{
 "source": "The Sales Traveler — the Index Desk",
 "license": "Free to use with attribution to The Sales Traveler. See https://thesalestraveler.com/press/",
 "dataUrl": "https://thesalestraveler.com/data/booking-channel-index.json",
 "slug": "booking-channel-index",
 "name": "The Booking Channel Index",
 "url": "https://thesalestraveler.com/booking-channel-index/",
 "entityNoun": "Channel",
 "measures": "published commitments",
 "period": "2026-07",
 "methodology": "Every channel promises the best price. We scored 10 booking platforms on 15 published commitments — price truth, flexibility, human support, expense-readiness, and the question no OTA answers out loud: what happens to your hotel status when you book here? Top score: 67 (Amex Travel). Average: 49.",
 "scale": {
  "rawMax": 15,
  "displayMax": 100,
  "formula": "round(raw / rawMax * displayMax)"
 },
 "categories": [
  {
   "id": "P",
   "label": "Price truth",
   "checks": [
    "All-in price shown before checkout",
    "Price match/guarantee published",
    "Price-drop protection product published"
   ],
   "max": 3
  },
  {
   "id": "F",
   "label": "Flexibility",
   "checks": [
    "Free-cancellation filter",
    "Self-serve change/cancel online",
    "Refund timeline published"
   ],
   "max": 3
  },
  {
   "id": "S",
   "label": "Support",
   "checks": [
    "24/7 human phone line published",
    "Human escalation from chat stated",
    "Disruption rebooking assistance stated"
   ],
   "max": 3
  },
  {
   "id": "E",
   "label": "Expense-readiness",
   "checks": [
    "Itemized invoice downloadable",
    "Business/corporate profile offered",
    "Virtual card acceptance stated"
   ],
   "max": 3
  },
  {
   "id": "L",
   "label": "Loyalty impact",
   "checks": [
    "Loyalty pass-through disclosed pre-booking",
    "Own rewards terms published",
    "Elite benefits preserved via channel"
   ],
   "max": 3
  }
 ],
 "entities": [
  {
   "rank": 1,
   "name": "Amex Travel",
   "category": {
    "P": 1,
    "F": 2,
    "S": 3,
    "E": 2,
    "L": 2
   },
   "score": 67,
   "note": "The 24/7 human line is the brand, and Fine Hotels benefits survive the booking — the rare channel where status isn't the price of convenience.",
   "ruledBy": "Editor-in-Chief, The Sales Traveler",
   "ruledOn": "2026-07-22"
  },
  {
   "rank": 2,
   "name": "Capital One Travel",
   "category": {
    "P": 3,
    "F": 2,
    "S": 3,
    "E": 1,
    "L": 1
   },
   "score": 67,
   "note": "Price-drop protection and a published match guarantee — fintech turned the booking promise into a written product.",
   "ruledBy": "Editor-in-Chief, The Sales Traveler",
   "ruledOn": "2026-07-22"
  },
  {
   "rank": 3,
   "name": "Expedia",
   "category": {
    "P": 1,
    "F": 3,
    "S": 3,
    "E": 2,
    "L": 1
   },
   "score": 67,
   "note": "The fullest self-serve toolset of the pure OTAs — and like every OTA, silent on the loyalty your booking just voided.",
   "ruledBy": "Editor-in-Chief, The Sales Traveler",
   "ruledOn": "2026-07-22"
  },
  {
   "rank": 4,
   "name": "Booking.com",
   "category": {
    "P": 0,
    "F": 3,
    "S": 2,
    "E": 2,
    "L": 1
   },
   "score": 53,
   "note": "Genius is well-published and self-serve cancellation is best-in-class; total-price display and loyalty disclosure are not.",
   "ruledBy": "Editor-in-Chief, The Sales Traveler",
   "ruledOn": "2026-07-22"
  },
  {
   "rank": 5,
   "name": "Chase Travel",
   "category": {
    "P": 1,
    "F": 2,
    "S": 3,
    "E": 1,
    "L": 1
   },
   "score": 53,
   "note": "Card-portal basics done competently — human support, clean receipts — without the price products Capital One publishes.",
   "ruledBy": "Editor-in-Chief, The Sales Traveler",
   "ruledOn": "2026-07-22"
  },
  {
   "rank": 6,
   "name": "Hopper",
   "category": {
    "P": 2,
    "F": 2,
    "S": 2,
    "E": 0,
    "L": 1
   },
   "score": 47,
   "note": "Price freeze and disruption-rebooking products are genuine written commitments; there is no phone number in the building.",
   "ruledBy": "Editor-in-Chief, The Sales Traveler",
   "ruledOn": "2026-07-22"
  },
  {
   "rank": 7,
   "name": "Priceline",
   "category": {
    "P": 0,
    "F": 3,
    "S": 2,
    "E": 1,
    "L": 1
   },
   "score": 47,
   "note": "Deal machinery with published cancel flows; opaque pricing until deep in checkout, and nothing on the status question.",
   "ruledBy": "Editor-in-Chief, The Sales Traveler",
   "ruledOn": "2026-07-22"
  },
  {
   "rank": 8,
   "name": "Google Flights",
   "category": {
    "P": 3,
    "F": 1,
    "S": 0,
    "E": 0,
    "L": 2
   },
   "score": 40,
   "note": "Commits to almost nothing after the click — by design: it hands you to the airline, which quietly makes it the only channel that preserves your status by default.",
   "ruledBy": "Editor-in-Chief, The Sales Traveler",
   "ruledOn": "2026-07-22"
  },
  {
   "rank": 9,
   "name": "Costco Travel",
   "category": {
    "P": 1,
    "F": 1,
    "S": 1,
    "E": 1,
    "L": 0
   },
   "score": 27,
   "note": "Famously all-in pricing — the one commitment it makes, it makes completely. Everything else is a phone call.",
   "ruledBy": "Editor-in-Chief, The Sales Traveler",
   "ruledOn": "2026-07-22"
  },
  {
   "rank": 10,
   "name": "Kayak",
   "category": {
    "P": 1,
    "F": 1,
    "S": 0,
    "E": 1,
    "L": 0
   },
   "score": 20,
   "note": "Metasearch in its purest form: a price toggle, a business tool, and no commitments whatsoever once you leave the results page.",
   "ruledBy": "Editor-in-Chief, The Sales Traveler",
   "ruledOn": "2026-07-22"
  }
 ],
 "terms": {
  "usageInfo": "https://thesalestraveler.com/press/",
  "attributionRequired": true,
  "attributionText": "The Sales Traveler — the Index Desk",
  "freeWithAttribution": [
   "findings, single statistics and score references",
   "quoting up to three rows of a table in coverage",
   "embedding charts and share cards from index pages",
   "fetching every dataset in /data/"
  ],
  "requiresSyndicationLicense": [
   "republishing a full table"
  ],
  "contact": "rachel@thesalestraveler.com",
  "governance": "https://thesalestraveler.com/governance/"
 }
}