Brian Reeves x Hospitality Integrator
.jpg)
What inspired the creation of roomangel Foundation, and what gap in the hospitality industry are you aiming to fill?
Brian Reeves: My background for the past 25 years has been hotel technology. My first company, Avvio, focused on booking engine tech, digital marketing, and web design for hotels. Our primary goal was helping hotels compete more effectively against Online Travel Agencies (OTAs).
For a hotel to compete effectively meant two things: 1) Strong hotel website & booking engine conversion rates. 2) Understanding search (Google) and delivering digital marketing campaigns that compete with OTAs for click share where it was profitable to do so.
roomangel is the major evolution of that same mission. We will make the hotel website the place to book and make roomangel the place to search. We level the playing field for hotels to compete fairly with OTAs and give hotels tools to win more share.
We provide free tools that empower hotels to convert significantly better on the hotel website and for consumers we provide a much better alternative to OTAs as the place to search hotels (and then book-direct).
The hotel search landscape has long been skewed in favor of online travel agencies (OTAs), leaving hotels struggling with high commission fees, limited access to guest data, and an uneven playing field in direct bookings. OTAs have had it easy. Not anymore.
Your initiative has been called “the biggest change in the history of our industry.” What makes it unique?
Brian Reeves: Yes, as an industry we still cannot answer a critical question for guests searching for hotels - ‘Is this room rate a good price for my dates?’
This is a BIG problem for hotels and a big advantage for OTAs.
Hotels lose 93% of booking funnel visitors when the room rates are shown in the booking engine because there is no frame of reference to make a rational decision on price.
So typically the guest opens multiple tabs (OTAs, Metasearch, Google, other hotel websites) and what should have been a simple task becomes time consuming and confusing.
roomangel fixes this. We offer a free tool to hotels that fixes this by objectively demonstrating value for the guest. Hotel conversion rates will improve significantly once this new standard is in place.
At the same time OTA conversion rates will reduce because their ability to persuade guests will reduce. Once consumers understand that they can answer this critical price/value question honestly on a hotel website we will see the playing field start to level and guest booking behavior change.
We will introduce robust guest protection around price in a completely independent and transparent way. Consumer regulators globally will have full oversight of how our new standard works so they can finally deliver on their mandate to protect consumers around price.
What also sets roomangel apart is its fundamentally different approach to hotel search.
Hotel search today is broken. Guests search on an OTA and have their search results ordered by commission. Commission is literally the only factor that is not relevant to a guest. roomangel orders hotels by value for money so the customer can make a better decision on which hotel to book and secure better value. What’s more the booking is direct to the hotel; not intermediated.
From a hotel perspective this new search solution extends their brand.com reach without reliance on OTA and Meta, Furthermore roomangel is structured as a non-profit foundation, owned by the industry itself. This ensures that hotels always have a stake in their own distribution rather than being beholden to ever-changing OTA policies.
What are the biggest challenges that hotels face with Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), and how does roomangel aim to address them?
Brian Reeves: Hotels face three major challenges with OTAs:
- Unfair competition with OTAs. OTAs use tactics to convert guests which are unfair to the guest but have the illusion of being useful. Hotels compete much more honestly. The guest doesn’t realise and trusts OTAs as a place to search and book.
roomangel will reduce OTAs ability to persuade (convert) guests whilst simultaneously differentiating hotel websites as the place to book in a clear and meaningful way.
- High commissions – OTAs charge 15-30% per booking, cutting deeply into hotels' profits. Furthermore for many hotels they discount to enable loyalty programs that the OTAs benefit from and further their dominance.
roomangel charge 6% commission on bookings which is lower than the average cost of generating brand.com bookings for hotels.
The roomangel loyalty program is designed to commercialise hotels otherwise unsold rooms as opposed to eroding their profitability on existing demand with OTA loyalty.
- Loss of guest relationships – Hotels don’t receive valuable guest data from OTA bookings, making loyalty-building nearly impossible.
When a guest books with roomangel the booking is direct, thereby restoring the hotel:guest direct relationship and hotel loyalty opportunity.
How does roomangel empower hotels to regain control over their distribution while also benefiting travelers?
Brian Reeves: roomangel ensures hotels stay at the center of their own distribution strategy by providing tools that increase direct conversions and reduce reliance on OTAs. Our free "Verified by roomangel" trusted stamp on the hotel’s website serves two important functions.
It firstly assures consumers they are booking directly with the hotel, eliminating fake booking sites which cost an estimated $10bn to our industry annually.
Secondly, it demonstrates value for money in a fair and honest way in the booking process on a hotel website. This provides assurance for the guest and better conversion for the hotel.
You’re introducing a new hotel search and booking platform. Can you explain how it works and what makes it different from existing options?
Brian Reeves: roomangel’s search and booking platform is the first-ever direct booking alternative to OTAs that still provides the convenience of a centralized search engine. Here’s how it works:
- Instead of prioritizing hotels on search based on behind the scenes commission agreements, roomangel ranks hotels based on true value-for-money for the guest. We don't allow hotels to increase their search ranking by increasing the amount of commission they pay.
- Better hotel content. roomangel goes deep on hotel content allowing a better guest connection to the hotel brand. where OTAs commoditise content resulting in a homogenized hotel offering. On roomangel hotels get to properly present their brand and full offering, connecting with guests in a meaningful way.
- The platform integrates directly with hotel booking engines, meaning travelers book straight with the hotel, with no middlemen-risk.
- Hotels retain full ownership of guest relationships, giving them the ability to engage with travelers directly, before they arrive at the property and build loyalty.
- Hotels also gain access to valuable data generated from the roomangel platform, which they can leverage to enhance their marketing and revenue management strategies.
- Commission on bookings made through the platform is 6% and, unlike the OTA experience over the past 25 years, roomangel commissions will remain static over time.
roomangel brings together booking engine providers and hotels for the first time — how has the industry responded to this initiative?
Brian Reeves: The response from the industry has been overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic. For the first time, hotels and booking engine providers are uniting to challenge the OTA monopoly in a way that benefits everyone except the middlemen. Key industry leaders have hailed this initiative as “the biggest change in the history of hotel distribution” because it removes unnecessary costs, improves transparency, and gives hotels a viable alternative to OTAs.
What is the one key message you’d like hotels, booking platforms, and travelers to take away from roomangel’s launch?
Brian Reeves: Hotels must remain at the center of their own distribution, and travelers deserve transparent, unbiased booking options. The launch of roomangel is not just about offering an alternative to OTAs — it’s about fundamentally reshaping the future of hotel distribution by giving power back to those who should have had it all along: hoteliers and travelers. roomangel is the game-changing solution that the industry has needed for decades.
You can view the full edition of Hospitality Integrator here