Hotels ‚Äúconfused” by Qantas-owned Hooroo

Hotels ‚Äúconfused” by Qantas-owned Hooroo
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The commercial boss of Qantas off-shoot Hooroo has admitted the industry is still likely to be scratching its head at who and what the business is after hoteliers faced three separate meetings with the accommodation retailer under three different identities.

Hoteliers were first approached by Jetstar.com in 2011 about listing their properties on the airline's hotel booking engine, then six months later by Qantas and a month later by Hooroo, head of commercial Bruce Fair explained.

"It was very confusing for hotels who thought we were from Jetstar, which we were, then Qantas and then we want back to them saying we were from Hooroo," Fair told the No Vacancy conference in Sydney yesterday. "It was very confusing for them and I am sure there are still some very confused hotels in the marketplace."

Hooroo as a stand alone site was launched by Qantas last July but it also powers the Qantas and Jetstar hotel booking engines, Fair explained.

He said around 5100 Australian hotels are listed while international product has just been launched after signing a "strategic partnership with a global OTA".

"The business case was very much based around the Australian domestic marketplace and leveraging the nine million Qantas frequent flyer members," he said. "But we have just launched international product so Qantas customers can now book international hotels on Qantas.com and earn frequent flyer points against those bookings."

Around 100,000 hotels are featured.

The booking engines have effectively replaced Qantas Holidays, a brand now owned by Jetset Travelworld.

Across all three sites – Jetstar.com, Qantas.com and the stand alone Hooroo.com site – month-by-month sales have increased 45% in March, 20% in February and 38% in January, Fair claimed.

"We are seeing some really good growth month on month so as long as that continues then we'll feel in really good shape," Fair said. "We feel like we are getting some traction, particularly in calendar year 2013."

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