They know this a problem so why haven’t they suspended their affiliate programme on the networks until it is fixed. Consumers will then not continue to book hotel rooms at higher prices.

Report this comment

Hi Darren, this is a bit alarming.

I really hope this is a one-off example of a genuine mistake and not something more sinister and widespread.

I use affiliate ads and text links on Travel-Lists under strict policies – ONLY from companies that are already listed (editorial review) and ALWAYS clearly marked as affiliate links. One of the statements I make about these links is that there is no financial difference to the visitor if they click.

As it happens I don’t use Vivastay, but I should hate to think any others mark up prices to their affiliate referred visitors.

Report this comment

Though not the best example, this is one extra reason I have for *never* using affiliate networks. If I am not in direct contact with an affiliate manager that is actually working for the company whose inventory is being sold, they needn’t bother trying.

Being able to address issues with someone high up in the actual company with skin in the game is key to affiliate programs actually being a win-win-win (company – affiliate – customer).

Sadly, too many companies seem to think that just slapping on any old affiliate network will do wonders for their business, but those that I know that have been successful spend a LOT of time, money and effort on developing the channel. It’s no easy way to riches or success, much like pretty much any other business choice

Report this comment

The tracking has been fixed by VivaStay and all prices are aligned across channels which is why the programme hasn’t been paused. Danny from VivaStay is incredibly apologetic and is currently in the process of writing a post informing everyone of this.

For additional information, VivaStay was being managed by an agency who poorly advised them on this issue. No discussions of this nature were had with Affiliate Window. Had this been raised we certainly wouldn’t have advised them to proceed in this way.

Sam for your information, VivaStay now operates as a ‘self-managed’ programme which means that VivaStay and their affiliates can benefit from the network’s advanced technology whilst physically managing and optimizing the programme themselves. To quote “company – affiliate – customer” is indeed the case here.

As for ‘slapping on any old affiliate network’ you clearly haven’t done your research on Affiliate Window, why merchants and affiliates need/like to work with networks or indeed this particular situation.

Regards

Rachel

Report this comment

To all,

Many of you reading this may have already read our statement on the Affiliates4U forum as to how sorry we are that this happened.

Thank you Rachel for your comments and i would like to stress that Affiliate Window have been very straight and supportive in the whole matter since this episode came to light, and for that we are most grateful.

We were previously being managed by US based Direct Agents. After a very disappointing period whereby very little work was done on our account we decided to terminate that contract and we were later advised that our account manager at Direct Agents had been removed from his post due to mismanaging several key client programs… not just ours.

We are now on the look out for reputable affiliate managment agencies in the UK that will be able to guide and manage our UK network accounts in a professional manner so as to avoid any issues like this from occurring in the future.

I thank you all for your comments on this issue and we hope that fixing this has now put the issue to rest.

Many best regards

Danny Gallo
Marketing & Sales

Report this comment

It is common practice to price discriminate by marketing channel / local market conditions / costs of sale where you can see the costs for a certain channel. The challenge is that the web has introduced immediate visibility to what other channels are selling at.

Normal practice would be to resell the same product on different websites at different prices – rather than the same product on the same website with a different price.

Sometimes the same product is given a different name – to facilitate selling it at a different price and combat direct comparison. After all, is that what all these hotel rate types are eh?

Happens in every industry – think petrol prices – it isn’t a national petrol price – but regionally set based on local marketplace conditions for that petrol pump. That is business.

Seems all Viva did was introduce an element of channel pricing based on affiliate code.

Darren is right to highlight it as consumer unfriendly but not sure Viva should be getting as much negative press as they are getting.

Oh – and if Viva Travel want some advice – I would introduce a “direct booking discount” that you put right on the end of the booking process. And only show that discount when it is a non-affiliate sale. Even if affiliates know about it – because it is not entirely obvious to consumers doing a like for like comparison – hence affiliates will, in the main, be happy with it. If not, the affiliates can go elsewhere.

[Ducks]

Report this comment

I should point out that the advice on adding a discount on the final screen has a few more nuances than I suggested (like how to get consumers to know about it up front so they take it into account in their price comparison). But I didn’t want to write an essay about it!

Report this comment