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Posted by - ® Mark (Admin) on April 26, 2005 at 3:12 pm:
Hi Everyone
Please read / help if you can. This is not really a plug.
I have been involved in the project to change the way our associated reservations site, travelideas dot net functions. It has just become an open direct reservations site which anyone can use, even when they have booked elsewhere. And I am hoping some of you may tempt hotels / villas you love into joining the site.
Take a look. What people can now do on the site is make an enquiry DIRECTLY with any of the hotels / villas listed there either;
a) Making a new enquiry (hopefully will financially benefit travelideas).
b) Making a follow up enquiry (has no financial benefit to travelideas whatsoever). So if you have booked elsewhere (or booked with one of the wholesalers travelideas links to) but want to ask the hotel for a particular room or have special needs, you can via travelideas.
Also, the site now allows people who have stayed at the hotels / villas to rank / rate them (out of 10 in ten important areas such as friendliness, value for money and overall quality) plus leave a report - both being visible by other users of the site and then people can view listings of hotels / villas in a certain area either alphabetically, by price (lowest from price) or by ranking / rating (the cumulative average ranking / rating of people that have stayed there).
This works simply by requiring anyone who uses the enquiry forms to specify a check out date. One day after that date, they receive an email from the system asking them to rank / rate the hotel / villa and leave a report (optional). Of course, there is security to stop malicious users from leaving false reports / rankings, and for hotels / villas to leave rankings / reports for themselves (such actions would get the hotel / villa suspended if they were caught and give them a 1/10 ranking).
I think this is so good for the travelling community. If it works well, a worldwide site will follow where ALL direct commissions (from the hotels / villas) will go to a local charity. Of course, all the hotels and villas on travelideas will be asked if they would also like to be listed on the charity site.
So I am hoping you will like what is happening too, check the site out (link below of course), and maybe solicit any of your favorite hotels / villas into joining travelideas.
Regards
Mark
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