Online auction site snaps up Ubid4rooms
Australia’s largest online auction house, GraysOnline, will enter the accommodation market with an offer-based hotel reservation website after buying the Ubid4rooms.com portal.
From June, GraysOnline’s newly branded hotel booking site will allow the 1.1 million people who visit GraysOnline.com every month to purchase accommodation by making their best offer.
GraysOnline CEO, Cameron Poolman, said the website would help Australians and New Zealanders achieve significant savings on hotel bookings and also help hoteliers use controlled discounting to fill rooms that would otherwise have gone empty.
"Ubid’s business model is fully scalable and would suit most tourism product, both domestically and internationally," Poolman said.
Launched in 2008 by hotelier, Gary Berman, who will manage GraysOnline’s new travel division, the Ubid4rooms.com site currently features 1200 hotels, motels, apartments, holiday parks and B&Bs in Australia and NZ, including major hotel groups such as Rydges, Toga, Oaks, 8 Hotels, Best Western, Golden Chain, Chifley Hotels, Country Comfort, Choice Hotels and Leisure Inns.
"The growing success of Grays has been based on our ability to connect buyers and sellers online and that will underscore the way Ubid4rooms evolves into a mainstream way to buy accommodation," Poolman added.
Based on Ubid’s model of a "a vacant room is revenue lost forever", Grays’ accommodation site will differ from GraysOnline’s auction model as it will allow customers to make offers directly to hotels, with no competitive bidding.
The controlled discounting Grays will facilitate allows hotels to offer guests lower-than-advertised rates on a confidential, one-on-one basis without the agreed rates going public or affecting brand integrity.
Ubid4rooms will continue operating until the new site is launched.
Accommodation providers can list with GraysOnline by emailing [email protected]
Ian Jarrett
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive
Euromonitor International unveils world’s top 100 city destinations for 2025
U.S.A. and Israel attacks on Iran impact air movements in the Gulf (Update 1.00pm CET)