Cendant Re-Launches Brand Websites, Adds Trip.com Functionality

PARSIPPANY, NJ— After re-launching Trip.com last month with new features, Cendant Corp. decided to beef up its lodging brand websites, which were officially unveiled June 20 with improved usability and a new Travel Resource section. Falling on the heels of an online rate guarantee, which debuted June 17, the newly redesigned brand websites for: Super 8; Days Inn; Ramada; Travelodge; Howard Johnson; Knights Inns; Villager; Wingate Inn and AmeriHost are expected to increase bookings and raise consumer confidence, according to Peter Strebel, svp/marketing & sales for Cendant. “Our strategy is increase our look to book ratio,” said Strebel. “Cendant is a big player on the Internet. With Trip.com and our new websites, our goal is to own the Internet space in our area. Trip.com brings an element that will help us get to that level.” New to each of the brand sites is a Travel Resource button, located on the main menu, that offers a flight tracker, driving directions, street maps, destination guides, airport maps, weather, and newsstand information— all powered by Trip.com. “We partnered with Trip.com for destination and travel content,” said Paula Drum, vp/distribution and e-commerce for Cendant’s Hotel Division. In addition to added destination content, Trip.com brings a new airline component to the Cendant sites— a tool not often available on many hotel branded websites. Through its hotel sites like Ramada.com, users can track the status of any commercial, airborne flight within North America using real-time FAA data-feed information, and view maps of airport layouts worldwide to better prepare for trips. But Drum was quick to note that, “The Trip.com features are only a small component of the website redesigns.” Overall, Cendant improved the booking process of the branded sites through the addition of newly created tools including: a shopping cart, which allows online travel buyers to view all purchases they’ve made through the site; thumbnail hotel photos listed on the search result page to allow consumers to better compare different properties; and a step-by-step indicator during the reservation process, which allows users to better understand where the are in the booking process and how many steps are remaining before the reservation is complete. In addition, when Web users log-on to any Cendant site they will now automatically be greeted by a pop-up window advertising the company’s “Guaranteed Best Available Rate” program. “The guarantee instills confidence in the website. There are all different types of distribution models on the Internet…some cost the same as a travel agent. Our branded websites are by far the cheapest form of distribution for our franchisees,” said Strebel. Whether the guarantee will increase the company’s online bookings remains to be seen; however, Cendant’s website reservations are already ahead of last years numbers. The company reported on June 12 that one million room nights had been reserved through its branded sites— a figure not achieved until August last year. “The majority of our online reservations are made through our own sites,” said Strebel, adding the Cendant plans to measure the success of its online guarantee through the conversion rate of its users.