Hotels.com is a website for booking hotel rooms online and by telephone. The company has 85 websites in 34 languages, and lists over 325,000 hotels in approximately 19,000 locations. Its inventory includes hotels and B&Bs, and some condos and other types of commercial lodging. Hotels.com was established in 1991 as the Hotel Reservations Network (HRN). In 2001, it became part of
Expedia, Inc. and in 2002, changed its name to Hotels.com. The company is operated by Hotels.com LP, a
limited partnership
A limited partnership (LP) is a form of partnership similar to a general partnership except that while a general partnership must have at least two general partners (GPs), a limited partnership must have at least one GP and at least one limited ...
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
located in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
, in the United States.
History
![Rusline (Hotels](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Rusline_%28Hotels.com_livery%29%2C_VP-BVK%2C_Bombardier_CRJ-100ER_%2835756857182%29.jpg)
Hotels.com was established in 1991 by
David Litman
David Litman was born in New York in 1957. He lived in the UK from 1967-1975. He attended Sussex House School from 1968-1971 and City of London School from 1971-1975. He is a graduate of Cornell University (1979) and Cornell Law School (1982).
In ...
and Robert Diener as the Hotel Reservations Network (HRN), providing hotel booking via a toll-free phone number in the United States. In 2001, the company was acquired by USA Networks Inc (USAI) which also acquired a controlling interest in Expedia, the online travel booking company.
After buying the domain name for approximately US$11m, HRN changed its name in 2002 to Hotels.com and launched the offline brand 1-800-2-Hotels as well as allowing hotel bookings on line. There followed a period of rapid international expansion with 29 sites added over the next two years. In 2003, USAI was renamed InterActiveCorp (IAC). In 2005 IAC separated its travel business under the name Expedia Inc. Hotels.com then became an operating company of Expedia Inc.
International growth since 2002 has included web sites for North, Central and South America, Europe, Australia, Japan, China and the Pacific Rim, the Middle East and South Africa. Web sites for Indonesia and Vietnam launched in 2011. Customers in all countries can book online or by phoning one of the multilingual call centres. Calls are both toll-free and paid, depending on the country of booking.
In 2011, the site launched an
iPad
The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...
application and updated its mobile phone product on
iPhone and
Android.
On December 1, 2016, Hotels.com took over
Venere.com (another Expedia owned company).
U.S. disability rights infringement
In May 2007, Hotels.com was subject to a
class action
A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
complaint (''Smith v. Hotels.com L.P.'', California Superior Court, Alameda County, Case No. RG07327029) brought against them for “ongoing discrimination against persons with
mobility disabilities who desire to, but cannot, use Hotels.com’s worldwide reservation network to make reservations for hotel rooms”. The company denied the accusation and opposed the action, but was found guilty on one count of infringing California's
Unruh Civil Rights Act
The Unruh Civil Rights Act (colloquially the "Unruh Act") is an expansive 1959 California law that prohibits any business in California from engaging in unlawful discrimination against all persons (consumers) within California's jurisdiction, where ...
, and on one count in violation of Unfair Competition Law. Thesite then agreed to provide suitable accessibility information about hotels sold on its website.
Privacy concerns
In February 2019,
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare.
In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately ...
reported that the Hotels.com mobile app in the
iOS App Store
The App Store is an app store platform, developed and maintained by Apple Inc., for mobile apps on its iOS and iPadOS operating systems. The store allows users to browse and download approved apps developed within Apple's iOS Software Deve ...
was using session-replay functionality from Israeli firm
Glassbox
Glassbox is an Israeli software company. It sells session-replay analytics software and services.
History
As of October 2018, Glassbox had raised US$32.5 million of capital funding. In exchange for investing in Glassbox, Washington, DC, equity f ...
, to record users' activities and send the data to Expedia servers without users' informed consent, compromising users' privacy and contravening the rules of the iOS App Store.
Loyalty program
Like its competitors (such as
Agoda
Agoda.com or just Agoda is a Singaporean online travel agency for hotels, vacation rentals, flights, and airport transfer. It is owned by Agoda Company Pte. Ltd., headquartered in Singapore, and it is currently a subsidiary of Booking Holdings. ...
), Hotels.com has a loyalty program. This allows customers to claim discounts on most, but not all, hotels, regardless of hotel chain or type. The program is called "Hotels.com Rewards" (formerly "Welcome Rewards") and launched in the US, Canada and much of Latin America in 2008. It then extended to the UK and Australia in 2010, and to more than 40 additional countries in 2011.
Hotel Price Index
Starting 2004, the site has published a twice-yearly review of international hotel room price trends called the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index based on the prices paid per room by its customers using a weighted average based on the number of rooms sold in each of the markets in which it operates. Information includes notable price changes and comparisons between destinations, hotel types, and other price-related analyses for the previous six months. The Hotel Price Index is published both digitally and in print, and is aimed at journalists, the media, and hoteliers as part of its public relations.
Advertising
Ed Helms
Edward Parker Helms (born January 24, 1974) is an American actor and comedian. From 2002 to 2006, he was a correspondent on Comedy Central's ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''. He played paper salesman Andy Bernard in the NBC sitcom ''The Offic ...
voiced the character "Smart" in Hotels.com advertisements. In 2012, the character was changed from
clay animation
Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay.
Tra ...
to
CGI. The company's
advertising slogan
Advertising slogans are short phrases used in advertising campaigns to generate publicity and unify a company's marketing strategy. The phrases may be used to attract attention to a distinctive product feature or reinforce a company's brand.
Etym ...
was originally "Smart. So Smart" before being changed to "Be Smart. Book Smart".
In 2014, the site introduced the character "
Captain Obvious
Captain Obvious is part of an American expression demonstrating a lapalissade
It may also refer to:
* Captain Obvious (advertising character), a fictional character in Hotels.com advertisements
*Captain Obvious, a character on '' The Shebang'', ...
" who is portrayed by actor Brandon Moynihan. Captain Obvious makes self-evident comments with the aim of communicating that Hotels.com is the obvious choice. The campaign was devised by the ad firm
Crispin Porter + Bogusky
Crispin Porter + Bogusky (also known as CP+B), a member of publicly traded MDC Partners, is an American advertising agency that employed around 700 people. It was founded in 1988 by Sam Crispin. Crispin then became partners with Chuck Porter ...
. Moynihan said in an interview "Hotels.com has a great self awareness and they're not afraid to push the envelope with the crazy stuff I get to do as Captain Obvious". Notable advertisements include one where
he runs for president, a ''
La La Land
''La La Land'' is a 2016 American romantic musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle. It stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a struggling jazz pianist and an aspiring actress, respectively, who meet and fall in love ...
'' inspired ad and an ad where Captain Obvious meets his
future self
The psychological research on the future self examines the processes and consequences associated with thinking about oneself in the future. People think about their future selves similarly to how they think about other people. The extent to which p ...
. In 2018, Captain Obvious featured in
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
's
ad blocking
Ad blocking or ad filtering is a software capability for blocking or altering online advertising in a web browser, an application or a network. This may be done using browser extensions or other methods.
Technologies and native countermeasures
...
campaign. In 2019, Captain Obvious appeared as a
DJ in an episode of ''
Four Weddings and a Funeral
''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It is the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant, and follows the adventures of Charles (Grant) and his circle ...
''.
The character has since entered popular culture. In one such example, during a 2018 interview at
State College, Pennsylvania
State College is a home rule municipality in Centre County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is a college town, dominated economically, culturally and demographically by the presence of the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania Sta ...
, famed
lesbian feminist
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective that encourages women to focus their efforts, attentions, relationships, and activities towards their fellow women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logica ...
philosopher
Marilyn Frye
Marilyn Frye (born 1941) is an American philosopher and radical feminist theorist. She is known for her theories on sexism, racism, oppression, and sexuality. Her writings offer discussions of feminist topics, such as: white supremacy, male pri ...
pointed to the time that she personally edited her own
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
page in July 2011. Frye admitted that she removed an entire paragraph. The paragraph claimed that she compared the alleged
misogyny
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...
and theatrical mockery of women in the works of
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...
to underground
male prostitution
Male prostitution is the act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment. It is a form of sex work. Although clients can be of any gender, the vast majority are older males looking to fulfill their sexual needs. Male pro ...
rings in her published works. Frye quipped, "While what was said could easily be extrapolated from my work, I have never written a word linking C. S. Lewis to male prostitution before. I am not Captain Obvious from Hotels.com!"
Starting in the
2018-19 season, Hotels.com became the official global sponsor of
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
and the
UEFA Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
along with
Expedia
Expedia Inc. is an online travel agency owned by Expedia Group, an American online travel shopping company based in Seattle. The website and mobile app can be used to book airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruise ships, and vacat ...
.
See also
* ''
DDR Holdings v. Hotels.com''
*
*
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotels.Com
Online travel agencies
American travel websites
American companies established in 1991
Hospitality companies established in 1991
Internet properties established in 1991
2001 mergers and acquisitions
Hospitality companies of the United States
Companies based in Dallas
1991 establishments in Texas
Expedia Group