Six hotel companies have partnered to launch Roomkey.com, a booking website likely geared to pull distribution dollars away from online travel agencies (OTAs).
The partners are Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Corp., Choice Hotels International, Wyndham Hotel Group and InterContinental Hotels Group.
In 2003, four hotel companies (Hilton, Marriott, IHG and Starwood), Priceline.com and hotel technology company Pegasus Solutions launched a similar venture, Travelweb. (Priceline went on to buy out all the other partners).
This time around, hotel companies have tapped John Davis III, the founder of Pegasus Solutions, to run Roomkey.com.
Roomkey.com, which on Wednesday launched its beta version, lets potential travelers search for and book hotels, and will eventually provide a place for reviews.
The site is launching in the U.S. only and plans to expand to English-speaking countries overseas, the new company said Wednesday.
“Finding the right hotel is complex and, unlike booking a flight or reserving a car, it is a personal decision process — one which no one understands better than hoteliers,” Davis said in a statement. “We believe Roomkey.com will provide consumers with an innovative resource that will give them unprecedented confidence in their booking decisions by fulfilling their hotel search needs with comprehensive and trusted content.”
With OTAs often taking about a 20% cut of the hotel reservations they sell, hotel companies are looking to get greater control of a distribution channel that’s likely to grow as travel spending rebounds from its most recent downturn and more people book online.
Between 2009 and 2013, annual online U.S. hotel bookings from leisure travelers will have jumped 44% to $39.2 billion and will account for a third of all hotel bookings, PhoCusWright said in a November 2011 report.
Chuck Sullivan, senior vice president of global online services at Hilton Worldwide, said that Roomkey.com will provide “exceptional rates” to customers.
Steve Sickel, IHG's senior vice president of distribution and relationship marketing, said Roomkey.com will provide “breadth of choice alongside all the benefits from booking directly through our own websites.”
Follow Danny King on Twitter @dktravelweekly.