The international hotel booking service online and by phone Hotels.com (part of the Expedia Group holding) will stop its activities in Russia from April 1.
This is stated in the notifications that the customers of the service received. On the Russian website of the service, it is reported that bookings for dates after March 31 are not accepted.
In the notifications received by the users of the service, it is reported that in connection with the closure of the service, customer accounts will also be closed: “… we will close all traveler accounts associated with the Hotels.com website and app in Russia.”
Hotels.com was founded in 1991. It is operated by the company of the same name, located in Dallas, Texas. It has a loyalty program that allows customers to get discounts on most hotels. He has 85 sites in 34 languages, in the database of the service – 325 thousand hotels for booking in 19 thousand places.
The company expressed its regret to customers “for these unexpected changes.” At the same time, Hotels.com did not explain the reason for its decision.
According to Vadim Prasov, vice-president of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers, the departure of the service from the country is expected, since earlier Expedia, which is part of the same holding with the service, announced its plans to leave Russia. “It is likely that the turnover and sales volumes of Hotels.com in Russia were not so significant to continue its presence in our market under the new conditions,” Profi.Travel quoted Mr. Prasov as saying.
