Google taps in to mobile travel booking with Room 77 software licensing bid

Google wants you not only to search for hotel and flight deals using its search engine, but also reserve places through your smartphone.

The tech giant provides services spanning across many industries, including search, wearable technology, autonomous vehicles and a wallet for spending money online. The company is now spending cash on licensing hotel-booking software from Room 77, a startup backed by Expedia.

According to a letter sent to Room 77 shareholders, Chief Technology Officer Calvin Yang and a number of the company's engineers are taking flight and joining Google, which will obtain licenses to use the booking firm's technology.

Room 77 searches thousands of hotels and booking websites to find customers the best deals for free. After searching by location and check-in dates, you can view hotel room deals, the hotel's star system for quality, and a map to check you are in the best location for your trip. If Google uses such technology, it will provide another outlet to generate advertising revenue online for the firm.

While Google will be using the technology, Room 77 will maintain its "brand, websites, mobile applications and patents" according to the letter. The firm said it expects to distribute "tens of millions of excess cash" to investors.

Spokespeople for Room 77 and Google confirmed the deal to Bloomberg.

Google spent approximately $700 million purchasing ITA Software in 2011, a company that provides flight information, and the firm also provides a hotel finder service for customers.

Read on: Bloomberg

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com