For the First Time, Consumers Can Add Hotels to a Travel Web Site - Launches 'Every Hotel on Earth'
"Many sites claim to have comprehensive hotel search results, but in fact they display only the properties they can sell," said Steve Hafner, CEO and co-founder of Kayak.com. "Consumers are entitled to see all of the estimated 300,000 hotels worldwide, not just the 15% that are marketed through traditional online agency sites. Our 'Every Hotel on Earth' program ensures that Kayak.com remains the most comprehensive travel site for hotels on the Web. If a hotel isn't in our database, tell us and we'll add it."
"Every Hotel on Earth" Program Details
In an industry-first, Kayak.com has created a simple and efficient process that allows anyone to add properties directly to Kayak.com. To add a hotel, users click on a special "Tell us" link from the hotel homepage or in the "Kayak Commitment" section on hotel search results. Once a simple form requesting information such as the hotel name and address is completed and verified, the new hotel is quickly added to Kayak.com's database.
Any hotel can be added to Kayak.com for no charge. The basic hotel listing includes hotel name, address, contact information, lodging type, Web site address and a brief description. Hoteliers wishing to enhance their listing can pay $99 annually for a premium listing that includes amenities, photos, reporting and a more in-depth description.
"Kayak.com has added more than 600 new hotels to our search since introducing this to our home page nearly two months ago," said Drew Patterson, director of business development. 'The Every Hotel on Earth' program expedites the approval process for these hotels and we expect our inventory will surpass 100,000 hotels by the end of the year."
To enhance the quality of its information, Kayak.com offers the "Accuracy Promise" to ensure that every hotel is presented on the site with accurate, traveler-verified information. Consumers can edit hotel descriptions based on their personal travel experiences by clicking on the "edit info" link located on a hotel's details page.
Kayak.com has also made the following upgrades to its hotel search capabilities
• Dynamic hotel counter that shows how many hotels are available based on the user's specific search criteria.
• Enhanced mapping capabilities featuring Google and Mapquest maps including a feature that compares the location of multiple hotels on one map.
• Improved filters that sort hotels based on specific preferences such as price, amenities (bar, fitness center, Internet, etc.), location (including a city's specific neighborhoods), star rating and brand.
• Links to relevant information such as restaurants, shopping, taxis, markets and more.
• All recent hotel searches will be saved for easy user reference at a later date.