Travel Technology Initiative (TTI) has launched what it is branding as a “revolutionary” hotel identification system designed make it easier for travel companies to tell properties apart.

Under the ‘TTIcodes scheme’ each hotel is given an eight-digit code that will be made available in the public domain.

The scheme has been developed in conjunction with the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA).

“This will avoid confusion that is currently rife in the industry as it struggles with hotel names that are misspelt, wrongly translated or simply incorrect,” said a TTI’s statement.

The service is being run by German company, GIATA. 

The basic offering will provide subscribers with hotels’ TTIcodes and basic address information. 

Other options include hotels’ geo-codes, vital for showing a hotel’s location on online maps, and cross-referenced ID codes of more than 250 distribution channels. 

Travel companies will be able to submit their own hotel databases for coding and further options such as geo-codes or GDS codes are also available.

The system is currently being tested and is expected to fully launch on October 4th.