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Online hotel bookings keep customers hooked : Asian Age
New Delhi, June 05: They say home is where the heart is. But that feeling could be easily enhanced when you are treated to five star luxury. Marriott.com stumped the hotel industry when it broke a single-day booking record with more than 20,000 reservations in 24 hours.
New Delhi, June 05: They say home is where the heart is. But that feeling could be easily enhanced when you are treated to five star luxury.
Marriott.com stumped the hotel industry when it broke a single-day booking record with more than 20,000 reservations in 24 hours.
This is quite an achievement as it also ranked as the best lodging website which enables travellers to book reservations for nearly 2,600 Marriott hotels world-wide. What could be better than booking yourself into a swanky hotel for a night or two from the comfort of your own office cabin? Now the presidential suite is at your service, as reservations are only a click away.
Marriott.com has been praised for privacy, respecting customer data, open and honest policies, simplicity and responsiveness by the Customer Respect Group in a study of travel industry websites. Paul Cerula, Senior Vice President, international lodging field says, “Systems and processes should sell the way the customer wants to buy. Some customers do not want a relationship; they view all of their buying as a commodity, so for them we have to be the easiest commodity to buy! However, for those customers who want a relationship and a personal touch, we have to provide that as well. We have to design systems and processes that will accommodate them both, this is where the web comes in.”
Established in 1996, Marriott.com has been growing in popularity, achieving more than $1 billion in gross sales last year. The website continually enhances customer experience with features like “create your own vacation,” “last minute weekend packages,” “rate search for special promotional rates up to one year in advance,” “reward points redemption,” “driving directions” and “destination research.”
The impact of online transactions is huge considering the travel and tourism industry generates more than $3.5 trillion world-wide and accounts for 12 per cent of the world’s economy.
An economy badly bitten by recent terrorist attacks and diseases such as SARS could do with more business. In 2002, the site generated more than $1 billion in gross sales in a single year, representing a nearly seven-fold increase over a two-year period. The company has its headquarters in Washington DC plus approximately 129,000 employees, and was ranked as the lodging industry’s most admired company and one of the best places to work for by Fortune magazine.
The May 1984 introduction of Marriott International’s Automated Reservation System for Hotel Accommodations (MARSHA) defined the way the company conducts business today.
The MARSHA system enables Marriott reservations agents to do a host of things enhanced by the creation of a new distribution channel by creating Marriott.com. As a leader in electronic reservations, Marriott International continues to develop innovative systems that simplify the reservations experience for both customers and travel agents.
For example, in 2002, Marriott.com had $1.1 billion in online bookings. This is nearly double the $750 million in online bookings that the site attracted in 2001. Add to this the fact that customers booked 8.9 million room nights through Marriott.com in 2002 which is 3.3 million more room nights than 2001. All of this clearly shows the interest in the website which is growing on a global scale.
Some of Marriott’s electronic features include the fact that *Prior to the introduction of automation, it took a Marriott International reservations agent approximately nine minutes to manually make a reservation. Today, through the use of automation, a Marriott International reservation may be made in 90 seconds or less. * Marriott’s sales and marketing directors are systems-friendly as computerisation, internet and e-commerce are changing the way Marriott customers book their rooms. * Reservations on the internet are doubling every three months. Websites like these seem to have opened doors for customers like never before. As more and more users get hooked on to the web, it seems like if you are dreaming of a holiday, the best option is to get site-tracked.
This is quite an achievement as it also ranked as the best lodging website which enables travellers to book reservations for nearly 2,600 Marriott hotels world-wide. What could be better than booking yourself into a swanky hotel for a night or two from the comfort of your own office cabin? Now the presidential suite is at your service, as reservations are only a click away.
Marriott.com has been praised for privacy, respecting customer data, open and honest policies, simplicity and responsiveness by the Customer Respect Group in a study of travel industry websites. Paul Cerula, Senior Vice President, international lodging field says, “Systems and processes should sell the way the customer wants to buy. Some customers do not want a relationship; they view all of their buying as a commodity, so for them we have to be the easiest commodity to buy! However, for those customers who want a relationship and a personal touch, we have to provide that as well. We have to design systems and processes that will accommodate them both, this is where the web comes in.”
Established in 1996, Marriott.com has been growing in popularity, achieving more than $1 billion in gross sales last year. The website continually enhances customer experience with features like “create your own vacation,” “last minute weekend packages,” “rate search for special promotional rates up to one year in advance,” “reward points redemption,” “driving directions” and “destination research.”
The impact of online transactions is huge considering the travel and tourism industry generates more than $3.5 trillion world-wide and accounts for 12 per cent of the world’s economy.
An economy badly bitten by recent terrorist attacks and diseases such as SARS could do with more business. In 2002, the site generated more than $1 billion in gross sales in a single year, representing a nearly seven-fold increase over a two-year period. The company has its headquarters in Washington DC plus approximately 129,000 employees, and was ranked as the lodging industry’s most admired company and one of the best places to work for by Fortune magazine.
The May 1984 introduction of Marriott International’s Automated Reservation System for Hotel Accommodations (MARSHA) defined the way the company conducts business today.
The MARSHA system enables Marriott reservations agents to do a host of things enhanced by the creation of a new distribution channel by creating Marriott.com. As a leader in electronic reservations, Marriott International continues to develop innovative systems that simplify the reservations experience for both customers and travel agents.
For example, in 2002, Marriott.com had $1.1 billion in online bookings. This is nearly double the $750 million in online bookings that the site attracted in 2001. Add to this the fact that customers booked 8.9 million room nights through Marriott.com in 2002 which is 3.3 million more room nights than 2001. All of this clearly shows the interest in the website which is growing on a global scale.
Some of Marriott’s electronic features include the fact that *Prior to the introduction of automation, it took a Marriott International reservations agent approximately nine minutes to manually make a reservation. Today, through the use of automation, a Marriott International reservation may be made in 90 seconds or less. * Marriott’s sales and marketing directors are systems-friendly as computerisation, internet and e-commerce are changing the way Marriott customers book their rooms. * Reservations on the internet are doubling every three months. Websites like these seem to have opened doors for customers like never before. As more and more users get hooked on to the web, it seems like if you are dreaming of a holiday, the best option is to get site-tracked.