Hopper Terminates Booking.com Partnership in Preemptive Strike

06.10.2023 - 20:03 / skift.com / United Airlines / Dennis Schaal

Fearing another Expedia-like breakup, Hopper abruptly ended its hotel partnership with Booking Holdings a week ago, Skift has exclusively learned.

Hopper feared another blow to its reputation if a second major online travel agency, namely Booking.com, went public about a soured partnership so soon after Expedia Group did so in July, several travel industry sources and former employees said. Hopper told employees it proactively disconnected Booking.com’s accommodations supply last Friday, September 29.

Hopper was concerned how these hits on its brand reputation would impact B2B partnerships, such as with Capital One and other future distribution partnerships, as well as with existing airline partners, sources said.

Hopper announced a deal on September 27 that expanded its supply relationship with wholesalers Hotelbeds and WebBeds before Hopper disconnected Booking.com. Hopper was keen on terminating its relationship with Booking first — and it did so without advance notice — so that Booking couldn’t claim that it was the one to sever ties, and Hopper thus hoped to avoid negative fallout that would deter future supplier or distribution agreements.

“The Hotelbeds deal wasn’t a done deal,” said one travel industry source. “So if Booking disconnected Hopper and would have made it public, like Expedia did, maybe Hotelbeds would have backed off the deal. Hopper disconnected Booking, so Booking wouldn’t announce anything.”

The existence of a partnership where Booking.com supplied hotel and short-term rental inventory to Hopper had been in existence for more than a year, possible much longer, but has not been publicly disclosed until this story.

A source close to Booking Holdings said the company was testing Hopper’s fintech products across Booking’s brands, had been supplying Hopper with accommodations inventory, and was looking to expand that inventory partnership for Hopper’s consumer and B2B businesses in exchange for a traditional revenue share arrangement when Hopper ended the partnership an alleged “breach of contract.”

Booking Holdings is not challenging that perceived contract violation because Hopper’s fintech products performed so poorly there was little adverse financial impact, the source said.

A spokesperson for Booking Holdings confirmed Friday that the company is no longer working with Hopper.

Hopper didn’t respond substantively to several requests for comment.

The Expedia withdrawal from Hopper adversely impacted Hopper’s bottom line, and complicated partner relations, according to several sources.

For example, United Airlines gave Hopper a 30-day notice that it planned to end its Hopper partnership after the Expedia blowup. However, United stayed on after Hopper met some of its demands,