Booking.com Powers Hotels for Southwest, Its First U.S. Airline
Photo Credit: Booking.com now powers Southwest Airlines' hotel offering and the deal is Booking.com's first with a U.S. airline. Pictured is Southwest's mobile website. Southwest Airlines
Skift Take
Booking.com displaced Southwest's long-time hotel partner, Orbitz, on Southwest.com. Booking.com's pay-at-the-hotel system meshes much better with Southwest's flexible fare structure than did Orbitz's preponderous hotel bookings requiring prepayment. Booking.com's integration of its Rocketmiles acquisition on Southwest now makes total sense.
Amsterdam-based Booking.com quietly began powering hotel bookings on Southwest.com, displacing the previous partner, Expedia Inc.'s Orbitz Worldwide.
Orbitz had been powering hotels on Southwest for more than five years but Booking.com's pay-at-the hotel model seems to blend much better with Southwest's flexible fare policies, including same-day changes without additional fees. Unlike Booking.com, much of Orbitz's hotel inventory
