Pegasus Solutions and five hotel chains—Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Six Continents and Starwood—created Hotel Distribution System (HDS), a venture that will market hotel rooms over the Internet through multiple online sites.

HDS will operate as an independent company, and is privately owned by the six founding participants.

HDS will provide the link that will allow Internet sites to sell hotel rooms via direct connections to hotel reservations systems. Other planned features include real-time rate and inventory availability, and city search capabilities.

HDS plans to distribute its hotel offerings through multiple Internet sites. The company said it is in discussions with several Internet travel sites and has signed an agreement with Orbitz.

Joseph Humphry, who was named interim chief executive officer of the new venture, said the goal is to increase competition for the sale of hotel rooms online.

“This will benefit consumers through better and more consistent prices and reduced distribution costs for hotels,” he said.

Future plans include a direct consumer site. Hotel brands will not be limited to those affiliated with the original investing hotel companies, and hotel operators that sell through HDS will be free to enter into agreements with all competitors.

Based in Dallas, HDS will be conducting an executive search to identify the venture`s permanent CEO and management team.

www.pegs.com

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