Preferred Hotel Group Introduces Total Branded Connectivity
Enhancements to iBook, Preferred's Internet Booking Engine, Customizes the Booking Experience and Leverages Brand Awareness
Chicago, IL - December 13, 2007 - Preferred Hotel Group has completed significant enhancements to its distribution systems to achieve Total Branded Connectivity. With Total Branded Connectivity the value of PHG brands is leveraged into the electronic booking process across all channels, including the internet, because it enhances technology with a recognised identity.
The initiative gives member hotels across the brands the capability to offer their guests a highly customised booking experience via iBook, the company’s exclusive booking engine. Among its many innovations is an online Concierge feature that allows travellers to create a total package based on their individual interests and needs when they book their hotel stay. Other features include customised content for key group accounts, as well as content driven by the traveller’s requested arrival date, the hotel’s promotional needs, and more – all within a framework that is fully integrated with the member hotel’s own website.
“The essence of hospitality is its focus on the individual. Total Branded Connectivity allows Preferred to do so on an unprecedented level– from the individual member hotel to the individual guest,” said John Ueberroth, Chairman and CEO of Preferred Hotel Group. “It gives our member hotels a real competitive advantage via a customised booking engine and allows them to personalise the guest experience from the moment a traveller begins the booking process. The same way our brand loyalty program, I Prefer™, makes it possible for hotels to recognise guests on their very first visit to a Preferred Hotel Group property.”
"Sundance Resort appreciates the effectiveness of the online reservations by Preferred Boutique, which makes our brand highly visible for guests who utilise our booking engine,” said Chad Linebaugh, Co-Manager, Sundance Resort. “This booking engine is easy for customers to navigate and our promotions are presented in a way that are highly visible, effective and user friendly.”
Dynamic Hotel Packaging: The Online Concierge
One of the primary features of Preferred Hotel Group’s new technology
is a Concierge enhancement that automatically displays on the confirmation
screen when a guest books a room. This feature allows travellers to enhance
their stay by purchasing individual package components, creating an individualised
itinerary in advance of their arrival. Guests can reserve special amenities,
spa treatments and more, or request to receive information on local attractions
of interest. Each guest then receives an email confirmation outlining
the Concierge items booked, along with a link that allows them to continue
Concierge “shopping.”
"At the Boston Harbor Hotel we believe in the value of Total Branded
Connectivity and the recognition it creates throughout the booking process,"
said General Manager Paul Jacques. "iBook's new enhancements have
been easy for our team to implement and have created a 'one stop shopping'
experience for guests looking to customise their Boston experience."
iBook Customisation
Preferred’s booking engine, iBook, offers exceptional customisation capabilities,
integrating its superior technology with a look and feel that maintains
the individual hotel’s image. On-demand hotel information provides a quick
overview of the property, along with an image gallery. Implant processing
allows the hotel to provide customised content for key accounts (corporations,
groups, travel agencies or any designated user group). Among its other
innovative features are:
- Unlimited customised navigation links that fully integrate iBook with the hotel’s homepage
- Superior language selection choice (English, Russian, Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, German, Italian)
- The ability to suppress certain fields that don’t apply to the individual hotel; for example, smoking/non-smoking room options, children’s policies, etc
- Date-driven displays that deliver content appropriate to a season, holiday or event, depending upon the requested arrival date
- The ability to customise marketing messages, room and rate descriptions, guarantee and cancellation policies, and more
- Rate filtering capabilities, giving meeting planners direct access to their negotiated rates
- Advertising capabilities, allowing properties to promote products and services within the booking process
iBook also allows customers the flexibility to retrieve, update or modify their iBook reservations after the booking is completed.
“The Columbia Gorge Hotel recognises the value of ‘Total Branded Connectivity’ because it provides meaningful differentiation in all booking channels. We’ve been enthusiastic adopters of the new iBook innovations as they have significantly improved the online booking experience through expanded content and ease of use,” says Glen Lewis, General Manager of the award-winning Columbia Gorge Hotel.
About Preferred Hotel Group
Preferred Hotel Group is a global leader in the hospitality industry,
delivering high-performance sales, marketing, and technology solutions
to 600+ independent hotels and resorts in more than 65 countries. Its
family of brands represents a collection of the finest hotels in the world
and includes Preferred Hotels® & Resorts, (www.preferredhotels.com);
Preferred Boutique (www.preferredboutique.com);
Summit Hotels & Resorts (www.summithotels.com);
and Sterling Hotels (www.sterlinghotels.com),
and now Historic Hotels of America (www.historichotels.org).
For more information please visit www.preferredhotelgroup.com
In September 2007, the company entered the luxury real estate market with the launch of Preferred Residences – a membership and exchange program for luxury shared ownership resorts that provides an exceptional level of service and amenities. Properties are held to exacting standards derived from the same Preferred Global Standards of Excellence™ on which the company has built its 40-year heritage in the hospitality industry. For more information please visit www.preferredresidences.com.
CONTACT: Nicola Parker / Maricel Fononda
Lucre Communications
+44 (0) 208 332 9690
PreferredHotels@lucrecommunications.com
For high-resolution imagery of our properties, please visit the Preferred Hotel Group Image Library at www.preferredhotelgroup.com/press.htm.
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