Customized Booking Engine Delivers More Guests to Warwick's Doorstop
Imagine remodeling a guest room in your hotel and the time and attention that is devoted to customizing every single detail to your property, from the drapes and artwork to the television, programming, and of course, technology. Then imagine walking into a home supply store and picking a standard door, one you and every one of your guests have seen a million times, and slapping it on the entrance to that room. Imagine how quickly that one misstep
can detract from the value you've created through the rest of your property's otherwise custom remodel. Imagine what that seemingly minor detail will take away from the guest experience.
Now take that scenario and apply it to your property's virtual guest rooms.
Recent research presented in "The Pegasus View" indicates that hotel bookings through online channels were up 16.38 percent over last year, and that look-to-book guests are still hovering around 1,700 to 1. The downturn has served as the impetus for several properties to tweak and improve their existing product presented on-site once the booking has been made. However, with these figures, it is impossible to expect guests to land on your actual doorstep if you haven't invested the time and attention to detail on your virtual doorstep?
Warwick International Hotels and Resorts, now in its 30th year, recently remodeled its virtual guest room, www.warwickhotels.com. Every single detail was considered and customized to capture the company's reputation for combining local characteristics with attentive service to guests in elegant and luxurious settings. The site serves as the company's primary online presence for more than 40 upscale hotels and resorts in the most desired cities on five continents, which means it not only needs to be broadly appealing aesthetically, but it also needs to drive bookings. The new customized site did not conform to standard booking engine templates currently available, so the company tapped its 15-year representation partner, Utell Hotels & Resorts, for a customizable option.
Utell has served as a partner to Warwick for half of its hotel "life" on two levels: by providing sales and representation to market Warwick's properties internationally to thousands of travel agencies, major travel management companies, corporations and consortia; and by providing booking solutions powered by Pegasus Solutions. Already using Pegasus' RezView central reservation system (CRS), Warwick evaluated Pegasus' NetBooker NG booking engine to enable customers to make reservations directly on its new website. NetBooker NG, part of Pegasus' RezView NG CRS platform, offers unlimited customization.
Upon implementation in August, NetBooker NG allowed shoppers on www.warwickhotels.com to fully understand and experience Warwick the brand. They could shop dates and room types, compare packages, and create the stay they desired. NetBooker NG also facilitated the display of each property's wide variety of room and suite types and rates along with rich digital photography and dynamic descriptions in an easy-to-navigate layout. From a revenue standpoint, it enables Warwick to feature and book high-value packages that enhance the guest stay, supporting revenue generation year-round.