IHG Dumps Expedia, Hotels.com

Following up on its new travel distribution guidelines, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), has certified Travelocity (travelocity.com) as a third-party distributors of its more than 3,500 hotels worldwide. IHG previously announced it had adopted a new standard, effective May 20, 2004, for its portfolio of brands for selling or re-selling hotel room inventory via any and all online travel companies.

IHG had warned that online travel companies that do not become certified will lose access to IHG properties and room inventory. According to Jim Young, senior vice president, Global Distribution, InterContinental Hotels Group, IHG remains committed to working with a wide variety of distribution partners and will make additional announcements regarding certification of other online travel distributors.

"We continue negotiations with other online travel distributors that have made it clear they wish to work through these critical issues and have the best interests of our customers and hotel owners in mind, and we expect to announce certification of other companies shortly," Young insists. "However, we could not secure this same commitment from Expedia and Hotels.com and we will relinquish these relationships over the next several months. These are fundamental issues that we believe need to be addressed by online third-party distributors."