Expedia has been trialing a new hotel search method which could dramatically change how hotels are marketed through online travel agencies.
Expedia has been quietly testing ‘Accelerator,’ which allows hotels to bid against each other for higher placement in searches.
The Accelerator has been rolled out in a select few markets so far and has been in development for about a year, Expedia CFO Mark Okerstrom told Skift.
"We are also offering the opportunity for hotels to augment that quality nature of their listing with incremental economics to help give them a little bit of a boost," Okerstrom said.
"I think we will leave it to the various hotel companies to dictate for themselves how they use our marketplace and we would encourage them to do it in a way that maximizes what’s best for them."
Expedia said customer feedback scores will still play a part in determining where hotels end up in search results.
It will follow a ‘cost per sale’ pricing model similar to metasearch sites, Skift reported.
Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said during an earnings call last week that feedback so far has been ‘encouraging’ with participating hoteliers ‘pretty darned happy.’
