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G-wiz Xtra Launches At ITB; A multi-property search solution enabling hotels to cross-sell rooms
Great Hotels Organisation (GHO; http://www.ghorg.com) has announced it will launch G-wiz Xtra, a new booking engine for hotel chain websites, to the hotel industry at this year’s ITB in Berlin.
An extension of the existing G-wiz website booking engine, which is perfect for individual hotels’ websites, G-wiz Xtra has been specifically designed to address the fact many hotel chain websites are currently unable to offer multi-property availability searches.
Current in-house research by GHO estimates that around 36% of hotel chains’ websites do not have a real time booking engine and 20% of those that do, still do not have a multi-property booking function. This results in a great potential for lost bookings and is something G-wiz Xtra will address.
The most important feature of G-wiz Xtra is its ability to allow multi-property searching within a single destination. For the guest, this means that all chain hotels within a single destination will be returned under a single date search, allowing them to select the most appropriate hotel rates or easily select an alternative hotel within the destination should their first preference be unavailable. For the hotel, the ability to offer multiple options for a traveller’s chosen dates in one single screen search not only helps to cross-sell rooms but also enhances the guests’ booking experience.
The function can be used to run searches at a city or country level or even for guests with set dates but no specific destination in mind. The extra call centre functionality also means this same inventory is available to offline voice booking channels too.
Carly Gotz, Group Director Business Development at GHO, commented: “We identified a gap in the market for a hotel chain website booking engine so after the success of G-wiz, this seemed the obvious next development for the product. The pricing system will take its lead from G-wiz, where hotels can choose either a flat fee or commission based structure, making G-wiz Xtra the cost-effective solution to the difficulty hotel chains have faced in taking full advantage of the online booking trend until now”.
The technology for the brand new system will be available for demonstration at this year’s ITB (hall 9, stand 203), after which it will also be available on the G-wiz website (http://www.g-rez.com).
Tobook an appointment with a member of the team, please contact:
Carly Gotz
cgotz@ghorg.com
+44 (0)20 7383 2335
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For further press information, please contact:
About G-wiz
Following discussions with members of GHO’s Great Hotels of the World (http://www.ghotw.com) and Special Hotels of the World (http://www.shotw.com) brands and studies of current market offerings, GHO identified both a demand and gap in the market. Priding itself on being an industry leader in developing technical solutions for the industry, the answer was G-wiz. Offering the industry’s only true one-screen booking system, G-wiz has been uniquely built using AJAX technology, meaning the technological excellence is presented with the functionality and usability of a desktop application within the accessibility of a website. In addition, it will be the only booking engine which offers an in-built SEO tool, the ability to book extras such as spa treatments and multiple rooms, a customised e-marketing tool, as well as a variety of other features all designed to help hotels maximise the opportunity and yield return of their own websites.
About GHO:
The Great Hotels Organisation’s family of brands include Special Hotels of the World (http://www.shotw.com) and Great Hotels of the World (http://www.ghotw.com), a forerunner among luxury hotel marketing alliances representing over 240 of the world’s finest hotels and resorts. Both brands are driven by six core values, notably to keep members’ costs down, to view each member as unique, to be innovative with technology, to value the power of the alliance, and to maintain the quality and integrity of the brand. Whichever brand is right for your property, the Great Hotels Organisation has a different and customer-driven approach to hotel sales and marketing. The Great Hotels Organisation manages the “GW” private label GDS chain code and toll-free voice reservation numbers operate in the USA and Europe. Further information on the Great Hotels Organisation can be found at http://www.ghorg.com.
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