Yahoo instigates sophisticated new hotel finder

Yahoo has launched in beta a hotel finder that collects rates, location, availability and other information from hotel chains and online travel agencies, and directs users to the vendors for bookings.

Published: 04 Apr 2005

Yahoo has launched in beta a hotel finder that collects rates, location, availability and other information from hotel chains and online travel agencies, and directs users to the vendors for bookings.

This is according to Internet Week, which states that the new product is an expansion of the California-based company's FareChase travel site that delivers unbiased search results on airfares, car rentals and hotels. By aggregating listings from multiple vendors, the site saves consumers time in booking travel services.

“The latest beta launch is part of the company's strategy to leverage its search technology to expand its travel offerings,” Yen Lee, General Manager of Travel at Yahoo, has been cited as saying.

The FareChase hotel beta site provides hotel addresses, distance in miles from specified locations, details on hotel amenities and standard star ratings, as well as ratings from Yahoo users, reports Internet Week. Search results can be organized by star rating, price ranges, neighborhood, desired amenities and other such criteria.

It appears that Yahoo, along with rivals, Microsoft's MSN and Google, have been increasing their offerings in specific categories, such as retail, financial services, media and entertainment and travel.

Internet Week continues that vertical search engines are attracting an increasing amount of marketing dollars from broad-based search engines, which are less effective at turning online shoppers into buyers.

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