Expedia goes direct with Hyatt and Outrigger

January 20, 2004 |

Expedia has launched direct connections with the central reservations systems of Hyatt Corporation and Outrigger Hotels & Resorts.

Expedia, Inc. has launched direct connections with the central reservations systems (CRS) of Hyatt Corporation and Outrigger Hotels & Resorts.

With direct connectivity, Expedia is making it easier and more cost- effective for its hotel property owners to manage the inventory and reservations provided to the more than 12 million travelers shopping monthly on Expedia.com, the number-one seller of hotel rooms online. Bookings made by Expedia.com customers for hotels in the Hyatt and Outrigger portfolios are now automatically confirmed in the respective systems of each hotel. By early 2004, Expedia will complete phase two of the direct connect project, enabling Hyatt and Outrigger hoteliers to upload inventory and rates directly from their property management systems into Expedia’s database.

Expedia’s initiative to link directly with hoteliers’ reservations systems is the industry’s most advanced and fastest growing direct connect program. In the next 24 months, Expedia is planning to implement direct connectivity at more than 10,000 hotel properties.

“Expedia’s direct connection makes it possible for our hotels to seamlessly manage the rates and inventory made available through Expedia, allowing for an additional degree of control and efficiency in the process,” said Joan Lowell, vice president of electronic distribution, Hyatt Hotels Corporation. “We are extremely pleased to be able to apply this technology to effectively manage our room rates and availability in the same manner we manage all other distribution channels.”

As online hotel booking continues to grow—by 2005, PhoCusWright Inc. estimates that 20 percent of hotel bookings will be made online, up from 6 percent in 2003,* Expedia’s direct connect program makes it easy for hoteliers to provide Expedia.com customers with up-to-the-minute, accurate hotel room availability data in as few clicks as possible. The first set of search results for all hotels that consumers see on Expedia reflects the most current hotel room information available from the hotelier. Additionally, Expedia’s direct connection eliminates the cost of fax-based confirmations and GDS booking fees.

“Expedia’s direct connect technology will greatly improve the process involved with serving the hundreds of customers who purchase Outrigger hotel rooms through Expedia.com each month,” said Alan White, Outrigger’s vice president of interactive technology. “The cost savings associated with automatic confirmation, along with the efficiencies of real-time inventory management, made this a prudent investment in a technology that will also easily scale as more and more travelers flock online to book hotel rooms.”

Today’s launch of direct connectivity was enabled by Expedia’s November 2002 acquisition of Newtrade Technologies Inc. and marks a major advancement in direct connect technology. Expedia’s platform is highly scaleable and can efficiently handle the hundreds of millions of hotel room queries the Expedia.com site receives each day. The direct connectivity platform is based on OpenTravel Alliance (OTA) standards. By using Web services, this technology provides Expedia with the flexibility to connect to existing hotel inventory management systems, to provide enhanced access to the Expedia’s yield and rate management tools, and to manage software, hardware, and networking issues in a lower-cost environment.

“We’ve heard loud and clear from hoteliers that they need improved efficiencies in the systems used for processing reservations and managing inventory,” said Lloyd Frink, vice president of hotels and packages at Expedia, Inc. “To help solve this pain point, we did what we do best—applied our technology expertise to develop an affordable, efficient solution that benefits both our customers and hotel property owners.”