DALLAS— Five hotel chains— Hilton Hotels Corp., Hyatt Corp., Marriott International, Six Continents Hotels, and Starwood Hotels & Resorts— have formed Hotel Distribution System (HDS), LLC, a new venture, powered by Pegasus Solutions, that will market hotel rooms over the Internet through multiple on-line sites. Utilizing the Pegasus’ technology, HDS plans to provide the link to allow Internet sites to sell hotel rooms via direct connections to hotel reservation systems, including: real-time rate and inventory availability, rich hotel content, and enhanced city-search capabilities. The end result will provide better information for consumers, greater accuracy in reservations and customer service, more reliable efficiency in reservation system connectivity to Internet retailers, and better managed inventory for participating hotels. HDS plans to distribute its hotel offerings through multiple, affiliate Internet sites. The company is currently in discussions with several Internet travel sites and has already inked an agreement with Orbitz.com. “We believe our technology platform will be more efficient than competitors, ultimately resulting in better prices and more hotel deals,” said Joe Humphry, interim CEO of the new venture, adding that the ultimate goal is to increase competition for the sale of hotel rooms online. Humphry is a long-time travel industry veteran who has been employed by the founding participants to lead the development of HDS. The company will be conducting an executive search to identify the ventures permanent CEO and management team in conjunction with the companys launch, and for the time being, will be headquartered in Dallas. HDS is an independent company, and is privately owned by the six founding participants.
