You Can Now Book Travel via Amazon.com

Travel News

When people begin to plan a vacation, they don’t usually turn to Amazon.com for help (unless they are ordering guide books, but who does that anymore?) But now, the retail site is taking a stab at online travel booking.

In the past, Amazon let hotels offer un-booked rooms at sharp discounts through their Amazon Local app. Now, Amazon is extending the program in the hopes of working with these hotels—and others—on a regular basis.

Amazon Local has updated their iOS and Android apps over the past few weeks, and began getting hotels onboard to offer their rooms to consumers at their published rates.

Skift reports that while Amazon is expected to continue to venture into the hotel and travel industry, there are no plans to do so at the level of Expedia or Hotels.com, at least not yet.

The ability to book hotels is just the latest expansion of the Amazon Local app, which has added new features such as restaurant reviews and food takeout and delivery over the past year.

Elizabeth Ann Gerber is a writer for Paste Travel and a student at the University of Georgia with an unhealthy coffee addiction.

Share Tweet Submit Pin