1travel.com announces improvements to their Hotelwiz, the largest discounted hotel reservation system online, offering 53,000 properties worldwide. Hotelwiz is the first and only multi-source hotel reservation system offering direct access to hotels listed through Amadeus while aggregating discounted properties from wholesalers, hotel consolidators and tour operators into one search for consumers. In addition, Hotelwiz gives properties not listed in the global distribution systems the ability to self-manage block allotments and special rates giving them major distribution without additional fees. In this way, non-GDS hotels can receive preferential listings within the 1travel.com Hotelwiz system.
The new Hotelwiz can be found on the 1travel.com homepage or accessed directly through
www.hotelwiz.com
The Hotelwiz is also available for use through the 1travel.com affiliate program that currently numbers over 1,000 sites. To help travelers choose the best hotel for their personal needs, Hotelwiz offers "Talkback" hotel reviews. The exclusive Talkback system polls the views, opinions and experiences of recent travelers to specific hotels and offers this advice to other travelers deciding where to stay. "The Hotelwiz Talkback program has proved very successful since its inception," says 1travel.com President and CEO Michael Thomas. "It collects the opinions of many people sharing their experiences about specific hotel properties to help other individuals trying to make travel plans. It is a great unbiased resource for hotel information."
In addition to advice of fellow travelers, consumers can search for the perfect hotel by cross checking several different ways, which include sorting hotels by price, features and amenities. In the near future, 1travel.com plans to add an interactive mapping feature to Hotelwiz that will enable travelers to search for hotels in the vicinity of attractions, landmarks or specific addresses.
Hotelwiz was built utilizing an open system computer architecture, provided by the Amadeus Application Programming Interface (API). This allowed 1travel.com programmers to create their own applications integrating information from the powerful Amadeus travel reservations database in a flexible and structured way. Now, 1travel.com consumers using Hotelwiz to search for hotel availability and pricing will have faster results and more comprehensive service.
1travel.com is the only US website that offers travelers single-search capabilities incorporating published fares from over 500 airlines, 8 million consolidated discounted fares, along with their exclusive patent-pending White Label airfares. 1travel.com's Hotelwiz locates discounts at more than 53,000 hotels globally. Deals from over 48 car rental companies are offered worldwide through Carwiz. Bid1travel.com gives travelers the ability to bid on their favorite vacation packages. The company has a comprehensive partnership program with membership of over 1,000 affiliate sites that use 1travel.com reservation systems. 1travel.com also features important, practical consumer advice in sections such as "Rules of the Air" and the "Airline Savings Toolkit." 1travel.com further offers a network of travel specialists worldwide, grouped into more than 100 special interest categories.
In repsonse to Ranles below: None, yet. Just discovered the site and it looked potentially useful. I generally reserve directly with the individual hotels/chains at there FS desk(s)!
[This message has been edited by doc (edited 05-04-2000).]