Rumors about Amazon launching it own travel and hotel service have been floating around since last November, but it wasn't until Tuesday that we got more details about the service.
The e-commerce giant announced its new service, called Amazon Destinations, which would let local hotels in a select area sell weekend getaways to anyone who would buy. The service's tagline is "Hit the road: Book local getaways," and that's exactly what it does. Amazon Destinations is a redesign of Amazon Local Travel Deals, the popular service for selling products (specifically local hotels) to location-restricted markets.
"Amazon's new homepage for travel - which is currently part of Amazon Local but could eventually reside elsewhere - now features hotels in the Pacific Northwest, Southern California and the Northeast.......It is available on desktop and updates to Amazon's mobile apps are in the works," Skift reported.
Each region will have a set number of featured locations. The current variety from the Northeast, for example, includes hotels in "the Adirondacks, Vermont, the Poconos, the Catskills, the New Jersey Shore, the Hamptons, Pennsylvania Dutch/Amish Country and the Finger Lakes." These locations will be able to offer a series of heavily discounted bundles and deals for customers, as well as recommendations for local attractions and restaurants.
Amazon spokesperson Tom Cook said Amazon Destinations is intended to make it easier for people to plan and book local vacations, as travelers can have a difficult time planning local getaways.
"It's difficult to know where to go, the process is labor-intensive, and people often miss out on finding great places to stay," Cook said.
The company's new service has adopted a new set of behaviors and business models that will differ from those of Amazon Local. "Amazon opted to expand beyond Amazon Local's strict adherence to deeply discounted hotel rates in favor of published rates and a new business model with standard commissions because it wanted more flexibility to work with hotels on an ongoing basis - and not just when hotels need to fill some rooms at rock-bottom rates," Skift reported.
Amazon Destination will also host customer reviews for the products it's selling. It's unclear when Amazon plans to expand its hotel partners.
