Hotel metasearch site Hotelicopter is launching a new system aimed at tourist boards and online publishers so they can feature and search hotel availability.
The Hotelicopter Network works in a similar way to other affiliate services by circulating hotel information, room rates and other availability around other third party sites through a white label system.
The initial target publishers are tourist boards, DMOs and other travel content sites that need access to hotel stock but do not have the resources (or inclination) to deal directly with individual hotels or chains.
At the centre of the project is the white label which is bolted to the existing web service and allows users to browse hotel availability, searching by price range, star rating, amenities, property type and brand.
Room prices are listed from online travel agencies, hotel aggregators and he hotel itself. Publishers can also de-select a feed from each hotel.
One of the first clients to be officially unveiled is VisitCharlottesville in Virginia, US.
And a map view:
Hotelicopter CEO Adam Healey says around 50 publishers are expecting to integrate the hotel network over the coming months, mostly US tourism boards and DMOs.
Hotelicopter and publishers share commission revenue from each booking made, Healey confirms.
There are around 1,500 organisations in the US that Hotelicopter is targeting, around 60% of which have no or limited hotel search capability.
Travelocity currently has a reasonably strong presence in this sector but only features properties on its own platform, rather taking multiple feeds from a number of OTAs and suppliers.
Healey admits creating the Hotelicopter Network is a long way from the launch model of the company in April 2009 (remembered by many for its April Fool video clip).
The B2B part of the business has become a major focus for the company, although the consumer-facing Hotelicopter will remain, Healey says.
"We will not be investing much in marketing or development of the main site any more, using it mostly as a showcase to potential partners for our network business."