LAS VEGAS John Paul Nichols, evp and chief marketing officer for the Cendant Hotel Division, gave attendees of the 2001 Ramada/RINA Conference, being held here this week, a glimpse of the mega-loyalty program Cendant has in the works.
Nichols said the program would include all of Cendant Corp. s brands, as well as 30 to 50 other partners, a move that will provide guests with multiple earnings options.
Meanwhile, Ramada will late this year be getting its own travel portal, through which visitors can book all airline and rental cars while being able to book only Ramada hotels.
The move is part of a Cendant Hotel strategy to provide each of its hotel brands with its own full-service travel portal. Portals which also include trip planning, mapping, local content, and airline packages, said Nichols.
Cendant Hotels will also be rolling out a customer relationship management (CRM) program to all of its hotel brands in 2002- 03, said Nichols. The first brand to get the CRM capability will be Wingate Inns, by the end of this year. That news was announced at Wingate s business conference in St. Augustine, FL, in April. 5/22/01 Ruthanne Terrero