New hotel website offers more choices
Six major hotel companies have started www.Roomkey.com, a new hotel website. The founding member hotels are Choice Hotels International, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International and Wyndham Hotel Group.
"Roomkey.com is using hotelicopter’s technology and affiliate platform, which it acquired last year," according to a news release.
The affiliate platform means Roomkey.com can give destination management organizations a hotel marketing platform.
"Hotels have lost control of their pricing with the rise of major hotel booking sites and the pressure to fill rooms during recessions. They’ve been trying to preserve their rates ever since," the release says.
Analysts say Roomkey.com is a way for hotels to offer a broad range of hotel inventory to consumers and give destinations an alternative to using a private label program from online travel agencies.
This has been done before.
An earlier effort by a group of hotels, Travelweb, failed in its effort to compete with OTAs, mainly for lack of marketing, according to Lorraine Sileo, vice president of research for PhoCusWright, the travel market research and consulting company.
"Roomkey.com gives travelers looking for a deal a place to comparison shop for the best deal while still serving brand-loyal customers. Eventually it will offer independent reviews and the ability to compare, plan and share with friends and family," the release says.
It will target US travelers first and then expand to English-speaking regions outside the US
By David Wilkening
David
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