HotelsHippo.com promises to counter unjustified commission charges by online booking platforms

HOTELSHIPPO.COM has been launched as a solution to counter the unjustified commission charges by various foreign online platforms, ranging from 15 to 23%.

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It is the first sole local hotel booking platform to be launched in Sri Lanka, approved by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority as an Online Travel Agency (OTA), This endeavour is in alignment with the government's initiative to minimize the “economic leakage” by promoting local businesses.

Both foreigners and local travellers are heavily dependent on foreign platforms for hotel bookings. But the revenue does not fully remain in the country. This is the “Economic Leakage” which has taken over $800 million out of the country in 2018 by various means. This is where HotelsHippo.com comes into play by offering an alternative local booking platform to minimise this loss to the country.

The “economic leakage” is really impacting Sri Lanka, the company said. It estimates multiple dollars going out of the country by various means on booking systems. “We wanted to minimise this by offering an alternative local booking platform,” says Link International Group of Companies Founder and Managing Director Keerthi Bandara Herath. Specialising in hospitality sector applications HotelsHippo.com comes under this Group. Other ventures include Hippo Corporate Ltd., a software company specialising in banking and finance sector automation. Part of the group are Cambridge Consultation Services (UK) Ltd., and Wellness Ceylon (UK) Ltd.

“We are offering a game-changer in the Tourism Industry with two unique features for the first time in the world,” Herath added.

According to him the innovation has been in development since 2020 as a research and development project with a cost of over Rs. 100 million in Sri Lanka by a team of Sri Lankan IT professionals from my software company, deploying top-notch, unparalleled, latest technologies.