If Doug Collins, the president, chairman and CEO of America’s Best Franchising, had his way, third-party online travel agencies would disappear and hotel owners would keep 100% of their reservations revenue. But he knows that’s not going to happen, so hotel owners that fly one of ABF’s five brands simply have to deal the best they can.
“(The camel) got his nose in the tent, he got his elbow in the tent and now he’s in the tent. … It’s probably the worst thing that ever happened (to the hotel industry),” Collins said during an interview conducted in conjunction with the Southern Lodging Summit @ Memphis earlier this month. “The reality (is) they’re in the market. Reality, they have advertising budgets. I don’t think they can make a lot of people go to Peoria that weren’t going to go to Peoria anyway, but they’re in the market, they’re selling rooms, deal with it. Is it something that’s good for the industry? No. Are they here to stay? Probably.”
