In 2001, Accor, Forte and Hilton International got together to launch andbook, it was supposed to be the hotel's answer to reducing dependence on intermediaries, specifically OTAs which were then threatening to become juggernauts of distribution.
The venture tanked. Some said it was because one of the partners got cold feet.
Eleven years on, six US hotel groups – Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International, and Wyndham Hotel Group – are attempting to do it again with Room Key.
This time though, on a larger scale – it is understood that each group is putting in US$5 million each into the new venture – and perhaps with more urgency.
In that last decade, while hotels dithered, the huge OTAs have indeed become juggernauts. Look at how Priceline is peforming. Fourth quarter gross travel bookings for the Priceline Group reached $4.96 billion, an increase of 51.8% over a year ago.
Revenues rose 35.5% to $991 million. International performance was even more stellar – its international operations contributed revenues in the fourth quarter of $610 million, a 62.7% increase versus a year ago. The Group's gross profit for the fourth quarter was $725 million, a 51.5% increase from the prior year.
In 2010, Booking.com, part of Priceline, overtook Expedia as Europe's largest online travel agency. Both companies continue to see growth as consumers in Europe increasingly move online and their commission levels – sometimes up to 25% – continue to cause grief for hoteliers.
In Germany, a row has erupted between hoteliers and HRS, when the latter attempted to increase commission levels from 13% to 15% and it added a clause "that denied hotels the right to offer better prices through any other booking channel". Read this report.
"HRS felt they could do it because they control a huge chunk of the market," said one CEO of a hotel group based in Europe. "Intermediaries are becoming too powerful."
Hence, when Room Key's chief executive officer, John F Davis III , the former CEO of Pegasus, flew into Berlin to attend a dinner with about 25 hoteliers, hosted by Trust International, he was warmly received.
Full story:
www.webintravel.com/news/room-key-the-true-path-to-the-customers-heart_3035 
