on 25 November 2009 
(No Ratings Yet)RoomAtlas is a map-based hotel search site and is the plaything – in their own words – of the recently retired former-banker Roger Middleton and his son.
The site aggregates information for almost 55,000 hotels around the world on a single Google Map and streams in TripAdvisor reviews and information about each property.
All well and good so far.
But there are two other elements that make RoomAtlas more interesting. Firstly is its use of live pricing courtesy of an affiliate deal with Expedia and Hotels.com.
Secondly is that the site was conceptualised over a pint by Middleton and his son (who still has a day job), with no major commercial incentive at the heart of the project just a “frustration” on their part when trying to find hotels around the world.
Middleton says traffic has been good (”in the thousands”) since it launched a few weeks ago to friends and family, and since as part of a seeding around Twitter.
He says the deal with Expedia-Hotels.com is commissioned-based and they may look for other partners in the future to fill gaps in hotel inventory around the world, namely Africa and Central America.
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Nice mashup indeed. I wonder how they got Tripadvisor to agree to the widgets with reviews. I know it’s just TA pages that are popping up, but there’s no ads on them or links back to to TA, which seems very unlike their normal modus operandi. Perhaps it’s through Expedia given the tie-in with their bookings?
Thanks Kevin for this piece.
Sam, I’m the founder of RoomAtlas. Glad you like the site and thanks for your question. Unfortunately we can’t share the details of our relationship with TripAdvisor other than to confirm both sides are happy with how we display their reviews.
Best, Roger
Roger: thanks for coming on to respond to Sam’s question.
You will have set the cat amongst the pigeons there, given that lots of content sites would love to get their hands on the reviews without the advertising everywhere.
Well done, you!
Good stuff Roger! I know Tripadvisor sells reviews, as well as displaying older reviews that they don’t show on their own site anymore, on other sites that they own, but hadn’t seen this solution before. It’s nice to see it on a new site, especially one that seems like it came about the same way most of my ideas do
Really impressed with this. So rare to get something so focused and well executed.
Are they going to be offering alternative booking paths or are they tied in with Expedia as an exclusive deal I wonder.
Tamara:
Sorry, we mentioned it in the text: “He says the deal with Expedia-Hotels.com is commissioned-based and they may look for other partners in the future to fill gaps in hotel inventory around the world, namely Africa and Central America.”
By partners, Middleton means other hotel suppliers.
Like this! Very clean and easy to use/book. Will be interested to see what other partners (if any)come on board. Would be good to see smaller boutique properties included.
Hi – site looks great! For those interested, having worked on both sides – the OTA private-label/affiliate side and shopping among them from the start-up side, it’s fairly straightforward to source standard deals. Expedia, hotels.com, Priceline, Kayak, and others all have them. However, since it’s pretty much a buyer’s market now, it’s likely more possible to negotiate terms than it was, say, two years ago.
What’s interesting is that most of Expedia’s companies have their own programs, but they’re not integrated well (except Expedia and hotels.com), and the ability to source joint deals with, for ex, bookable inventory from Expedia/hotels.com, TA content, deal feeds from bookingbuddy, and SEO link-sharing arrangements can be a bit maddening, so kudos to Roger and his son…
A final fun question if you’re thinking of approaching them – does Expedia want to lose business to Priceline, and vice versa…?
Interesting. I guess they choose deliberately to only show a very small number of hotels at a time. So the query “cambridge, ma” only displays 6 hotels, but as you zoom in closer, you can see more, including some high quality hotels. This may give a very misleading first impression of the available hotels at a destination.
getaroom.com would like to partner with you. Please call Lee at 305-590-5409. Thanks, lee
Wasn’t there another Google maps mashup for finding hotels worldwide?
I just can’t remember the name…and I cannot find them in search.
Anyway, I wonder how they did.
Roomatlas has nice clean interface and good usability, so kudos.