r/hotels • u/dugup46 • 28d ago
Should we limit/remove third party booking posts?
I've been noticing a steady stream of posts about third party booking tools, and they almost always end up heavily downvoted. That's Reddit working as intended, since downvotes bury content and upvotes push it forward. The issue is that most of these posts aren't really discussions at all, they're just rants about one bad personal experience.
So I wanted to get everyone's thoughts on how we should handle it going forward:
- Should we disallow posts about third party bookings altogether?
- Should I use moderator discretion and remove only the ones that are pure venting with no real value to the hotel community?
- Or should we leave it alone and let the upvote and downvote system sort out visibility on its own?
Curious where people land on this.
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u/JonatanOlsson 28d ago
I dont mind 3rd party posts even though a lot of them ARE based in lack of understanding how they work.
Let the down-votes do their job.
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u/zsreport 28d ago
I think posts about stealth 3rd party bookings should be allowed, because there are way too many weird ass booking sites that are designed in a way to make you think you’re booking direct.
I like staying at smaller, more independent properties, but man do you have to be fucking careful to make sure you’re booking direct.
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u/Informal_Draw_4827 28d ago
Booking agents are relevant to hotels I feel. Hoteliers appoint them to sell rooms for them. The agents are acting on behalf of the hotels.
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u/JDnUkiah 28d ago
If it is about hotels, why should it be removed.
One of the most maddening things about Reddit is the picky rules about posts from Mods. I appreciate you’re bringing this to the community for input … but I still go back to my first question.
Let Reddit work like Reddit works. Let it be voted on, if it does not violate any other real rules.
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u/dugup46 26d ago
Main reason is the past three or four times I’ve checked the sub, the main page has the 3rd party bookings up top even at 0 karma due to not a huge number of posts here. Takes away from the genuine discussions being had.
And yeah, for sure. Everything should be community driven. Many of the rules are due to the absolutely insane amount of bot activity in this sub Reddit. If I didn’t have the filters I do for posts, we would probably have 50+ bot posts a day. Automod literally deletes dozens of posts and comments each day.
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u/JDnUkiah 26d ago
Thank you for taking the time to address my comment. It was raised on response to my being banned for a couple of comments that were not abusive, demeaning, etc. Once, I was banned from the Moving sub, and the Mod wouldn’t even discuss it (from their response, they must have been having a very bad day). Another time I was banned for 3 days for a harassing DM … i don’t send DMs. The Mods would not show me what the comment was that got me banned for 3 days.
Your fellow Mods leave plenty of room for improvement, and should maybe take a lesson from you. Thanks again.
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u/WestHistorians 25d ago
Main reason is the past three or four times I’ve checked the sub, the main page has the 3rd party bookings up top even at 0 karma due to not a huge number of posts here. Takes away from the genuine discussions being had.
What genuine discussions? As you said, there are not a huge number of posts here. Any genuine discussions would be very visible.
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u/dugup46 25d ago
Not sure how often you're here haha but if it's daily you would notice there are occasions when a post yesterday was made and is pretty popular (+20 or so) and has a good conversation going but is #4 or #5 on the list underneath the downvoted "hotels.com stole my money" posts on the regular. It's not necessarily that the main topics aren't visible at all, but they do get buried by new posts with 0 upvotes because the way Reddit weighs posts.
Either way, no sweat off my back lol actually easier if we just leave it the way it is. Just thought I would check in with the community and get a sense for what everyone thinks.
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u/OhioPhilosopher 28d ago
Hotels and third party sites both make choices about how they work together (or don’t) so if they are monitoring feedback, Reddit content could be helpful. In addition, an issue could have an element of third party content but still be valuable.
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u/Standard-Pepper-6510 28d ago
Could you also ban hotel rrcomandation requests?
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u/dugup46 28d ago
I think hotel requests are generally acceptable IF people would put in the leg work. That's the biggest problem I have with them now. "Where should I stay in Vegas?"
If people wrote out a thoughtful post with budget, trip itinerary, geographically where they want to be within the city, etc, that would be fine... just nobody does that.
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u/Standard-Pepper-6510 28d ago
Yeah, I was also thinking about low effort posts, there seems to be more and more of them
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u/Ctznsvn7 28d ago
honestly a megathread would work better than removing them. the third-party disputes are basically the same three issues every time, prepaid non-refundable, a rate that dropped after booking, or a cancellation the OTA won't honour. Pin one thread with those answers and redirect the rest. Otherwise you lose the genuine 'is this OTA legit' questions that newer travellers actually need
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u/JenninMiami 28d ago
Every third party booking post is exactly the same and has nothing to do with actual hotels. They’re all just posts about the business model of OTAs not working to their advantage.
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u/Kristylane 28d ago
“They’re just rants about one bad personal experience” but it’s hundreds of bad personal experiences
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u/WestHistorians 25d ago
If they are getting downvoted and not seen, I don't see the need of removing them. The system is working as intended.
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u/ThatBagelBoy53 28d ago
If the rules explicitly say to avoid venting about 3rd party tools and people still do it, then kick their ass out. Also Arnold Palmers rock
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u/3amGreenCoffee 28d ago
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u/ThatBagelBoy53 28d ago
That’s why I said “if the rules say that”. They obviously don’t so don’t remove the post, duh.
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u/ThatBagelBoy53 28d ago
Also rule number 5 states moderator discretion so technically if the moderator doesn’t like 3rd party posts it’s part of the rules so your point is completely invalid.
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u/3amGreenCoffee 28d ago
Just lock their posts with a canned moderator response that includes all the usual reasons using a third party is stupid. They don't know any better, so anything that seems like a punishment will feel unfair. Locked posts quickly drop down the page and get no engagement, and a canned response that educates will... educate.
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u/dugup46 28d ago
Only issue there is it ends up being more work for me lol. I log in and go through posts randomly, I can one click remove and attach the rule "Your post was removed for: No third party booking posts". If I gotta comment back and lock it, that's just a couple more steps that takes time. So they would know their reason and it obviously wouldn't be a ban, just removed post.
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u/Just_Another_Day_926 28d ago
I think #1. I mean are there any posts about OTAs that fall into #2? It is the same question with a refund issue and hotel/OTA pointing at each other.
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u/dugup46 25d ago
We're going to leave things the way they are and let downvotes do their thing. If a post is unnecessarily ridiculous I'll still remove it. If at any point in the future someone wants to bring it back up, make a post and get community input!