primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . october 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message hotels.com web address hotels.com commercial yes type of site hotel booking service registration optional available in 37 owner expedia inc. johan svanstrom president launched 1991 ; 25 years ago 1991 as hotel reservations network dallas texas u.s. alexa rank 523 august 2016 update 1 current status online hotels.com is a website for booking hotel rooms online and by telephone . the company has 85 websites in 34 languages and lists over 325 000 hotels in approximately 19 000 locations . its inventory includes hotels and b & bs and some condos and other types of commercial lodging . citation needed hotels.com was established in 1991 as the hotel reservations network hrn . in 2001 it became part of expedia inc. and in 2002 changed its name to hotels.com . hotels.com is operated by hotels.com lp a limited partnership located in dallas texas in the united states . contents 1 history 1.1 u.s. disability rights infringement 2 loyalty program 3 hotel price index 4 advertising 5 references 6 external links history edit hotels.com was established in 1991 by david litman and robert diener as the hotel reservations network hrn providing hotel booking via a toll free phone number in the united states . 2 in 2001 the company was acquired by usa networks inc usai which also acquired a controlling interest in expedia the online travel booking company . after buying the domain name for approximately us 11m 3 hrn changed its name in 2002 to hotels.com and launched the offline brand 1 800 2 hotels as well as allowing hotel bookings on line . there followed a period of rapid international expansion with 29 sites added over the next two years . in 2003 usai was renamed interactivecorp iac . in 2005 iac separated its travel business under the name expedia inc. hotels.com then became an operating company of expedia inc. now the world s largest online travel company . 4 international growth since 2002 has included web sites for north central and south america europe australia japan china and the pacific rim the middle east and south africa . web sites for indonesia and vietnam launched in 2011 . customers in all countries can book online or by phoning one of the multilingual call centres . calls are both toll free and paid depending on the country of booking . 5 in 2011 hotels.com launched an ipad application and updated its mobile phone product on iphone and android . 6 u.s. disability rights infringement edit in may 2007 hotels.com was subject to a class action complaint smith v. hotels.com l.p. california superior court alameda county case no . rg07327029 brought against them for ongoing discrimination against persons with mobility disabilities who desire to but can not use hotels.com s worldwide reservation network to make reservations for hotel rooms . 7 the company denied the accusation and opposed the action but was found guilty on one count of infringing california s unruh civil rights act and on one count in violation of unfair competition law . hotels.com then agreed to provide suitable accessibility information about hotels sold on its website . 8 loyalty program edit like its competitors such as agoda hotels.com has a loyalty program . 9 this allows customers to claim discounts on most but not all hotels regardless of hotel chain or type . 10 for every 10 nights stayed at hotels booked with hotels.com customers can claim a price reduction on a subsequent booking . this reduction is equivalent to the average amount paid for those nights . the reduction does not reduce taxes and fees payments and some other restrictions apply . 11 the program is called hotels.com rewards formerly welcome rewards and launched in the us canada and much of latin america in 2008 . it then extended to the uk and australia in 2010 and to more than 40 additional countries in 2011 . hotel price index edit starting 2004 hotels.com has published a twice yearly review of international hotel room price trends called the hotels.com hotel price index based on the prices paid per room by its customers using a weighted average based on the number of rooms sold in each of the markets in which it operates . 12 information includes notable price changes and comparisons between destinations hotel types and other price related analyses for the previous six months . 13 the hotel price index is published both digitally and in print and is aimed at journalists the media and hoteliers as part of its public relations . advertising edit in advertisements hotels.com had a character named smart voiced by ed helms who appeared in 2009 2010 and 2011 advertisements . in 2014 hotels.com introduced the character captain obvious who makes self evident comments with the aim of communicating that hotels.com is the obvious choice . the campaign was devised by the ad firm crispin porter bogusky . 14 references edit hotels.com site info . alexa internet . retrieved 2016 08 14 . cornell university . david s. litman 82 and robert b. diener 82 . cornell law school . retrieved 16 december 2011 . i bought hotels.com name for 11m . bbc news . retrieved 3 july 2015 . hotels.com timeline . time line . hotels.com . retrieved 16 december 2011 . facts . facts at a glance . hotels.com . retrieved 16 december 2011 . warman matt 15 december 2011 . hotels.com app review . london the telegraph . retrieved 16 december 2011 . class action . case summary . lawyers & settlements . retrieved 16 december 2011 . settlement agreement . court proceedings . retrieved 16 december 2011 . uk.hotels.com hotel rewards pillar hotelscomrewards.html hotels.com rewards check url value help . hotels.com rewards . hotels.com . retrieved 29 january 2016 . your welcome hotel.com s new loyalty rewards program really rewards . news . money saving expert . retrieved 16 december 2011 . hotels.com welcome rewards enhancements announced . travel blog . boarding area . retrieved 16 december 2011 . hotel price index review of global prices first half 2011 . hotel price index . hotels.com . retrieved 16 december 2011 . hotels.com hotel price index hpi highlights rising hotel prices in emerging destinations for american travelers . press release . market watch . retrieved 16 december 2011 . gianatasio david 27 february 2014 . hotels.com recruits captain obvious but is one gag enough for a campaign . adfreak . adweek.com . retrieved 16 december 2015 . external links edit official website v t e expedia inc. people barry diller chairman of the board dara khosrowshahi president and ceo subsidiaries brands and divisions current expedia hotels.com hotwire.com trivago venere.com wotif.com travelocity orbitz homeaway former tripadvisor spun off in 2011 elong spun off in 2015 headquarters expedia building retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title hotels.com & oldid 740683021 categories hotel and leisure companies based in londononline travel agenciescompanies established in 1991online retailers of the united statestravel websites1991 establishments in the united statesexpedia inc.hidden categories pages with url errorsarticles lacking reliable references from october 2011all articles lacking reliable referencesarticles containing potentially dated statements from august 2016all articles containing potentially dated statementsall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from january 2016official website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite 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