TravelCLICK Strengthens its Base of Reservation Channels with the Addition of Three Travel Providers

As the hospitality industry looks to turn the corner in a down economy, it is more important than ever that hoteliers arm themselves with partners and tools that will position them to increase bookings and enhance occupancy. TravelCLICK, the leading provider of ecommerce solutions for hotels, today announced partnerships with three industry leaders who provide hoteliers with a competitive advantage across key reservation channels, including the multi-billion-dollar travel agent market and one of the largest third-party travel websites.  

New demand generation partners include:

• Carlson Wagonlit Travel Preferred Status: TravelCLICK has partnered with a global leader in business travel management, Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), to offer Preferred Status for participating TravelCLICK iHotelier Central Reservation System (CRS) hotels throughout Carlson's North American locations. TravelCLICK hotels participating in CWT's preferred consortia program will receive positional screen preference to CWT agents controlled by Carlson in addition to other marketing opportunities through this high-value travel agent network.
• Expedia QuickConnect: The ability for independent hotels and small- to medium-size hotel chains to link directly from the iHotelier CRS to Expedia saves time and streamlines bookings flow. TravelCLICK can now connect its iHotelier CRS customers to Expedia QuickConnect, a system interface enabling hotels to directly manage inventory, rate, and booking information with more than 70 Expedia sites and hotels.com sites worldwide.
• Hickory Travel Systems: In marketing partnership with Hickory Travel Systems (HTS), TravelCLICK is announcing a new point of sale travel agency GDS media advertising solution delivered exclusively to HTS member agencies. Hickory agencies sell more than $600 million dollars annually of advertising-enabled Global Distribution System (GDS) hotel revenue. Now hotels participating in the Hickory consortia program can market to and influence bookings from this specific segment of travel agents at point-of-sale across all four GDS. With this highly targeted campaign, hotels can leverage real trackable return on investment (ROI)—and the opportunity to maximize their exposure, increase sales, and grow market share.

Leveraging these and other programs by TravelCLICK, iHotelier CRS customers have seen a collective year-over-year increase of 20% in rate code-based business and 56% increase in online travel agent (OTA) revenue. TravelCLICK's revenue management experts work with these hotels to selectively design programs that maximize bookings and drive profitable business across all channels.