Hipmunk taps Expedia to introduce hotel bookings directly through its travel search apps

We’ve previously written about how Hipmunk has been setting out to hook the world’s savviest travelers ever since the San Francisco startup launched in the summer of 2010. Now, the travel search startup is going that extra step by enabling direct hotel bookings in its Web and mobile apps.

Hipmunk’s website and mobile apps are designed to make it easier to compare other travel sites, including airlines and aggregrators, and covers everything from commercial and charter flights, to trains and accommodation.

Thus far, Hipmunk users were guided off to third-party sites such as Airbnb to complete bookings – now they can go from ‘search’ to ‘booking’ in fewer steps. And, of course, this also opens more monetization options to Hipmunk via commissions.

Hipmunk has partnered with the Expedia Affiliate Network for this roll-out, which lets them tap an inventory of around 91,000 hotels globally, so the “Book on Hipmunk” button will only be available for hotels within this inventory.

“This marks a significant moment for our business,” says Adam Goldstein, Hipmunk CEO. “We’ve heard from many of our users that they would prefer to book with us, and now we’re providing them with that solution and a better purchase experience.”

The direct booking feature is available to Web, iOS and Android users now, and follows an update late last year which saw a new local neighborhoods guide feature introduced.

➤ Hipmunk

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