AboutAnywhere.com Unveils The World’s First Commission Free Online Distribution Model for the Hotel Industry
Published: 08 Jan 2009
Hotels have been empowered. Empowered to collect every cent generated from their bookings without paying commissions. Empowered to manage their property’s profiles and update room rates as deemed necessary. Empowered to increase their online exposure and gain valuable market share. Empowered by AboutAnywhere.com.
January 7, 2009 – AboutAnywhere.com now offers the world’s first online distribution network that is completely free for the hotel industry. The Company has dedicated the last year to building a network that operates websites in over 30,000 destinations across the globe, with www.aboutanywhere.com serving as the Company’s main portal. As of today, any hotel regardless of size, star rating or location, has the ability to create a profile, containing as much content and media as desired, and manage reservations and bookings, in a website that specializes in their destination ‐ at absolutely no cost.
The hotel industry has been victim to the high cost of online distribution and the insurmountable commissions and fees charged by the online travel agencies (OTAs) – up to 35% in some cases – for almost a decade. Couple that expense with the economic downturn that the world is currently experiencing and the ending result could be drastically negative for smaller hotels and several locations of the larger hotel chains. But in adversity lies opportunity and with the evolution of the Internet and the proliferation of free websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, there is no logical reason that hotels (and all travel suppliers) should pay any fees in order to reach and conduct business with Internetsavvy consumers.
AboutAnywhere.com has already received requests from hotel executives and owners in various areas of the world ‐ from major ski resorts in Colorado to small youth hostels in Jaipur, India. “When we started this business, our intention was always to create the world’s first free online marketplace for travel,” says Ashwin Kamlani, CEO of AboutAnywhere.com. “The current economic climate should encourage hotels and hotel companies to reach out to us. We are working hard to grow traffic and bookings to every single destination that we cover. Those hotels that build their profiles early will get the most benefit. The beauty of this model is that smaller, boutique hotels that cannot afford to work with the OTAs will be more than happy to work with us since we do not cut into their revenue, and we will have truly global coverage.”
The process is simple. Interested hotel representatives should go to www.aboutanywhere.com, find the geographical location of their hotels and click on “Create a FREE Profile For Your Hotel” found on the bottom left corner of the page. Selfexplanatory instructions will become available and upon a qualifying call from a member of the AboutAnywhere.com team, the profile should be up on the site within a matter of days. Hotels will be able to update any portion of their profile at their leisure.
The team at AboutAnywhere.com has opened the door for every hotel in every corner of the world to take control of their livelihood and financial bottom lines. Whether working with an 8‐figure operating budget or a 4‐figure one; or whether located on a rural side street, or in the middle of a skyscraper‐saturated metropolis ‐ all hotels are encouraged to take part in and support this revolutionary effort. An effort that may be the catalyst to end commission‐based online distribution.
About the Company: AboutAnywhere.com, founded by Morten Sondergaard, operates the world’s first and only free online distribution network for the hotel industry. Ashwin Kamlani, formerly Global VP of Distribution with Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts, was selected as CEO of AboutAnywhere.com in March 2008 and is based in the Company’s Miami office.
Contact:
Jenny Pimentel
AboutAnywhere.com
1‐800‐805‐2653
Jenny.Pimentel@AboutAnywhere.com
www.AboutAnywhere.com
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AboutAnywhere.com said on 20 Jan 09:
SmithJohn:
Thank you for taking the time to visit our website. I wanted to address the points that you make in your comment about fees associated with joining our site.
Currently, we do in fact work with OTAs, IAN. However, as the above article states, we have changed our business model to reflect our initial objective: to eradicate commissions in the hotel industry. And in keeping with that objective, we have hotel chains and independent hotels joining our website on a daily basis. These hotels will have customers click through from our site to theirs and will have direct bookings without paying any commissions to us – thus enjoying 100% of their booking revenues.
Hotels that have not joined our site but are featured on our site via the OTAs we work with, will be required to pay the commission they've agreed upon with the OTAs to the OTAs.
SmithJohn said on 9 Jan 09:
Why does the article/PR say it's free when on their website they write:
What does it cost to be listed?
Your property can appear on Interactive Affiliate Network free of charge, but a transaction fee maybe assessed by the GDS or property management system you choose. Regardless of what transaction fees you may pay to other parties, Interactive Affiliate Network expects to receive the standard commission rate of 10% on each confirmed booking made through its web site.
What commission percentage is to be paid to IAN?
By having your property appear on Interactive Affiliate Network you are agreeing to pay a 10% commission on all confirmed bookings. This commission is an addition to any fees or charges paid to any GDS or property management company. Failure to pay this commission will result in removal of your property from Interactive Affiliate Network. You will be invoiced monthly for the amount of commission due???