Abstract

The existence of information asymmetry is one of the reasons for introduction of quality standards, whose primary aim is to minimize this phenomenon. There can be observed an increasing acquisition of this function by e-intermediaries who, beside being a part of distribution channel, provide actual and potential customers with information about goods and services. Quality standards may be provided either by state (public regulation) or by industry organizations (self-regulation). The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between two forms of quality standard introduction and proliferation of e-intermediaries market on the hotel market case.

To examine whether e-intermediary market differs in countries with both forms of quality standard introduction we examined capital cities of European Union countries and compared number of hotel establishments and their availability on the popular e-intermediaries websites. Comparing those numbers in 27 EU capitals enabled to negatively verify the hypothesis that proliferation of e-intermediaries differs significantly in those two groups of countries. This leads to the assumption that the activities of e-intermediaries cannot be seen as a substitute for quality standards but have a rather complementary function.

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