, a travel industry news site, Amazon will start proffering nights in hotel rooms alongside books and gadgets as soon as January 1, 2015.
Would it be any different than what鈥檚 already out there? It seems so. Amazon plans to include only indie hotel chains in lieu of the larger commercial properties found on most other search engines. One hotelier quoted in the Skift report said that Amazon has been hotel hunting based on positive TripAdvisor reviews, accepting only those properties with four or more stars.
If this seems speculative, well, it is. Amazon did not respond to Skift鈥檚 request for comment, but the website spoke with a number of hotel employees whom Amazon has allegedly approached. Plus, Skift points out that Amazon recently increased employment ads for travel market managers.
Amazon is expected to roll out the service in the greater New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle metropolitan areas.