After starting in a small way with just a handful of hand-picked hotels, Amazon is expanding its travel site.
Amazon Destinations has doubled the number of US metro regions it now covers to six, with the addition of Atlanta, Houston and San Francisco.
Each of the new metro regions cover a wide catchment area; for example Houston comprises hotels in Austin, New Orleans, San Antonio and the Texas Gulf Coast.
It originally launched with 17 destinations in the Pacific Northwest, Southern California and the Northeast.
It has also further expanded the Northeast Metro region adding hotels in the Boston area.
The company’s focus is a fairly unique one in the online travel agency space – offering hotel staycations within a few hours driving distance of major metro areas.
"We created Amazon Destinations to solve a problem most travelers face: how to easily plan and book a local getaway trip. Interestingly, more than 40% of all US domestic leisure trips are short-term getaways of 1-3 nights, and many of these trips are to nearby, drivable destinations," said Amazon spokesman Tom Cook.
"However, travelers often have a hard time planning local getaways. It’s difficult to know where to go, the process is labor-intensive, and people often miss out on finding great places to stay."
