Price parity is a platform rule against selling the same product cheaper elsewhere, including on your own site. GetYourGuide’s standard terms include one; Viator, since its agreement of 1 August 2026, sets the final retail price itself and you protect the net; the Digital Markets Act bans parity for Booking.com in the EEA since 14 November 2024, covering hotels, car rentals and other service providers, but GetYourGuide and Viator are not gatekeepers. Keep one retail price per product on every channel and make the direct booking better with terms, extras and a richer version of the trip.
What is price parity, and why does it matter to a chauffeur company?
Price parity, or rate parity, is a rule in a platform's contract that stops you offering the same product cheaper anywhere else, including on your own website. For a chauffeur company that sells the same transfer on its site, on Viator and through three hotels, it decides a simple question: can the traveller who finds you directly pay less than the one who finds you through a platform that takes a quarter of the price? The answer in 2026 depends on which platform, which country and what exactly you sell.
What do GetYourGuide and Viator say?
GetYourGuide's standard supplier terms include a parity rule, which operator guides read as not offering the same experience at a lower price on your own site. Read the clause in your own agreement before you sign, because the exact wording is what counts. Viator has gone a step further since the supplier agreement that took effect on 1 August 2026: Viator and its channel partners decide the final retail price shown to travellers, and you set a net rate and a recommended price. On Viator the parity question is therefore the other way round; the platform may show your trip cheaper than you do, and what you protect is the net. The GetYourGuide guide and the Viator guide cover both.
Is price parity still legal in Europe?
For Booking.com it is not. The European Commission designated Booking Holdings a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act, and since 14 November 2024 Booking.com has had to let "hotels, car rentals, and other relevant service providers" offer different prices on other channels, including their own websites; the Commission's factsheet of 28 September 2026 says the ban covers parity requirements of any kind and any measure with the same effect. France, Austria, Italy and Belgium also have national laws restricting parity clauses, written for hotels.
That ban applies to Booking.com because it is a designated gatekeeper. GetYourGuide and Viator are not, so their parity terms are a matter of their contracts and of general competition law, and whether a national hotel law reaches a tour platform is a question for a lawyer in your country, not for this guide. The practical position for a chauffeur company in 2026 is that Booking.com Taxi cannot hold you to parity in the EEA, GetYourGuide's terms say it can, and Viator sets the shelf price itself.
What should your pricing rule be?
One retail price per product across every channel, with the net rate as the number you defend. It is the only rule that keeps hotels, agents, OTAs and your own site from undercutting each other, and it is what the OTA contracts ask for anyway. The platform's commission then comes out of your margin on platform bookings, which is the real cost of being found by travellers who would never have found your site. The net rates guide sets out how to hold the price across partners, and the OTA price calculator shows the list price that leaves a given net.
How do you still make the direct booking the better one?
By selling something slightly different directly, which no parity clause touches:
- a longer or richer version of the same trip on your own site, with the extra stop or the meet and greet included;
- better terms: a later free cancellation, a smaller deposit, a free child seat, the return trip at a package price;
- the things a platform cannot give: a named driver, a reply within the hour, a quote the traveller can change by message.
Travellers compare the price of the same product; a product that is not quite the same escapes the comparison honestly. The direct bookings page shows how Irish Transfer grew direct work alongside its listings, and the OTA commission calculator what each booking leaves you either way.
What should you check before signing a platform agreement?
The parity clause and what it covers, whether the platform can set or discount your retail price, what happens to the net when it does, the cancellation terms the platform imposes on the traveller, and whether the clause changes when the law in your country does. Keep a copy of the agreement with the date you accepted it, because Viator's 2026 change was accepted by continuing to use the platform, and most suppliers learned of it from the trade press.
Questions owners ask
Can a chauffeur company sell cheaper on its own website than on GetYourGuide?
GetYourGuide’s standard supplier terms include a parity rule that operator guides read as no. Read the clause in your own agreement; the safer rule is one retail price on every channel.
Does the EU ban on price parity apply to Viator and GetYourGuide?
No. The Digital Markets Act ban applies to Booking.com as a designated gatekeeper since 14 November 2024. GetYourGuide and Viator are covered by their contracts and general competition law.
Who sets the price on Viator?
Since the supplier agreement of 1 August 2026, Viator and its channel partners decide the final retail price. You set a net rate and a recommended price, and Viator says it protects the net.
How can the direct booking be better without a lower price?
A richer version of the trip on your site, better terms such as later free cancellation or a smaller deposit, extras included, and a named driver who answers within the hour.
What should you check in a platform agreement about prices?
The parity clause and its scope, whether the platform can set or discount your retail price, what happens to your net when it does, and the date you accepted the terms.