Lodging Interactive Launches Group Booking Tool
JANUARY 28, 2009 - Lodging Interactive, a leading interactive marketing agency servicing the hospitality industry, today announced the roll out of its innovative group booking tool, link2brand.com.
link2brand.com provides hotels with a simple way to convert long and hard to remember brand.com URL's into short, "friendly" URL's which redirect back to the brand.com website.
"link2brand.com is an exciting new group booking tool that enables hotel sales people to book more business," stated Mr. DJ Vallauri, Founder & president of Lodging Interactive. "By providing group customers with short, relevant and easy to remember group booking links, hotels can provide better overall service and differentiate themselves against their competitive set. A Personalized URL ("PURL") is not truly a PURL until it is customized made relevant to the customer."
link2brand.com compliments existing brand customized group web pages and reservation links by going a step further. link2brand.com addresses the issue hotel sales people have always faced, providing group clients with long, hard to remember and complicated links for guests to book into their special group room rates.
Here's how link2brand.com works:
link2brand.com converts booking links provided by the hotel's brand into easy to remember and relevant links which can be printed on invitations or emailed:
Brand provided custom link: (illustration purposes only)
http://www.YourBrand.com/h/d/hi/1/en/advancedsearch?roomResult=none&hotelCode=CLTAP&rateCode=HYHNT&quickRes=city&_requestid=1302301
link2brand.com "friendlier" link:
http://HotelWeddingRooms.com/SmithWedding
When a customer visits the shorter, link2brand.com link, they are automatically re-directed to the longer brand established custom link.
"Ask yourself, which link do you think your bride and groom would prefer to print on their invitations or to email to their guests? By using shorter and group relevant links hotels can increase the level of personalization with their group customer," stated Mr. Vallauri.
Hotel's can select to use any of the following link2brand.com domain names which ensures even more relevance to the client's group or event:
o HotelWeddingRooms.com
o HotelGroupRooms.com
o HotelAssociationRooms.com
o HotelBarmitzvahRooms.com
o HotelBatmitzvahRooms.com
o HotelRenunionRooms.com
o MyHotelPromotions.com
o PreferredHotelRate.com (yes, you can even create special rate links for corporate accounts)
In addition to using link2brand.com for group sales efforts, it can also be effectively used for local print media and special promotions. For example, a hotel may decide to offer a regional promotion and advertise the promotion in their local newspaper. Using link2brand.com they could include the online booking link within their advertisement, for example: MyHotelPromotions.com/PromotionName. Hotels can even use link2brand.com for corporate transient business without customers needing to remember the required special SRP codes.
"link2brand.com truly fills an industry need and does so in a cost-effective manner," stated Mr. Vallauri. "This sales tool is a must for any hotel, franchised or independent as it works well with any third party booking engine."
Additional link2brand.com features include:
o Auto expiring links which become disabled beyond a certain date
o One master hotel account can create sub-users, perfect for multiple Sales Managers
o Web based service, works from anywhere with no software to download or to install
o Additional domains added frequently to create more relevant customer links
Lodging Interactive is providing link2brand.com at no cost through June 30, 2009. "This is our way of helping hotels through the current economic slow down," added Mr. Vallauri. "Our belief is that Sales Managers will find this to be a valuable sales tool and will continue with the service beyond the extended free trial period."
For online brand demonstrations and to sign up for a free trial account, please visit: www.link2brand.com.
Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) is a global leading lodging company based in Bethesda,Maryland, USA, with more than 4,200 properties in 80 countries and territories. Marriott International reported revenues of nearly $14 billion in fiscal year 2014. The company operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts under 19 brands, including: The Ritz-Carlton®, BVlgari®, EDITION®, JW Marriott®, Autograph Collection® Hotels, Renaissance® Hotels, Marriott Hotels®, Delta Hotels and Resorts®, Marriott Executive Apartments®, Marriott Vacation Club®, Gaylord Hotels®, AC Hotels by Marriott®, Courtyard®, Residence Inn®, SpringHill Suites®, Fairfield Inn & Suites®, TownePlace Suites®, Protea Hotels® and MoxyHotels®. Marriott has been consistently recognized as a top employer and for its superior business ethics. The company also manages the award-winning guest loyalty program, Marriott Rewards® and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards® program, which together surpass 50 million members. For more information or reservations, please visit our website at 
