A discount hotel booking site owned by US giant Expedia is to launch in the UK next month, and will provide competition for British market leaders lastminute.com and laterooms.com.

The site hopes to replicate its success in America and Canada, where 25,000 hotels are signed up and it is one of the top ten most visited websites.

Hotwire.com offers deals such as five-star hotels for the price of two-star ones and its move to Britain will shake up sales of deeply discounted rooms.

Hotwire president Clem Bason said the global downturn had hit business and leisure travel so hard that hotel chains were turning to travel sites such as Hotwire to sell unsold rooms. He said 40 per cent of hotel rooms were empty each night, offering an opportunity for Hotwire, which has been selling them for more than ten years in America.

The discounted offers are at unnamed hotels in specific locations, similar to lastminute’s ‘secret hotels’ deals.

Hotwire plans to back its British launch with a TV campaign starting next month.