HITEC 2004 : Booking Engines

Mary C. | 16 July 2004 |

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HITEC 2004 : Booking Engines Booking Engines were another highlight at HITEC — there seemed to be dozens of providers on the show floor. A new generation of highly functional booking engines were being touted by several major providers. These booking engines look great and are easy for the consumer to use. They support profitable features like packaging and last minute discounting. They are easy to maintain and offer useful stats regarding bookings.

We are really excited by the direction the market is moving in this regard. Our experience indicates that many potential bookings are lost due to booking engines that are not carefully designed with the consumer in mind. We are concerned that a large percentage of our lodging properties are using booking engines that give their websites a competitive disadvantage. A word of caution to booking engine providers: make sure your own booking engine looks great and is easy to use — the standards are being raised by your competitors.