HotelsHippo.com promises to counter unjustified commission charges by online booking platforms

Founder and Managing Director Keerthi Bandara Herath

HotelsHippo.com has been launched as a solution to counter the unjustified commission charges by various foreign online platforms, ranging from 15 to 23%.

It is the first sole local hotel booking platform to be launched in Sri Lanka, approved by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority as an Online Travel Agency (OTA), This endeavour is in alignment with the government’s initiative to minimize the “economic leakage” by promoting local businesses.

Both foreigners and local travellers are heavily dependent on foreign platforms for hotel bookings. But the revenue does not fully remain in the country. This is the “Economic Leakage” which has taken over $800 million out of the country in 2018 by various means. This is where HotelsHippo.com comes into play by offering an alternative local booking platform to minimise this loss to the country.

The “economic leakage” is really impacting Sri Lanka, the company said. It estimates multiple dollars going out of the country by various means on booking systems. “We wanted to minimise this by offering an alternative local booking platform,” says Link International Group of Companies Founder and Managing Director Keerthi Bandara Herath. Specialising in hospitality sector applications HotelsHippo.com comes under this Group. Other ventures include Hippo Corporate Ltd., a software company specialising in banking and finance sector automation. Part of the group are Cambridge Consultation Services (UK) Ltd., and Wellness Ceylon (UK) Ltd.

“We are offering a game-changer in the Tourism Industry with two unique features for the first time in the world,” Herath added. 

According to him the innovation has been in development since 2020 as a research and development project with a cost of over Rs. 100 million in Sri Lanka by a team of Sri Lankan IT professionals from my software company, deploying top-notch, unparalleled, latest technologies.

To boost the confidence of the travellers, we are introducing a “Hippo Panic” button together with our app to directly upload a short video clip with location, time and date tagged to our system with a simple press of a button, free to use.

“HotelsHippo.com is not just a booking platform but we are building a tourism ecosystem

to cater the all segments of the tourism industry,” Herath added. 

He said, the truly Sri Lankan solution HotelsHippo.com enables saving valuable foreign exchange.

“Sri Lanka has shown an increase in solo travellers. In order to boost their confidence, we came up with ‘Hippo Panic’,” explained Herath.

When a user clicks the ‘Hippo Panic’ button:

1. Request connection: You will have the option to initiate a call and speak directly with our support team. This allows you to communicate your concerns and situation in real-time.

2. Safety actions initiated: The team will immediately begin to take steps to ensure your safety and well-being. They are prepared to offer support and guidance tailored to your specific needs.

3. Immediate location and situation images shared: The system will automatically share images from your device’s front and back cameras along with your current location. This helps our team to quickly assess and respond to your situation, ensuring that you receive the necessary assistance promptly. Your safety is our foremost concern.

Hippo is a great choice for better bidding approaches. A simple widget on the site allows visitors to enjoy a new booking experience that can help boost guest satisfaction along with hotel revenue. These two options will strongly help raise business, increase revenue and enhance visitors’ turn into guests.

“For hotels to get more occupancy and guests to fulfil their dream of a luxury stay, we have made a different choice to keep our guests open for all types of stay, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay. This means more people can be better informed, explore and inspire to travel more, which leads to a better travel market,” explained Herath, who was educated in London and a consultant criminologist by profession with a proven track record of international business and exposure.

The common point between the “Direct Bidding” and “Request Offers” functions are that the hotelier sets the price and hopes to reach the right guests with the right price at the right moment. However, if one prefers standard booking, they can do that too, by just disabling the bidding options.

Guests can give their own prices and get super deals. There are no more reasons to wait for a promotion. After selecting a hotel, guests can place a bid based on their budget and expectations, which must be within the limits set by the hotelier. The hotelier can accept or reject the bid or place a counter bid in hopes of finding a common ground. Both parties get instant responses and can finalise the bid within the time limit.

The guest requests for an offer in a particular area and hotels in that area can reply with a particular request. Acceptance of that offer is not publicly displayed or handled by any third party; the rates are not public. The customer needs to wait patiently for offers to come in and is alerted by a notification. The hotels have a time limit to respond with an offer.

Requesting offers enable hotels to get a clear picture of which price visitors are ready to pay and at which period of the year. This strongly contributes to yield management strategies. Even though requested prices may be rejected, hotels can keep the data about guests’ willingness to pay and can send them personalised offers for the next time their hotel needs to be filled.

This data can be used to predict traveller behaviour and create special packages with dynamic pricing based on guest preferences, said Herath.

HotelHippo.com is a Sri Lankan company with an in-house call centre and technical team. It aims to charge only $ 1 for a room above its cost. Additionally, there is no registration or any other hidden charges.

“We offer two unique features to increase revenue for the first time in the world. We promote Sri Lankan properties around the globe for free and the country as a tourist destination. We have budgeted Rs. 200 million to promote our presence for 2025-2026,” revealed Herath, who has vast first-hand experience in an array of businesses/industries in an international context. He served as a visiting lecturer at the University of Peradeniya in Leadership and Ethics, in the Faculty of Social Science. He also serves as the chairman of the China Sri Lanka Business Development Council, as the chairman of the Chamber of Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers – Oyamaduwa and a member of other professional bodies abroad.