Farecast.com has introduced Farecast Hotels search, allowing customers to shop for both airline tickets and hotel rooms.

Published: 29 Aug 2007

Farecast.com has introduced Farecast Hotels search, allowing customers to shop for both airline tickets and hotel rooms.

With Farecast Hotels, the travel search site has introduced Hotel Rate Key, a new hotel pricing technology that empowers consumers to know where to stay by indicating if the current rate for a hotel is a deal or not a deal.

“Where should I stay? Am I getting a good deal? These are important questions when shopping for a hotel,” said Hugh Crean, Farecast’s President and CEO. “No other travel search site offers expert advice and information to help you make the right tradeoffs and smarter hotel purchase decisions.”

Farecast’s Hotel Rate Key helps consumers know at a glance if the current rate for a hotel is a deal or not a deal. The initial beta version will utilise historical rates and offer Hotel Rate Keys for over 5,000 hotels in 30 major cities across the country for up to 90 days in the future. Farecast builds the unbiased Hotel Rate Key entirely on science, not marketing. Farecast’s Hotel Rate Key compares the individual hotel’s current rates to its past rates observed for:

· The same travel dates (e.g. past rates found for a stay on September 21–23).

· Other travel dates on the same days of the week (e.g. other Friday–Sunday stays).

A Rate Key showing a “Deal” indicates today’s rate is lower than past rates for that hotel.

Farecast Hotels offers a clean interface with useful tools to help consumers find the best hotel for their needs. Some features include:

• Search current hotel rates and find detailed information on hotel properties.

• Map property locations in your preferred destination using Microsoft Virtual Earth.

• Filter to narrow search results, sort by listings or identify hotels close to an address, or location of interest.

Hotel Rate Key indicators, when available, are provided within each hotel search result and plotted on the map with color-coded flags.