Hilton Signs Deal With Rakuten Travel

Hilton Worldwide and Rakuten Travel have entered into a new intermediary agreement, through which the agency's customers have access to room availability, rates and reservation information at 54 Hilton properties.

The programme will later be expanded to include Hilton's 4,000 hotels in 90 countries.

Timothy Soper, Hilton Worldwide's VP Operations – Japan, Korea and Micronesia, said, “Japan is one of the world’s largest source markets for outbound tourism and represents a key strategic market for Hilton Worldwide. This intermediary agreement with Rakuten Travel is a major step in extending our market leading position in Japan to the rest of the world for Japanese travelers.”

Takanobu Yamamoto, President of Rakuten Travel, added, “This intermediary agreement with Hilton Worldwide is Rakuten Travel’s first direct system connection with an international hotel company outside of Japan. As one of the largest online hotel reservation sites in Japan with over 3 million room nights booked per month, we are delighted to offer our customers an extensive range of quality assured accommodation offered by a leading hotel group like Hilton Worldwide.”