Hotels.com

Introduction in Brief

Hotels.com is B2C transaction broker, linking consumers to hotel accommodation worldwide. Consumers are treated to a wide range of accommodation, including independent, major chain hotels and 100,000 properties worldwide. Consumers are able to find any information related about the hotel with its full details and function. Its greatest specialty is providing consumers with accommodation during sold-out period. All this is done through Hotels.com network of localized website and call centers.

Hotels.com is an affiliate of Expedia Inc, which is headquartered in Texas, United State of America (USA). Together with the other Expedia Inc brands, the company covers almost all aspects of travel research, planning, booking airlines and hotel rooms. The business model is such that when an hotelier partnered with the company, its property will be shown across all Expedia sites and its affiliates. From there, commission is earned for every successful transaction in return for the business and marketing exposure provided by Expedia Inc.

Currently, Expedia is the single largest provider of hotel bookings in the world, serving travel demands from around the world.

Features

• Extensive Information on Hotel Room

Before a user book a hotel room, he is exposed to a huge amount of information.These include an overall write up with pictures of the hotel by Hotels.com, user reviews, reviews by professional site and a star rating system. Maps of the hotels and it's surrounding vincitiy are also available for viewing.

• Last Minute Deals

Earlier mention in the introduction, Hotels.com specializes in last minute deals. As the name suggests, users can find room availability that are within the shortest period of time. The website promises hotel rooms whether it is within 3 hours or 3 weeks of departure at the huge savings.

• Price Guarantee

Hotels.com guarantee the lowest prepaid and self catering hotel rates. If users find any other hotel rates that are the lower than their offered price on the same date and same grade of hotel, Hotels.com promises to return the difference or void the reservation without imposing any penalty.

• Payment and Information Security

With the ever increasing internet fraud cases, Hotels.com promises a safe and secure payment method. All transactions are secure by Geotrust. Before a user can book a hotel room, he/she must sign up as a member of the site. All information collected on the website will only be used in hotel room reservations.

• Feedback and Review
  

The feedback directory provide an avenue for users to voice any problems or thoughts with regards to the site. Users registered with Hotels.com are able to write reviews on hotels which they have visited. This feature allows Hotels.com to improve on their shortcomings as to keep up with the ever changing environment and also to eliminate any hotels that are not up to standard.


Web Page Design

The site emphasize on easy navigation and, therefore, is very user-friendly. Important information are displayed prominently. Users are in for a visual treat as the site is laden with pictures of travel destinations and hotels.

Strengths

1. User-friendly site
2. Allows users to compare prices of various hotels
   
3. Comprehensive information on hotels
4. Hotels.com parent company, Expedia Inc, is listed on NASDAQ. It's reliability is guaranteed.
5. Has plenty global sites which cater to users in various region

Weakness

1. No hotel insurance for users to take up

Conclusion

In conclusion, given the above-mention features of the site we think that Hotels.com has the quality of an e-commerce transaction broker. The website is very comprehensive in providing information about the hotels they offer and is very easy to use. For first time users like us, the ease of navigating through the website makes our hearts itching to go on a holiday too! Although the site possesses many strengths, Hotels.com should constantly strive to improve on their business model so as to remain competitive in the fast changing e-commerce industry.

Transaction Broker - in brief

In this project, we will be looking at an e-commerce transaction broker.

E-commerce is typical buying and selling of products or service through electronic systems, especially the internet. There are 3 main platforms of the e-commerce:

• Business-to-Business (B2B)
• Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
• Consumer-to-Business (C2B)

Basically, transaction broker is an agent who links business and consumer together. Commission is earned for every successful transaction. As in the case of the project, we have identify Hotels.com as the transaction broker. Hotels.com is a B2C transaction broker.