Jim Bates, Fitzpatrick Hotel Group�s Director of Sales & Marketing, said FastBooking�s feature-rich, user-friendly integrated Internet reservations, and world-class people and competitive pricing, are proven to deliver a significant immediate and sustained return on investment. 

�Last fall, we developed a new web site for the Fitzpatrick Hotel Group and one of our primary goals was to offer integrated online reservations across our global portfolio via a user-friendly booking engine,� said Bates, a longtime industry veteran and former top executive with Best Western International.

�We researched four booking engines and found FastBooking to be the most tried and tested in all areas critical to us and our guests,� he said. �For instance, we love the way FastBooking is capable of displaying all available rates and all room types for a given date in one simple window view. Even more impressive is being able to view that critical information in one of 22 languages with rate conversion to all currencies. 

�Since our real-time launch with FastBooking, comments from our customers are great because they love the system�s user friendliness, its easy-to-read information screens and multi-lingual/multi-currency functionality,� he said. �Equally attractive is FastBooking�s integrated e-mail campaign manager for Customer Relationship Management and its customizable real-time market intelligence reports on rates and special packages offered by our direct competitive set. In the end, the decision to partner with FastBooking was an easy one.�

Finally� A simple, robust booking engine 

With online hotel reservations projected to continue to grow exponentially over the next decade, deploying an integrated Internet reservation solution with major Global Distribution tie-ins was an absolute must for the Fitzpatrick Hotel Group and its valued customers.

�FastBooking gives us direct control of our virtual rooms inventory and helps us keep �heads in beds� and �profits in our pockets,�� Bates said. �Sure, we could have outsourced much of this to a third-party merchant, but we wouldn�t have near the day-to-day yield management control we have today with FastBooking and we would be paying commissions ranging from 20 to 22 percent on everything booked online.

�FastBooking represents rare hospitality technology developed by hoteliers for hoteliers � and it shows in its functionality and simplicity,� he said. �Just as important to us and our guests are the good people behind FastBooking. We know we�re partnering with world-class minds who know the business inside and out and have made it their core business to know and grow our business, and you can�t put a price tag on that!� 

Bates cited additional coveted features of FastBooking, such as the fact that rate information is HTML-based, not Flash based, and that it can be accessed in seconds without broadband connectivity. The benefit to the HTML format is that viewers don�t have to wait for the Flash pages to be loaded. 

�FastBooking promises and delivers unparalleled ease of navigation so travelers can make smart buying decisions in record time with record ease,� Bates said. �Most folks looking to book will give you 15 to 30 seconds tops to show them the critical �What�s In It For Me� factor. FastBooking gives buyers more options and more reasons to book faster than anyone else in the business.

�We�re finally in control of our online rooms inventory, yield management and customer base,� Bates said. �Quite frankly, it just doesn�t make sense to turn over our destiny and a healthy portion of our online profits to a third party when there�s a simple, affordable comprehensive integrated solution like FastBooking available.�

Well connected

Ed Brill, FastBooking�s Chief Operations Manager � USA, said those hotel properties and companies that haven�t already taken back control of their online rooms inventories will continue to face mounting pressures to �get with the program� and become better connected for both themselves and the traveling public.

�Not offering Internet reservations and integrated Global Distribution tie-ins isn�t an option, and relying strictly on third parties to connect you to your guests is a short-term solution fast going the way of the dinosaur,� Brill said. 

�Thanks to FastBooking, thousands of hotels around the world are having their cake and eating it too,� he said. �Who says Internet reservations can�t be both comprehensive and uncomplicated? Who says we can�t take direct control of our virtual inventories and grow our global distribution relationships and related ROI simultaneously? Who says we can�t increase our occupancy AND revenue per available room? As an industry, we can and must accomplish all of this � and that�s the precisely what FastBooking delivers.� 

Not all booking engines are created equally. Brill said a few of the many additional features that place FastBooking in a class of its own include:

• Its ability to process reservations in a choice of 22 languages and convert to all currencies. Only one-third of the world speaks English as their primary language, reflecting the vast opportunity for hotels today to market to the two-thirds of the world that speak another language;
• Direct, remote online management for each property�s rack, promotions, packages, long-term stay and last-minute rates � and related single-image real-time views for consumers; and
• Strategic partnerships with more than a dozen leading global-distribution channels and travel agents, including Go-Voyages, one of France�s largest tour operators, and First Internet Travel (1-800-USA and others).

The Fitzpatrick family promises and delivers a unique guest experience by way of six one-of-a-kind four-star boutique properties combining modern-day luxurious accommodations with  charm, traditions, warmth and true hospitality. A family run business for more than 30  years, the Fitzpatrick Hotel Group is the only Irish owned and operated hotel chain in North America. Comprising the boutique hotel collection are: the Big Apple�s 151-room Fitzpatrick Grand Central Hotel and the Fitzpatrick Manhattan with 40 Deluxe Rooms and 52 Executive Suites; The Fitzpatrick Chicago Hotel, with 100 suites and 43 executive rooms, located along the Windy City�s Magnificent Mile;  the Emerald Isle�s 115-room Fitzpatrick Bunratty Hotel in Dublin,  the quaint 113-room Fitzpatrick Castle Dublin built in the 18th Century; and The Morgan, a modern boutique hotel located on Fleet Street with 81 rooms and suites. For more information about this unique hospitality company and its world-class properties and people, please visit www.fitzpatrickhotels.com.

About FastBooking

Fastbooking is a world leader in Internet hotel booking engines with closely integrated Global Distribution services. With nearly 2,000 hotel clients spanning the globe and the full gamut of property sizes and types, FastBooking caters to independent properties, multi-unit owner/operators, franchisees, franchisors and management companies, destination portals and on-line travel companies alike. For more information on the company and its popular, simple and affordable online reservation solution, please visit www.fastbooking.com and test drive FastBooking online for free via http://www.fastbooking.co.uk/siteweb/siteang/demofastbooking.htm.