London, UK – With economic hardship casting shadows across Europe and North America, thousands of hotel owners are preparing to battle the rising costs of online travel agencies (OTAs).

Global Hotel Exchange, a new online travel agency model offering cost-free distribution to hotels facing ever-rising commissions and fees, has already signed "thousands of hotels." in advance of its January 2012 launch.

According to Magnuson Hotels and Global Hotel Exchange CEO Thomas Magnuson, “The massive number of hotels we are signing daily from dozens of countries clearly indicates a desire to combat a global triple threat of falling demand, lower room rates, and increased OTA fees.”

Hoteliers are facing still more instability in 2012, and the cost of marketing via the top tier of OTAs can reach as high as a 30% share of room revenue. In the US alone, more than $8 billion in distribution fees have been lost to hotel owners in the past year.

Coming in January, Global Hotel Exchange will offer the visibility, security, and “billboard effect” the mainstream OTAs generate, at no cost to hotel proprietors.

Hotels can register online at

About GHX

Global Hotel Exchange (GHX) is a new worldwide trading platform going live in January 2012 across internet, mobile and social networks, GHX is a consumer booking platform that will provide ‘market based pricing,’ a simple, fast and transparent way to book a room at a fair market price.

Hotel owners will receive worldwide marketing at no cost. There are no merchant discounts, commissions or distribution fees of any kind to hotels. Hotels will regain control their own rates and allocations via security extranet. Global Hotel Exchange charges a small one time service fee to consumers for each booking, which underwrites the marketing and technology necessary to sell rooms at no cost to hoteliers.