Radisson Web Site Is So Hot That Travel Agents Want in Too! IATA Field Added
MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 19 / Radisson Hospitality Worldwide today announced the addition of a travel agent identification field to the company's World Wide Web site (www.radisson.com), allowing travel agents to obtain commissions for business booked for their clients on the Radisson site.
"We received excellent input from a few individual travel agents as well as the Radisson Travel Agent Advisory Board regarding the 'Hot Deals' web site promotion," said Brian Stage, executive vice president of marketing and sales for Radisson. "Radisson is committed to the agent community – and many enhancements we've made in our technology systems – such as Seamless Service and Look To Book – have directly benefited this partnership," he added.
Radisson's ultimate goal is to receive nearly all of the reservations for its hotels electronically. To date, CRS/GDS bookings account for 57 percent of the company's reservations and 43 percent through toll-free services in terms of business coming through its central reservation system.
"Our 'Hot Deals' promotion is targeting the 43 percent of our customer base who are contacting us through our toll-free services with the intention of moving them from the telephone to electronic channels like the Internet," said Rachael Marret, director of interactive marketing for Radisson. The program was also created to complement the cyberfares offered by our airline partners," she added.
"The decision to expand our commission policy to web site bookings was based on input from travel agents, who we consider our key partners," Marret said.
Radisson's corporate office will pay a 10 percent commission to travel agents using the company's web site to book a "Hot Deal" for their clients. Agents must enter their IATA, ARC or CLIA number as part of the reservation when checking availability and rates. Commission payments on "Hot Deals" rates will begin at $4.90.
Agents using the Radisson web site to book other rates will receive a 10 percent commission directly from each hotel per the company's comprehensive commission payment policy.
"We would be delighted if travel agents could take on the remaining segment of self-managed travelers and toll-free 'price shoppers,'" said Marret. "Our research shows that although travel agent access to the Internet has grown from 21 percent to 36 percent, we have not had any indication that agents are using the Internet to book reservations – it's primarily a tool to research information," she added.
"Radisson's piece of the GDS pie is clearly growing," she added. "However, the overall size of the pie is not growing." Marret attributes Radisson's patented Look To Book on-line frequency program as a key driver for travel agents to book the company's hotels through the CRS/GDS.
The Radisson web site features complete and current information on more than 340 Radisson hotels located in 39 countries including photo, map and hotel information pulled from the company's all-new "Curtis-C" database housed in Omaha, Neb.
Transactions at the Radisson site utilize a secure transaction server. The server allows customers to submit a credit card number over the Internet to reserve a room insuring the security of the card number.
Radisson Hotels Worldwide, based in Minneapolis, features more than 340 hotels in 39 countries; the company also includes Radisson Seven Seas Cruises.
