Despite Room Key's collective hotel wisdom, its marketing and booking strategy is convoluted
Skift Take
Room Key is trying to lure nonbookers at hotel chain websites, bring them to Room Key, and then pass them back to hotel websites to make their reservations. It's a very complicated journey, but these hotel-brand founders have considerable clout.
Room Key, the hotel site founded by the chain gang of Choice, Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental, Wyndham, and Marriott, added three new brands to its lineup as it tweaks its novel quest to stand out in a crowded field.
The recent addition of La Quinta (midscale U.S., Canada and Mexico), Millennium Hotels & Resorts (midscale to upscale in 19 countries) and The Leading Hotels of the World (independent luxury) brings the roster of properties to around "40,000 to 50,000 direct-connects," Room Key CEO John Davis tells Skift.
After debuting in beta nine months ago, Room Key claims 14 million monthly unique visitors, but most of these visitors would be surprised to learn they even stopped by.
"Oh, I visited your house last night? How was it? I don't remember Was I really there?"
The disconnect is that the focus of Room Key's attempt to woo visitors to its site is serving up pop-under ads that appear for some users when they visit one
