Jeffrey V. Fallis 
The practice of resale by individual travelers of what the industry calls “distressed inventory” is still in its infancy. A piece may not sell, let alone break even. And some who buy hotel rooms report spotty customer service.
Still, experts say the sites are gaining momentum and have the potential to transform hotel bookings.
“It’s definitely not going away,” said Christopher K. Anderson, faculty member at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.
Anderson said sites like Tingo and tripBAM, which automatically renew bookings at a lower price, pose a bigger threat to hotels because they artificially inflate the cancellation rate. “Automatic cancellation and modification of reservations is scarier for hotels because it has a negative effect on prices and profitability,” he said.
Instead, Roomer Travel and Cancelon are creating a secondary market for hotel rooms. Sellers may charge any price for a room, although resale is not guaranteed.
“The average discount is 45%,” said Richie Karaburun, managing director of Roomer Travel, although rooms in high-demand cities like New York, Paris or Rome command higher prices. At Cancelon, a potential buyer can offer a lower and acceptable price.
When a room sells, Roomer Travel charges sellers a 15% fee, Cancelon 10%. The two say they are coordinating with a hotel to ensure a reservation name and credit card guarantee are changed. (Services are free for buyers.)
When a room is listed on either site, it also becomes available on online travel sites like Kayak and Trivago. Rooms through Roomer Travel also appear on Skyscanner; those on Cancelon are on TripAdvisor.
But there is a downside for consumers. A room becomes indistinguishable from any other hotel offerings on these sites, which could confuse buyers.
Jon Eichelberger, regional manager for North America at Trivago, said his service was designed to find available and bookable fares, but, he added, “we can’t say” where does a room come from.
Shawn Haag, an instructional designer at the University of Minnesota, searched TripAdvisor for a hotel room in Orlando, Florida, and booked two rooms at the Florida Hotel for $468. He was surprised when the booking confirmation came from Cancelon and not directly from the hotel.
“I hadn’t heard of it and was surprised and a bit nervous,” he said. The site promised a full refund to his credit card, which he received several weeks later after changing his mind. At first, he only received a screenshot of a cashback voucher.
Alex Boian, an Outdoor Industry Association executive in Boulder, Colorado, said he had a spotty shopping experience with Roomer Travel.
On a business trip to Washington, he wanted to stick to a budget of $300 a night. He was surprised when he was directed on Kayak to Roomer Travel for a Marriott reservation.
“I didn’t know it was a resale site,” he said, adding that he thought all of Kayak’s rooms were excess capacity. (Kayak said that if a user liked a hotel rate and it was provided by Roomer or Cancelon, Kayak would send the person to that site to complete the reservation.)
The day before he left, he checked his Marriott app, saw no record of the reservation, and called the hotel. His stay was new to them, as was the $300 rate. Their rate was $500 a night.
He tried to call a Roomer Travel customer service number, which he said was disconnected. After complaining on social media, he received a Marriott confirmation number through Roomer Travel.
Now he has vowed to leave the site for business trips. “I really need certainty,” he said. Roomer Travel said its customer service number is available 24 hours a day.
Henry Harteveldt, travel analyst at Atmosphere Research, said: “It is important that the consumer knows what the product is and what it is not.”
He stressed that it was important that all changes be made to the system in the right way. Otherwise, he said: “There is a risk of someone showing up and claiming to have a reservation when they don’t.”
For its part, the hotel industry is cautious.
“The American Hotel and Lodging Association is aware of the existence of sites like these and is constantly monitoring new entrants like these to the digital marketplace and their impact on guests,” wrote Rosanna Maietta, gatekeeper. word of the association, in an e-mail.
Six hours before check-in, Turner, the Washington publicist, received confirmation that her room had sold for the full asking price. She doesn’t know the price of the room that night or if she could have gotten more money. The sale was credited to his PayPal account.
“It worked really well for me,” she said.
