System and method for managing inventory and distribution of hotel rooms by multiple brokers using an online interface

An e-commerce based transaction system on a network connected via the Internet to multiple remote computers and mobile phones providing the distribution of hotel room lodging reservations or other lodging sites for location and date of specific events. A central database is hosted on a server and transmitted to individual remote servers or users that can have a respective database of listings from individual brokers oration or other system participants. In the alternative, the blockchain can be a mode of information dissemination. E-commerce transactions are conducted by the system, which performs a number of transaction-related functions, such as posting available hotel room reservations or lodging site reservations for sale, and purchasing spaces for use, resale, brokerage or pure speculation online. The system and methodology accommodate location-based events where hotel rooms are listed by brokers or hotel operators or owners and sold to individual system users and marketed reflective of and in advance of specific time and location sensitive events.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Literally thousands of diverse, lucrative investment options exist outside of the stock market, currency trading, cattle and corn futures, collectables and memorabilia, and so on, if you are willing to research, understand, and go after them. As with all investments regardless of size, it always comes down to the inevitable trade-off between risk and reward, and the endless search to turn that maxim on its head by maximizing the reward while conversely reducing the risk, which until now was a financial paradox.

The process of booking a hotel room reservation or lodging site reservation (e.g., Airbnb) for a future date based upon when a particular popular event will occur in any global location, or the speculation of hotel accommodations, follows the present market conditions of supply and demand. For example, the Super Bowl generates hotel room or other lodging scarcity annually, and solar eclipses generate a path stretching thousands of miles long, and over 50 miles wide of hotels and lodging in sold-out conditions because of their paths.

Online e-commerce is enabling and empowering people to monetize an underutilized asset as never before, by the likes of Uber and Lyft for transportation, Airbnb for a rarely used spare room, and eBay for a surplus of goods, are all examples of e-commerce based income generation for individuals. In most cases, democratized platforms allow for users and purveyors (e.g., Uber drivers) to participate. By having a democratized platform, Uber enables its users to enjoy a ride or profit from being a driver, through the use of an automobile often owned by the driver.

More importantly, what we see coming again is the emergence of products and services being offered, that are directly tied into the phenomenon driving Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, and Ebay. Businesses such as the recently launched financial service called “loftium.com”, which makes “down payment” loans to people shopping for homes, by having the home owner promise to set one room aside for use as an Airbnb room, and paying the lender a percentage of that rental income.

Loftium's technology predicts how much revenue an Airbnb will generate in the neighborhoods where a customer is house hunting. Using that data, Loftium's team determines how much down-payment assistance each customer is eligible for, thereby having ownership in ten separate rental incomes. A Loftium type secondary company could not exist without the primary Airbnb, or how an Ebay gave birth to PayPal, or in this case, an expedia.com or any of the other Online Travel Agents (“OTA”) giving birth to the likes of a roomspeculator.com and an entirely new Industry created around hotel room reservations.

There are always going to be those that will take this opportunity to load up on as many positions as possible. Speculating on lodging scarcity could be done by an entity set up for that purpose to aggregate as many reservations as possible, much like the ticket scalper, and what if every lodging site within the path of a several thousand mile long, and 70 miles wide solar eclipse was “online” and available for speculation years in advance? Then and only then will the Hotel owner operator know the true value of their property, the hotel room and the true cost of a reservation. Indeed, the location and time and exact locations of the Total Solar event (a moving path over a land, or sea, mass) is so well known forever in advance, that its appearance is carved in Galactic Granite, so that speculators, agents (or even simply would be viewers) could plan well in advance to take part and invest in the event opportunity as either a purveyor, speculator, viewer, reseller, Agent, or any combination thereof.

Based on 4 years of subpoenaed data (NYAG 2010-'14) over 100 Airbnb users had 10 or more properties. So at least in New York City prior to recent legislation, major, million-dollar real estate businesses use Airbnb. It's possible that these apartments are pieces of larger real estate empires. But this data suggests that mostly small-scale investors use Airbnb, not real estate companies. Not at all democratized such as with Uber, likely because real estate carries with it a certain responsibility for securing a designated spot of land.

With approximately 137,000 hotels in the US, there are approximately 5,000,000 rooms available each night in locales with countless attractions, entertainment and sporting events flourishing throughout the year in just about every city in every state, and that's just in the US. Multiply those numbers by about five and this will give you some idea of the International opportunities. Long-term reservations have such high cancellation rates that hotels find themselves rushing around at the last minute to fill the gaps left by canceled bookings, which logically leads to price reductions, which in turn results in more people re-booking reservations, causing a vicious circle of cancelling and rebooking of reservations. What does not exist is a true “real time” exchange (like a commodities exchange) value of hotel rooms and lodging sites, independent of ownership or management, across all brands and modes of land control, from Airbnb to hotels to trailer parks and so on. Until now, and because of our system that can track and verify the true value of a given room, on a given day in a specific location. What does exist is an arbitrary room value, calculated and set in place based on the same arbitrary values used before, that are calculated months in advance, and booked on flawed data as to what the hotel owner operator “thinks” the room is worth. This information is then processed by the OTA's in their race to sell the room as quickly and for as cheaply as possible, having never let the “real-time” market dictate what the room's value is at its most valuable moment in time. What is proposed is a system that allows for the true value of a room's worth to be tracked, calibrated and compiled so the Hotel owner operator can better track his true margins and operating costs, proving to be as beneficial to the Hotel owner operator as Uber is to the world's ride-sharing public.

In 2015, a few of the major hotels began to extend the minimum notice of cancellation for guests to avoid fees. Some went from 6 p.m. on day of arrival to 24 hours or as much as “14 days notice required”. Prior to that, hotels such as Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide and InterContinental Hotels Group, among others, adopted a strategy to offer nonrefundable room rates at a lower price point.

According to a recent Travel Weekly report, hoteliers have since found that offering the discounted, nonrefundable rates to guests that book earlier in the booking window is moving the needle much more than increased cancellation fees. The article cites the New York Marriott Marquis, which was offering prepaid, nonrefundable rooms for late-September weekend dates at about a 15% discount when the story published. One wrinkle in hotels requiring travelers to pay in advance for a nonrefundable rate is that it takes away an advantage that hoteliers had over OTAs (Online Travel Agencies), which are not often able to offer hotel rooms with favorable cancellation policies attached to them.

Lastly, the existing high percentage of reserved room cancellations will obfuscate to a considerable degree any additional room reservation increases our speculators are adding to the mix, thereby shielding us and the real-time information we have at our disposal from hotels really knowing the true value of the service we are providing for an unknown period of time, at which point the “buzz” sets in along with reality. It is a well-known fact that people often double or triple book hotels in or near a Super Bowl, either close by, an intermediate range away or even further away, for no discernible reason other than knowing that reservations “don't cost anything”. The industry and the consumers end up both suffering in the end through higher hotel prices and being forced to endure less than optimal lodging situations, which is exactly one of the ills our system cures. The speculators book the rooms, list them on our site, and parcel them off a few at a time, maximizing the value of each, that which is then shared with the Hotel owner operator, who was not bothered or inconvenienced in any way during these transactions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a system and method for providing the controlled distribution and listing access for purchased hotel room reservations and lodging reservation sites, either for personal use, resale, brokerage, collection or speculation. Room or lodging site reservation inventory is created by way of an event lodging generator, which either accepts hotel room or lodging site reservation inventory from owners or operators or tenants with the right to sublet, or may generate inventory, based on events in the future with a specific date and geographic site(s) certain for occurrence. In one embodiment, transactions are facilitated through a central database that is hosted on an exchange server and transmitted to individual remote servers that can have a respective database of listing reservations from individual brokers or Hotel owner operators, or some other type of third party aggregator. This network-based system allows a broker, or “speculator” or agent to list pre-purchased, or some other restrictive caveat or reservation reserved hotel room reservation, on a database, whereby one or more recipients, or system “users” or visitors, are able to then purchase the reservation of that hotel room from the speculator.

According to the present invention, it is recognized that lodging sites, hotel rooms and the like, are overwhelmingly fungible. No truly democratized online resource exists for buying and selling, trading and brokering, and otherwise, an asset subject to speculation. The present invention helps the travel industry by providing for all fees and pricing, advertising fees and even data transfer fees. The present invention, for the first time, provides the travel industry with a way to obtain metrics, cross-brand and even cross-method for providing lodging from hotel spaces to Airbnb, in response to the recognition that certain future events will draw crowds. Indeed, said crowds may even include those associated with a solar eclipse.

The present invention is a flexible software platform that encompasses a variety of features, including but not limited to: property management software; vendor partnerships; guest communications; marketplace connectivity; reporting tools; cancellations; a brokerage portal for speculators, buyers, agents, hotel owner/operators; a communications hub; staff management; payment processing, commission tracking and payment; channel management; and reservation bookings. Furthermore, at every point, any entity or person with a right to a hotel or lodging site may “change roles”, so that the potential occupant for a coveted hotel room reservation may decide “I would rather offer my right for resale”, thus becoming a Speculator, or “I want to hold this and sell if a desired price is reached”, a speculator who's heart is in the event, not in the money, and if not offered enough, deciding to “stay as planned”.

According to the present invention, a form of variable geo-fencing may be used to provide that hotel rooms or lodging sites within bands of proximity to an event, and may reflect varying rate bands, so that the closer an asset is to an event, the more its pricing will be increased, taking into account supply and demand. However, it is not a requirement of the present invention that closer necessarily means more expensive, as an object of the present invention is true democratization so that system users or participants establish pricing based on demand and other relevant asset distributor, owner or operator parameters or incentives.

One embodiment of the present invention is a countdown alert that is sent to the online visitor, to alert them that time to purchase the hotel room reservation is running out. This alert can also be delivered to notify the speculator as well as the agent, to notify them of the time remaining on the reservation listing.

The present invention is also capable of expansion to incorporate other travel related services, including but not limited to: sightseeing tours; car rentals, leases and sales; yacht rentals, leases and sales; private airline bookings, leases and sales; restaurant reservations; local travel guides; specialty retailers; and points of interest within a specific geographical area. Additionally, we have reserved the capability of adding other tangible assets beyond real estate, hotels and properties in general, by readying a platform to address speculations on jewelry, art, precious stones and rare earth metals, etc., to name a few of the many possibilities before us.

By way of a reservation example, let's assume a potential hotel room user or even a speculator “A”, on Jan. 5, 2018 books a room in a Ski Lodge in Vermont in November for Spring Break, April 2019 at $200 per night, for Friday & Saturday, check-out Sunday. On or about Jan. 5, 2019, Party “A” then lists the room on a site according to the present invention for an amount more than what it was booked for, and for less than what it is currently being offered for at surrounding hotels since Speculator “A” is in a sold out hotel at the base of the Ski Lift, as long as that current offering amount is greater than the original booking amount. In this event, Party “A” started out as the room User and is now a Speculator and can also list the room with a sliding scale so as the deadline to cancel approaches, the reservation amount can be reduced daily until either flipped or cancelled or the Speculator decides to use the room. Four months later in May or June of that year, the lodge is booked and the closest hotel to the lifts is 30 miles away at $400 per night. But the Hotel owner operator has no “moral” way to make Speculator “A” pay closer to the true value of the room, without some severe public blowback. Of course, during Spring Break, snow is not a certainty, and so room prices can collapse at any moment. With the present invention, the hotel prices are dynamic in real time, and the sellers and buyers are totally democratized, so that a room reservation at a hotel may be procured via many sources and not a simple website or toll-free phone number as is often the case.

If flipped, the buyer (Party “B”, a buyer) pays the agreed upon room rate (in this case $300), plus an X (X %) percent Processing & Handling fee, and is then provided with a reservation number that matches the original $200 registration. The Hotel/Lodge is paid in full for the stay, and after Party/Client “B” checks in, arrangements are made to pay Speculator “A” an amount equal to the difference he originally booked the room for, less a XX (XX %) percent Processing & Handling fee. Of course, according the present invention, any number of financial arrangements may be made.

As the program grows and develops, ancillary amenities such as Concert, Sport, Theater Tickets, Restaurant reservations, Pre-paid Tours and Excursions, Private Aviation, etc., might also become an additional revenue stream connected to a given room reservation as a bonus or additional incentive to move room reservation inventory.

According the present invention, it is recognized that certain events occur which cause a temporary lodging site or hotel room shortage in a given area within a certain range of dates. For example, the Super Bowl creates a severe shortage of lodging shortage within a large geographic region. Also, solar eclipses occur rarely and cause a severe shortage of lodging sites and hotel rooms, over a wide-ranging geographic region, stretching thousands of miles long and over 50 miles wide, in the path of this amazing and rare event. According to the present invention, the path of the solar eclipse can be mapped decades in advance across the globe, and speculators may offer to buy up all the inventory in the path of the event. Who is a speculator? Who is an Agent? That process may be democratized, similar to Uber, so that any person or entity may become a speculator or Agent of a lodging, hotel, camp ground, etc. Any person or entity may decide to “reserve” or “buy up” if called for, as much inventory as desired in the path of the event, from hotel rooms to Airbnb sites to even parking lots upon which motor homes may rest or campgrounds. Agents and speculators are locals with knowledge that approach a given hotel and introduce them to participate in our system, and in return receive a commission. Speculators are the ones that know which hotels sell out and book a reservation in said hotel and receive a much bigger reward when the room reservation is sold. When the Agent realizes how much more money the Speculator made for the same amount of risk, the Agent becomes a Speculator. In short, the original owners of the lodging sites and hotel rooms are always made whole if they want to remain as they were and get their standard rate out of the gate. But, being made whole is actually being denied, knowing the true value of their property. Once the speculators set the secondary market, there will be winners and losers, much like Stub Hub operates for tickets to controlled events. Except in the Stub Hub example, it's not truly democratized, as Stub Hub is merely a broker who wins on brokerage fees only. According to the present invention, any party can be a broker, speculator or agent as the inventory for spaces is offered by so many diverse and unrelated parties. For example, for a solar eclipse, thousands of lodging sites may exist per square unit of measurement, versus tickets to a sporting event are offered by just one event operator such as a sports franchise. Unlike our System, with Stub Hub you can only become a speculator if you own/possess the ticket, while anyone in our System can become a Speculator, an Agent, an advertiser or just a casual visitor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Various embodiments are described for enabling an online hotel room reservation marketplace. Numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. The specific structural and functional details disclosed herein may be representative and do not necessarily limit the scope of the embodiments.

FIG.1diagrams the overall system and components of the present invention. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the online system interface100is stored on a central server102. The system interface100is monitored and controlled by the system administrator104. The system administrator104communicates directly with system advertisers106, whereby the system administrator104can integrate approved advertisements into the system interface100. The system interface100consists of: agents108; speculators112; and individual users114. An agent108is a type of system user that serves as the primary communication and listing content link between the system interface100and the hotel110. A speculator112is a system user that functions as a listing poster and hotel room reservation broker. The speculator lists reservations on the system interface100available for purchase. The individual user114functions as the consumer and can use the interface100as a means of searching or browsing for listed hotel room reservations on order to purchase reservations posted by the speculator112or the agent108.

FIG.2diagrams the control administrator component of the present invention. In accordance with the present invention, the administrator200communicates directly with the system interface202to monitor all interface content and control all content displayed within the interface202. The administrator200also serves as the control moderator and is able to interface directly to: agents204; hotels206; advertisers208; speculators210; and individual users212.

FIG.3diagrams the speculator component of the present invention. In accordance with the present invention, a speculator300is a system user that can broker hotel room reservations by posting the reservations already reserved by the speculator300to the system interface306. The speculator300is also able to communicate directly with hotels302or with agents304that communicate on behalf of hotels302. The speculator300lists a purchased reservation on the system interface306as a room listing310. All listings are monitored and controlled within the system interface306by the system administrator308. A room listing310can be viewed and then purchased by the individual system user312.

FIG.4diagrams the individual system user component of the present invention. In accordance with the present invention, a system user400accesses the system interface402online through a web browser or a mobile smartphone device. The user400can then view the listings database404through the system interface402. The user400can use the listing search function406in the database404to specify or filter408the listings to meet the requirements of the user400. Listing search filters408can include but are not limited to: filtering listings by date410; filtering listings by room type412, for example the room size; and filtering listings by price414. Once the filtering parameters408have narrowed the listing results, the user400is able to obtain the details416for each listing by selecting the specific listing. If the user400decides to purchase the room reservation, the user must complete the payment details on the payment portal418. Once payment details have been securely verified and processed within the payment portal418, the user400receives a transaction confirmation of the room reservation420.

FIG.5is a diagram of the event generator component of the present invention. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the Event Generator500is a component within the system interface that allows the system user to search listings by events. The Event Generator consists of: historic events502that have occurred previously; fixed events504that occur on a set date; fluctuating events506whereby the date and time can change; and user uploaded events508that have been uploaded by system users. Within the Event Generator500, the user can also filter events by event date510, and event time512. The Event Generator500also allows for specifying the location through the use of geo-fencing514. The user can view a map with a specific geo-fence perimeter, and view listings that are within the primary516, or secondary boundary518of the fence perimeter, as well as listings that are located out of the geo-fence boundary520.

FIG.6is a diagram illustrating the allocation of event generation and rights within the listings marketplace of the present invention. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, hotel room reservation listings function as the primary commodity in the listings marketplace. The system user612can view listings and select listings from within the listings marketplace610and select purchase options for the listings through the purchase of rights and reservations600portal. The system user has the ability to sell listings602; reserve listings604; share606the listing rights and reservations; and trade608the listing rights and reservations with other users for their listing rights and reservations.

FIG.7is a diagram of the purchase process and revenue sharing component of the present invention. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the speculator700reserves a room at a hotel702and then posts that reservation on the listing marketplace704. The listing price706will be set for an amount greater than the original reservation amount, and the speculator has the option to select a fixed price708or set the price at a sliding scale710, whereby the listing price gradually decreases as the reservation date approaches. Once the listing is purchased by a system user712, payment is allocated714to the hotel716where the reservation was originally made as well as a handling fee718, a percentage of the total listing price, paid to the system administrator. Once the reservation is redeemed720when the user checks in to the hotel, the remaining purchase price is paid to the speculator722, minus a handling fee724percentage paid to the system administrator from the profit amount paid to the speculator.

FIG.8is a line diagram illustrating a decentralized network. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the specific architecture of the network can be either decentralized or distributed.FIG.8provides an illustrative diagram of the decentralized network.FIG.8depicts each node with a dot800. Under this system, each node is connected to at least one other node802. Only some nodes are connected to more than one node804.

FIG.9is a line diagram illustrating a distributed network. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, each node in the distributed network900is represented by a dot902. Unlike a decentralized network, each node of a distributed network is directly connected to at least two other nodes904. This makes it more difficult to attach a distributed network. The present invention can be deployed on a centralized, decentralized, or distributed network.

FIG.10is a diagram illustrating the connections between the users and system of the present invention. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the agent1002signs up hotels1000to allow for the posting of sold out room listings1006on the online listing marketplace1008. The agent1002contacts hotels1000by phone, email or in person and is paid a Ten (10%) percent commission on the fee amount that the speculator1004receives from the sale of the listing1006, as well as 10% of any marketplace1008ads generated by the agent1002. The agent's100210% commission is calculated on the amount of fees received by the online marketplace1008from the purchase by user1010. The speculator's100480% commission is calculated on the amount the reservation is resold to the user1010and agrees to the 20% Processing & Handling fees. The hotel1000, in return for allowing rooms to be resold on the listing marketplace1008, receives 50% of the Processing & Handling Fees received by the marketplace1008, less the 10% commission paid to the agent1002.

FIG.11is a flow diagram illustrating online visitor use of the present invention. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, an online visitor1102is informed by an online travel agency1100that rooms for a specific date are booked. The online visitor1102contacts the hotel and is directed to the online listing marketplace1104. The online visitor1102browses the marketplace1104and is able to filter the listings by criteria such as but not limited to: Event, Country, or Date. The online visitor1102selects the listing from filtered criteria and then makes a bid1108on specific listing reservation. If the bid matches the speculator's ask, the speculator is informed1116by the marketplace1104of sale, after the visitor1102provides payment details through the marketplace payment portal1112. The system marketplace1104then notifies the hotel1118with the visitor's information and processes the visitor's1102payment for booking the listing, plus 10% Processing & Handling Fee. The marketplace instructs the speculator to pay the hotel in full for the original booking price, and once notified by the hotel of receipt of payment, the speculator is reimbursed payment less 20% processing and handling fee. The marketplace pays the hotel 50% of processing and handling fees paid by the room speculator, less 10% of amount of fees the marketplace received from the speculator on sale of the listing reservation. The listing marketplace then posts amount room was sold for1120, which then becomes barometer for other similar speculator listed properties.

FIG.12is a flow diagram illustrating additional visitor use of the present invention. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the online visitor1200, contacts the online travel agency1202to research prices and to book reservation for specific date(s) at specific location. The visitor1200transmits to the travel agency1202specific information and criteria1204such as, but not limited to: room/bed preferences, number of people, children, health issues, credit card (cc) information, contact information, and identity data. The travel agency1202transmits to the Hotel1208specific information and criteria1204received from the visitor1200. The agency1202transmits back to Hotel1206if room reservation is acceptable based on specific information and criteria1204it received. The hotel1206transmits acceptance1208of reservation or transmits not available if room already reserved1214. If Hotel1206accepts reservation1208, the travel agency1202transmits acceptance of reservation to the visitor1200and sends the visitor's personal information, credit card and contact credentials to Hotel1206along with an amount that can be charged to hold reservation if required1210. If the hotel1206declines1214, it transmits that information to the agency1202which then removes room price from website1216and transmits to the visitor1200that the room is already booked, and to contact hotel directly, whereby the visitor1200is re-directed to the online listings marketplace1218. Once a hotel becomes marketplace1218client, it is the responsibility of agent to ensure that the hotel has posted its direct contact information on its website and on that of travel agency websites, and that when a “booked” situation occurs, Hotel knows to automatically notify all reservation holders of the opportunity, and that if they wish to change or modify their existing reservation in exchange for an amount determined by them, to contact the system marketplace directly. This releases the hotel of any obligation as to the “Processing & Handling” fees, as well as to the distribution and amounts of said fees.

FIG.13is an example of analytical data used in the allocation of event generation and rights in accordance with the present invention. The example illustrated inFIG.8is a graph pertaining to a list of cities that will be in the visible pathway for an upcoming eclipse event, comparing the average cloud fraction based on historical weather data along the Y axis. To the duration and altitude of each listed city along the X axis. This data is then used to determine the optimal location to view the event, and thereby generating the value of hotel rooms in each of the listed cities for the event based on market interest for that particular event.

While various embodiments of the disclosed technology have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not of limitation. Likewise, the various diagrams may depict an example architectural or other configuration for the disclosed technology, which is done to aid in understanding the features and functionality that may be included in the disclosed technology. The disclosed technology is not restricted to the illustrated example architectures or configurations, but the desired features may be implemented using a variety of alternative architectures and configurations. Indeed, it will be apparent to one of skill in the art how alternative functional, logical or physical partitioning and configurations may be implemented to implement the desired features of the technology disclosed herein. Also, a multitude of different constituent module names other than those depicted herein may be applied to the various partitions. Additionally, with regard to flow diagrams, operational descriptions and method claims, the order in which the steps are presented herein shall not mandate that various embodiments be implemented to perform the recited functionality in the same order unless the context dictates otherwise.