Online travel agencies slash service fees

In the latest round of an escalating battle to bolster sagging travel sales, online agencies are cutting the service fees their customers pay for hotel stays — and Orbitz becomes the first major booking site to show the total price of a night's stay upfront.

Expedia's unannounced fee cuts, which analysts noted in spot checks of key markets, follow this week's pledge by Orbitz that it is trimming fees on bookings made by July 15. Travelocity's Noreen Henry, meanwhile, says her company is "consistently monitoring hotel pricing. There are going to be places where we are lower, some where we match, and some where we don't."

As of this week, Orbitz also shows the final price for a room — base rate, plus combined taxes and fees — on the first screen of search results, rather than later in the booking. Though many travel websites display a "fully loaded" rate for airfares and cars, Orbitz is the only agency to do so for hotels.

Get the full story at: USA Today