.hotel
| Status: | Proposed |
| Type: | Generic |
| Category: | Industry |
.hotel is a proposed TLD for use by hotels and related businesses worldwide.
The Hotel Consumer Protection Coalition, which is made up of over 25,000 hotels in over 100 countries, including many major brands, has filed complaints against six of the seven .hotel applications, as well as the applications for .hotels, .hoteis and .hoteles. They support the application submitted by HOTEL Top-Level-Domain S.a.r.l, and urge the Independent Objector to object to the other applications on community grounds. If this does not occur, they plan to file their own Community Objections.[1]
Current Applicants
- Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd., the company applied for 68 TLDs on its own behalf
- Radix (DotHotel Inc.), a subsidiary of the Directi Group that has applied for 31 TLDs. Somewhat restricted registration policy
- Fegistry, LLC (Jay Westerdal)
- Famous Four Media (dot Hotel Limited), the company has applied for 61 TLDs.[2]
- HOTEL Top-Level-Domain S.a.r.l has the support of various hotel coalitions, and features a closed registration policy.
- Donuts (Spring McCook, LLC)
- Despegar Online SRL
Booking.com has applied for .hotels, and Despegar Online SRL has also applied for .hoteis ("hotels" in Portuguese) and .hoteles ("hotels" in Spanish).
Bid by HOTEL Top-Level-Domain S.a.r.l
HOTEL Top-Level-Domain S.a.r.l's mission is to provide a secure and credible namespace for the global hotel industry, meaning its providers, suppliers, and customers, as well as to provide products and services enhancing the efficiency and convenience of marketing and e-commerce for hotels and related organizations worldwide.[3]
.hotel is supported by the International Hotel and Restaurant Association, the largest global association of hospitality providers,[4] as well as by the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa, DesignHotels.com, the German Hotel Association (IHA), WorldHotels, FEHGRA Argentina, Corinthia Hotels International, and Der Europäische Hof Hotel Europa, among others.[5] It is also notably supported by the Hotel Consumer Protection Coalition, which counts Choice Hotels, InterContinental, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Starwood and Wyndham hotel chains among its members. This coalition has filed comments with ICANN against every other .hotel application on community grounds. They have also said they would file community objections.[6]
In December 2010, dotHOTEL selected Afilias as the DNS and registry services provider for the .hotel TLD application to be submitted to ICANN.[7]
Registration
In order to register for a .hotel domain name, one must be able to provide evidence that they fall under one of the following groups: individual hotels, hotel chains, hotel marketing organizations, hotel associations and organizations, or organizations and stakeholders principally involved in the hotel industry. Before registration becomes open to the public, registration will be made open to trademark holders within the industry, allowing them to register domains based on their intellectual property rights.
Once registration is opened, the .hotel TLD will be available at most common registrars, where hotels and other hotel community members already hold their domain portfolios. A .hotel TLD is estimated to cost €60 per year per domain name.[8]