UPDATE: Pegasus Solutions confirms that it has been testing and will soon release a new product, MetaSearch Services, which would enable hotels to more readily participate on major travel metasearch sites.
Pegasus states: "The new Google Hotel Price Ads program is a great way for hotels to capture direct bookings on their web sites. In a way, Google has incorporated hotel metasearch functionality into their core search processes by allowing entry of arrival and departure dates and deep linking to an OTA or hotel web site. Hotels need to be participating so that consumers have a choice of booking through an OTA or direct with the hotel.
"Pegasus is just announcing a similar product called MetaSearch Services (MSS) that enables hotels to participate in this manner with traditional metasearch sites, such as Kayak and others. Early results have shown as much as a 5:1 return on investment from pilot customers.”
The original post follows:
Google is continuing its drive to get hotel-direct pricing into Google Maps and is working with Pegasus Solutions to up the ante.
Pegasus provides hotel distribution services to more than 86,000 properties and its data would enable Google to display room pricing from hotel websites, along with already-presented hotel pricing from online travel agencies, in Google Maps, according to Travel Weekly (US).
Currently, hotel displays alongside Google Maps indicate the hotel pricing from OTAs, but although hotel website links are displayed, too, there usually is no room price listed.
As reported several weeks ago, hotel CRS provider Trust International also is working with Google to get hotel pricing into Google Maps and Google Places.
Travel Weekly also reports that Pegasus expects to soon announce a metasearch solution for hotel pricing, as well.