Brian Reeves, Founder & CEO of Roomangel

In the fast-evolving landscape of travel and hospitality technology, Brian Reeves, a seasoned entrepreneur, is on a mission to level the playing field for hotels and consumers alike. As the Founder & CEO of Roomangel, he is spearheading a movement to bring transparency, fairness, and trust back into hotel bookings. In this exclusive interview, Reeves shares insights into his vision, the breakthroughs behind Roomangel, and the future of hotel distribution.

Breaking Travel News (BTN): Brian, you have a strong background in hospitality and travel tech. What inspired you to launch Roomangel?

Brian Reeves: My background originally started in engineering, but for the past 25 years, I’ve been deeply involved in hotel technology. My first company, Avio, focused on online reservation systems, digital marketing, and web design for hotels. A large part of my work was helping hotels compete more effectively against Online Travel Agencies (OTAs).

Roomangel is the next evolution of that mission. The hotel booking landscape is not a level playing field—there are significant regulatory gaps that put hotels and consumers at a disadvantage. The breakthrough behind Roomangel was developing an algorithm that empowers hotels to compete on their own websites and provides consumers with a fairer alternative to OTAs. This is about creating a transparent and trustworthy environment for booking hotels.

BTN: In a nutshell, what is Roomangel from a consumer’s perspective?

Brian Reeves: Roomangel is fundamentally about trust. Right now, consumers have no way of knowing whether the hotel rate they’re seeing is a good deal or not. This lack of pricing transparency leads to low conversion rates on hotel websites. OTAs have developed persuasive techniques—ranging from subliminal nudges to outright deceptive practices—that push consumers to book through them.

Moreover, hotel search results on OTAs are heavily influenced by commission structures rather than actual relevance to the traveler. Roomangel solves this by shifting the focus from commission-driven results to genuine value for money. Our platform helps hotels showcase fair pricing and ensures consumers make informed decisions based on true market value, not OTA incentives.

BTN: What was the major breakthrough that led to Roomangel’s development?

Brian Reeves: The core breakthrough is our algorithm, which allows us to assess a hotel’s price against its expected price. Let’s say you’re searching for a hotel in London. If the city is 80% booked, that doesn’t mean all hotels are charging premium rates—some are at 95% occupancy with high rates, while others at 65% occupancy may offer great deals to attract guests.

Our data shows that hotels offer good value about 85% of the time, but consumers rarely have visibility on this. Roomangel brings transparency by showing whether a price is fair, slightly above market rate, or a great deal. This is based on a massive dataset of historical pricing, future forecasts, and correlation models that we’ve refined over years.

BTN: Is Roomangel designed to compete directly with OTAs, or does it integrate with hotels’ existing systems?

Brian Reeves: Initially, we’re integrating with hotel systems. Our goal is to help hotels improve direct bookings by offering two key solutions:
1. Trust Verification: We’re addressing the issue of scam websites that masquerade as official hotel booking sites. We provide hotels with a “Verified by Roomangel” stamp, which allows consumers to confirm they are booking directly with the hotel.
2. Value Transparency: We display value-for-money signals during the booking process. Consumers will see clear indicators of whether they’re getting a good deal based on market conditions, giving them confidence to book directly with the hotel.

These tools will help hotels increase their conversion rates and reduce their reliance on OTAs, where 93% of consumers currently abandon their bookings due to uncertainty around pricing.

BTN: OTAs spend billions annually on advertising. How do you plan to compete with their dominance in consumer search?

Brian Reeves: That’s a key challenge, but it’s also a sign that something is fundamentally broken. After 25 years, OTAs still have to spend billions with Google to acquire customers, proving that a simple and effective hotel search solution doesn’t yet exist.

Roomangel competes on multiple fronts:
• A better consumer experience: Our search results prioritize relevance and real value, rather than being dictated by commission structures.
• Rich hotel content: We allow hotels to showcase their unique brand stories—something they can’t do effectively on OTAs.
• Direct relationships: Consumers book directly with hotels, eliminating middlemen and ensuring better service.
• Innovative rewards program: We commercialize unsold rooms as rewards for loyal users, offering a new revenue stream for hotels.

We’re also leveraging strong regulatory tailwinds. Regulators have been chasing OTAs for years over anti-competitive practices, but we’re taking a proactive approach by making Roomangel fully transparent and compliant from day one.

BTN: What’s the incentive for hotels to join Roomangel, and how does it reduce their reliance on OTAs?

Brian Reeves: Roomangel is not an “either-or” choice for hotels—it’s a way to diversify their distribution while significantly reducing costs. Our commission rate is just 6%, a fraction of what OTAs charge.

Hotels also get free tools that enhance their website’s conversion rate and marketing efficiency. More importantly, we restore direct guest relationships. When bookings come through OTAs, hotels lose crucial opportunities for loyalty-building and upselling. Roomangel returns ownership of the guest relationship to the hotel, while also providing them with valuable industry-wide data insights—something OTAs have monopolized for years.

BTN: You’ve structured Roomangel as a foundation rather than a traditional business. What’s the reasoning behind that?

Brian Reeves: We wanted to ensure that Roomangel remains a long-term, stable solution for hotels. Over the past 25 years, OTA contracts have steadily worsened for hotels—higher commissions, restrictive rate parity clauses, and the reintroduction of the merchant model.

By structuring Roomangel as a foundation, we give hotels collective ownership. When a hotel joins, they become an equal member, meaning the 6% commission rate today will remain the same 25 years from now. This structure prevents the platform from shifting against hotels’ interests in the future.

BTN: What stage is Roomangel currently at, and what’s next?

Brian Reeves: Right now, we’re integrating with major booking engines to ensure seamless connectivity for hotels. The platform itself is built, and we’ve demonstrated it to our partners.

Next, we’re rolling out to hotels, providing them with our free conversion-boosting tools. This will be a crucial step in shifting the industry dynamic—once consumers realize they can get better deals by booking directly, OTAs will lose some of their pricing persuasion power. Over time, this will force OTAs to compete more fairly.

We’re also building consumer trust in Roomangel as a brand. By the time our full booking platform launches, travelers will already associate Roomangel with transparency and fairness.

BTN: Looking ahead, how do you see AI and emerging technologies shaping hotel distribution?

Brian Reeves: AI is the next big disruption. Right now, OTAs are best positioned to take advantage of AI-powered trip planning and personalized recommendations. However, Roomangel changes that by creating a direct booking ecosystem that AI agents can interact with.

Hotels will now have a way to tap into AI-driven personalization without relying on OTAs. We’re ensuring that when AI reshapes hotel distribution, hotels have a seat at the table.

BTN: Brian, this has been a fascinating conversation. Roomangel’s mission is ambitious, but it seems poised to create a fairer, more transparent hotel booking landscape. Best of luck on the journey ahead!

Brian Reeves: We’re excited about the challenge ahead and believe that this is a much-needed shift for both consumers and hotels.

For more information on Roomangel visit the website here: www.roomangel.org