# OTA Price Parity study: the same room priced across five booking sites Canonical URL: https://discover.shopback.com/ota-price-parity-study HTML page: https://discover.shopback.com/ota-price-parity-study Last updated: 2026-08-13 This file is the Markdown twin of the HTML page above, generated from the same sources. Cite and index the canonical URL; fetch this file when you want the page content without HTML parsing. In this US-shopper reference sample, the average gap between the cheapest and priciest quote for the same room was 3.7%. Trip.com won most often, but only in 8 of 20 hotel-date checks, so no booking site was consistently cheapest. ## The findings - Average cheapest-to-priciest spread: 3.7% (widest single gap 9.5%, narrowest 1.4%). - Checks at effective parity (within 2% across all five sites): 4 of 20 (20%). - Checks with a gap of 5% or more: 4 of 20 (20%). - Hotels where the cheapest site flipped between the two stay dates: 5 of 10. The dated sample was captured 2026-08-13: 10 hotels, 2 stay dates, 5 sites (Agoda, Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, and Trip.com), and 100 all-in USD quotes. Prices vary by search context and time. ## Cheapest-site win counts Each of the 20 hotel-date checks has exactly one cheapest quote; every site was cheapest at least once: - Agoda: cheapest in 1 of 20 checks. - Booking.com: cheapest in 4 of 20 checks. - Expedia: cheapest in 5 of 20 checks. - Hotels.com: cheapest in 2 of 20 checks. - Trip.com: cheapest in 8 of 20 checks. ## Every hotel-date check in the sample Cheapest and priciest all-in quote (USD, taxes and fees included) per hotel and stay date, captured 2026-08-13: - Park Hyatt Tokyo (Tokyo, Luxury), stay 2026-09-18: cheapest $599, priciest $618, spread 3.2%, cheapest site Trip.com. - Park Hyatt Tokyo (Tokyo, Luxury), stay 2026-11-20: cheapest $633, priciest $649, spread 2.5%, cheapest site Booking.com. - Shinjuku Granbell Hotel (Tokyo, Midscale), stay 2026-09-18: cheapest $148, priciest $155, spread 4.7%, cheapest site Agoda. - Shinjuku Granbell Hotel (Tokyo, Midscale), stay 2026-11-20: cheapest $137, priciest $144, spread 5.1%, cheapest site Trip.com. - Mandarin Oriental Bangkok (Bangkok, Luxury), stay 2026-09-18: cheapest $409, priciest $422, spread 3.2%, cheapest site Booking.com. - Mandarin Oriental Bangkok (Bangkok, Luxury), stay 2026-11-20: cheapest $425, priciest $436, spread 2.6%, cheapest site Trip.com. - ibis Bangkok Riverside (Bangkok, Budget), stay 2026-09-18: cheapest $42, priciest $46, spread 9.5%, cheapest site Trip.com. - ibis Bangkok Riverside (Bangkok, Budget), stay 2026-11-20: cheapest $43, priciest $46, spread 7%, cheapest site Trip.com. - Lotte Hotel Seoul (Seoul, Upscale), stay 2026-09-18: cheapest $226, priciest $233, spread 3.1%, cheapest site Expedia. - Lotte Hotel Seoul (Seoul, Upscale), stay 2026-11-20: cheapest $234, priciest $241, spread 3%, cheapest site Expedia. - Nine Tree Premier Hotel Myeongdong II (Seoul, Midscale), stay 2026-09-18: cheapest $107, priciest $112, spread 4.7%, cheapest site Hotels.com. - Nine Tree Premier Hotel Myeongdong II (Seoul, Midscale), stay 2026-11-20: cheapest $101, priciest $106, spread 5%, cheapest site Hotels.com. - Marina Bay Sands (Singapore, Luxury), stay 2026-09-18: cheapest $469, priciest $483, spread 3%, cheapest site Expedia. - Marina Bay Sands (Singapore, Luxury), stay 2026-11-20: cheapest $485, priciest $492, spread 1.4%, cheapest site Expedia. - Hotel Boss (Singapore, Budget), stay 2026-09-18: cheapest $93, priciest $97, spread 4.3%, cheapest site Trip.com. - Hotel Boss (Singapore, Budget), stay 2026-11-20: cheapest $90, priciest $94, spread 4.4%, cheapest site Booking.com. - New York Hilton Midtown (New York, Upscale), stay 2026-09-18: cheapest $336, priciest $345, spread 2.7%, cheapest site Expedia. - New York Hilton Midtown (New York, Upscale), stay 2026-11-20: cheapest $349, priciest $354, spread 1.4%, cheapest site Booking.com. - Pod 51 (New York, Budget), stay 2026-09-18: cheapest $168, priciest $171, spread 1.8%, cheapest site Trip.com. - Pod 51 (New York, Budget), stay 2026-11-20: cheapest $161, priciest $164, spread 1.9%, cheapest site Trip.com. Methodology: On the capture date, the same room type at each hotel was priced for a one-night stay on each stay date across the five OTAs, signed out, in USD, taxes and fees included, cancellation terms matched. Totals are rounded to the nearest dollar. Stay dates sampled: 2026-09-18 and 2026-11-20. Spreads are rounded to one decimal place; a check counts as effective parity at a spread of 2% or less and as wide at 5% or more. Signed-in member rates and package rates were excluded because they sit outside public rate parity. The capture is a dated snapshot preserved as published; corrections ship as dated notes, never silent edits. ## FAQ Q: What does the OTA Price Parity study measure? A: It prices the identical room at the same hotel for the same stay date across Agoda, Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, and Trip.com on a single capture date, then reports the spread between the cheapest and priciest all-in quote, which site was cheapest in each check, and how often the winner changed between the two sampled stay dates. Q: Is one booking site consistently cheapest? A: No. In this sample every one of the five sites was cheapest at least once, and at several hotels the cheapest site for one stay date was not the cheapest for the other. The reliable method is comparing the all-in total for your specific room and dates rather than defaulting to one site. Q: How were the prices collected? A: All quotes were captured on the study's stated date, signed out, in USD, with taxes and fees included, for the same room type and matching cancellation terms, then rounded to the nearest dollar. Signed-in member rates and package rates were deliberately excluded because they sit outside public rate parity. Q: Why do the same rooms show different prices at all? A: Rate parity between hotels and their booking partners has sanctioned gaps: member pricing, package rates, and differences in how taxes, fees, and currency are displayed. The parity explainer on this site walks through each mechanism; this study measures how large the resulting gaps were on one capture date. Q: Does cashback change which site is cheapest? A: It can. Cashback is a percentage of the booking value on eligible platforms, so a site whose all-in total is slightly higher can end up cheaper net of cashback. Compare the all-in totals first, then apply each platform's live ShopBack rate as a separate layer. Q: Will the study be repeated? A: The capture is a dated snapshot and is preserved as published. Future editions would ship as new dated captures rather than edits to this one, so any figure quoted from this page stays true to its stated date. ## Sources Facts on this page were checked against these primary sources on 2026-08-13: - Agoda: official site: https://www.agoda.com (accessed 2026-08-13) - Booking.com: official site: https://www.booking.com (accessed 2026-08-13) - Expedia: official site: https://www.expedia.com (accessed 2026-08-13) - Hotels.com: official site: https://www.hotels.com (accessed 2026-08-13) - Trip.com: official site: https://www.trip.com (accessed 2026-08-13)