Flight and hotel search service Hipmunk is now offering direct bookings for hotels via both its website and mobile offerings.
Hotel results with the "Book on Hipmunk" button are available for direct booking.
Hipmunk has chosen the Expedia Affiliate Network as its partner, and brings the ability for users to choose and pay for hotel bookings without leaving the site.
The user simply selects their days, inserts their credit card information, and books their chosen stay.
The meta search results still show up on the hotel product, with users being able to book on sites like Airbnb and Booking.com, or direct with the hotel (depending on the inventory).
A Hipmunk official says the change is small but significant, as says it always looking to enhance the user experience.
We periodically reevaluate our partnerships to give our users the best experience. EAN offered a breadth of hotels, [and] didn't provide us with any extra hotels, just the ability to book them.
The Terms of Service make it clear that Hipmunk also has no control over the third party travel supplier - always a concern to customers booking via affiliates, when they book on one brand only to be handed off to another for any issues, problems, or customer service concerns.
You further understand and agree that if you encounter any problems with the hotel booking transaction or with the hotel reservation you book in that transaction, you must resolve your dispute with EAN.com L.P., not with Hipmunk, and your sole remedy, including any refund, lies with EAN.com L.P., not with Hipmunk. Hipmunk has no control over EAN.com L.P. and is not responsible for its terms, its privacy, data security or other practices, its performance, or its content, advertising, or other materials it may provide to you, whether or not provided through the Service. If you choose to book a hotel reservation through the Hotel Booking feature, we collect your payment information and pass it on to EAN.com L.P.
The addition of affiliate is a much more pedestrian development - how many other sites have affiliate deals in travel (at least 9,999 on EAN alone) - which somehow doesn't quite fit the hype of the Hipmunk.
But, ultimately, it's all about providing the most seamless and useful experience to the user and Hipmunk's addition of a direct affiliate linkup beyond the classic metasearch product could generate more direct revenue.
Almost a year ago the company closed an investment round of almost $15 million from Institutional Investment Partners, bringing its total funding to date close to $20 million.
NB: Check out a guest viewpoint from co-founder and CEO Adam Goldstein from March this year: Things I Wish Knew When I Started Hipmunk.