the proposal by Expedia's online travel agent and Booking.com and IHG hotel chain, to change their level parity practices. The proposal has been accepted by the UK competition authority, Office of Fair Trading, but was canceled after an appeal by the price comparison website, SkyScanner, and online travel agency, Skoosh.
In July 2015, France became the first country in Europe to disallow the parity clause of the rankings in the contract, after the French National Assembly endorsed the final vote of 'Law Macron' and instructed the abolition of any level parity clause of the contract between Hoteliers and Online Travel Agents. In December 2015, the German Bundeskartellamt court banned Booking.com to continue to apply the BAR clause or 'best price' and booked the hotel booking portal to completely remove clauses from the contract and its general terms and conditions as far as affecting hotels in Germany..
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Cornell School School of Hotel Administration conducted a study that surveyed the reaction of 153 travelers to BRG prices. Respondents explained that the best available tariff available for each night of their stay was fairer than paying a combined rate for multiple nights' stay.
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Source of the article : Wikipedia
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