The Room77 site processes guest preferences to select which rooms are the best match in individual hotels.

It may be the last piece of the hotel distribution puzzle. Room77.com is a website launched yesterday that enables hotel guests to get detailed glimpses of their hotel rooms before they check in. And armed with this information, guests will be able to request the rooms that best suit their needs and preferences. So far, the site has information on more than 425,000 guestrooms in 2,500 properties in 15 U.S. cities and London.

“In many ways, hotels are black boxes,” says Kevin Fliess, Room77’s general manager and vice president of product. “While there are many websites that provide general information about specific hotels, there are none, until now, that really explore the guestroom. As a result, guests have had no way of knowing whether they’ll get a room that matches their preferences.”

Consumers can visit the site either before or after they make their hotel reservations. They choose a hotel and set their room preferences—high or low floors, importance of view, proximity to elevators and need for a connecting room—and the search engine calculates the rooms in that property that most closely match their criteria. The results page also includes a map showing the location of the rooms and of the area surrounding the hotel. The coolest feature, however, is a photo of the virtual view outside the window of the room chosen. Site developers determine the latitude and longitude of each hotel in the database, calculate the height of each floor and, using Google Earth technology, create the room view feature.

Customers looking to book are directed to an external booking engine—either Orbitz or the website of hotels or chains with which the site has relationships—where they can make a reservation. The developers of the site recommend users print the list of matched rooms and then contact the hotel directly a few days before checking in to request a specific room.

The Room77 iPhone app allows users to evaluate the rooms they’re assigned at check-in.

An iPhone app of the site further empowers users at check-in. Once they’re assigned to specific rooms, they can look it up on the app to see if it matches their needs. Mobile users will also be asked to be room sleuths at properties not yet part of the system. They can rate the room in several categories—view, quietness, cleanliness, overall—upload photos of the room, the view out the window and a photo of the hotel floor plan on the back of guestroom doors.

The site provides several benefits to hoteliers, believes Fliess. “First of all, it will drive great guest loyalty for those hotels affiliated with our site. But, perhaps more importantly, it gives hoteliers an opportunity to generate additional revenues on those rooms that are most desirable. It’s very similar to what the airlines are doing with premium seating.”

Fliess says the site will strike deals with hotels and hotel companies to share revenues on business it can direct to the hotel distribution channels. The site is targeting all hotels in the three- to five-star category around the world. He hopes to have one million rooms onboard by the end of the year.

The site’s executive team has strong backgrounds in both Internet technology and travel distribution. Founder and chairman is Brad Gerstner, a hedge fund operator who’s on the board of directors of Orbitz, Zillow and other high-tech firms. Investors include Expedia founder Rich Barton, former IAC Travel CEO Erik Blatchford and MTV founder Bob Pitman.

As unique as Room77 is, it’s not the first foray into hotel room selection technology. Homewood Suites, and now Home2 by Hilton, offer a Suite Selection tool that allows guests who book at the extended-stay brands to choose their suites. Homewood launched the service four years ago, but so far just five percent of guests use the tool, says a Hilton spokesperson.