Hotels plan internet booking deal

LEISURE group Six Continents, formerly Bass, will sell hotel bookings over the internet in Britain if trials in America are a success.

The group has teamed with rival chains Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Starwood in a US venture called Hotel Distribution System (HDS).

In Britain, it would compete directly with websites such as lastminute.com and would mirror Opodo, the airline seat reservation system run by major carriers.

The US venture will cover about 1.3 million rooms and allow affiliated websites to sell them through direct connections to the booking systems of the hotel companies.

Tom Seddon, a Six Continents vicepresident, said: 'It's possible that we'll be taking this into the UK.

'Our initial focus is in the US, but we're very interested in going global with it and Europe is likely to be the first place.'

HDS is planning to launch later this year.