Marriott International announced Tuesday that Expedia Group would be the exclusive global optimized distributor of the hotel giant’s wholesale rates, availability and content starting on October 15.As part of the agreement, Marriott will leverage Expedia’s technology and service to create a single gateway for the redistribution of the hotel brand’s wholesale inventory. With an optimized distribution model, the complexity and inefficiency of the previous model will be eliminated. Trending Now The single gateway solution will also provide a consistent and reliable shopping experience for travelers, ensuring accurate hotel descriptions, room rates and fees through third-party providers.“At Marriott, our highest priorities include enhancing service and transparency for consumers while driving profitability for owners and franchisees,” Marriott global officer Brian King said in a statement. “With this truly innovative solution from Expedia Group, we can increase our reach to leisure travel providers while solving distribution challenges and improving profitability for our hotels around the world.”The changes being implemented following the deal with Expedia will result in redistributors no longer having access to rates and inventory directly from Marriott. Instead, they will need to contact Expedia Partner Solutions to obtain the necessary information if they qualify.While tour operators will still be able to access wholesale rates from Marriott directly, they are also now able to leverage Expedia Partner Solutions as the optimized distributor for Marriott International wholesale rates.As for Marriott hotels, the new optimized distribution model will reduce the cost, complexity and consumer issues associated with the current redistribution marketplace.“We believe in unlocking the power of the Expedia Group platform for our partners so that they can benefit from our significant investments in technology, support services and industry expertise,” Expedia Senior Vice President Christian Gerron said. “This agreement with Marriott International is a great example of putting this ethos into practice.” Let's block ads! (Why?)