Amazon reported to make move into travel industry

There’s already a variety of travel booking sites that consumers use to compare and make hotel reservations, but there could be another big player in the lineup.

Skift released the initial report on Amazon Travel, a service that’s reported to have a soft launch in Los Angeles, New York City, and Seattle. According to hotels that have been approached by Amazon, they were selected based on TripAdvisor information and had ratings of four stars and above.

The current focus is around hotel reservations though initial reports say Amazon Travel plans to offer itinerary and nearby attraction information to round out the booking experience. Amazon has a lot to gain with a booking service, such as coupling its other product offerings like cameras, phone chargers, and luggage.

This is not the first time Amazon has looked at adding travel services to its online offerings. About 13 years ago, Amazon partnered with Expedia to offer booking services to its customers. From the sounds of it, Amazon wouldn’t connect with the hotel reservation software, but more take the reservation and email the hotel. The hotel would then have to put in the information on their reservation software and update the available inventory on Amazon. Amazon would take a 15% commission and then pay the hotel in two installments: 70% and then 30% of the remainder.

Amazon has not released a public statement about this service.

What do you think of the idea of Amazon launching a travel booking site? How will it fare against existing OTAs? Tell us in the comments below!