Travel sites could be about to have a very unhappy new year. Amazon is set to enter the travel business, according to a report by travel news specialists Skift. It says Amazon has been working with independent hotels and resorts in and around major cities to prepare its new Amazon Travel service.
The site claims Amazon Travel could launch as early as January 1, 2015 with hotel options in New York, Los Angeles and Amazon’s home town of Seattle.
Amazon’s plan is apparently to allow hotels to post room listings on its site with availability, pricing and photos, charging them 15 percent commission on bookings. Skift’s loose-lipped hotelier sources says Amazon has been selecting places based on their TripAdvisor ratings.
The entire Amazon Travel scheme sounds very reminiscent of previous expansions by the company: start small and iterate fast. Though it’s still only a rumour, it sounds like a very credible one. We’ve contacted Amazon for a comment and will update this post if it spills the beans.
➤ Exclusive: Amazon to get into hotel booking with launch of travel site [Skift]
Image credit: Shutterstock
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