While the rise in third-party hotel reservation websites has been a boon to customers, the high fees they charge participating hotels has not always sat well within the industry. That reality has led six of the world’s leading hotel chains to join forces to open their own hotel booking website called RoomKey.com. The most significant difference between RoomKey and its third-party competitors is the fact that it will direct users to the individual websites of the 23,000 participating hotels, so that customers can make a direct booking with that facility.
The six participants include Choice Hotels International, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels, IHG, Marriott International, and Wyndham Worldwide. All six companies own an equal share of the new company and will work together to further develop the site. They are also looking to add more hotel chains who might want to participate.
The new site is being made possible with technology acquired through an asset purchase from Hotelicopter. In addition to allowing customers direct bookings, the Hotelicopter platform provides an avenue for destination marketing that can help drive customers to member hotel websites while they search a specific locale. This added convenience is expected to boost web traffic and further the group’s marketing efforts.