WOWtraveler.net is the brainchild of Mary Gostelow, a leading authority on the best luxury hotels and travel experiences around the world. As a traveler on the road over 300 days a year, she knows the territory - from Addis Ababa to Vladivostok. 

Emanuel Berger, managing director of the Grand Hotel  Victoria-Jungfrau, Interlaken, and HOTELS magazine "Independent Hotelier of the  Year 2003" welcomes WOW Traveler. "There is definitely a need for an  authoritative consumer advocate global website that directs affluent travelers to hotels' own websites and booking engines," he notes. "This is a  powerful tool that allows hoteliers to build strong customer relationships and lets potential travelers create their own highly personalized luxury  experiences." 

The innovative search-tool enables consumers to find  properties via destination, brand or theme. A free monthly newsletter, WOWtraveler Confidential, features Mary's WOW Top 10 list of hotel experiences. It also introduces the current WOWinsider, a travel expert or celebrity sharing  his or her "secret" vacation spot or travel tip.

Featured hotels and resorts as well as travel experiences and  cruise itineraries are exclusively chosen and personally known by Mary Gostelow,  and participation is by invitation only.  Her intimate content brings out  the unique value proposition of each property to help consumers find the  perfect experience for themselves. The selected properties have the opportunity  to drive business, and thus customer relationship marketing, directly to their  own site.  They also have the ability to feature experience packages that may be  booked directly via their own websites or reservation  centers.
Consumer marketing activities are led by a global team of  travel industry specialists;  in the USA (Anne Sweeney, president - Sweeney  Public Relations, NJ), Japan (Sam Ohta, president, Ohta Publications, Tokyo),  Germany (Carsten Hennig, publisher - Hottelling and Mediterranean Business  World, Hamburg), UK (Alistair Graham, president - Global Guest List, London),  and China/south-east Asia (Susan Field, managing director - Impact Asia, Hong  Kong & Shanghai). 

The concept is guided by a distinguished advisory board,  chaired by Jens Thraenhart, chairman of the Travel Internet Marketing  Organization (TIMO) and HSMAI Hotel Internet Marketing Committee. (For a  complete list of names, see below.)  The role of the advisory board is to  give professional input on the direction and strategy of this exciting  project.

WOWtraveler.net released its preview site during ITB 2004  in Berlin, and launched its fully functional hotel site in July of this year. In August WOWtraveler.net was recognized by the Web Marketing Association with a 2004 Webaward for outstanding achievement in website development.  Additional travel experiences will go live when WOWtraveler.net is scheduled to be announced officially to affluent consumers in early 2005.
 

ABOUT MARY GOSTELOW
Mary is president of Gostelow Travel: Hottest Hospitality News  Worldwide, is a contributing editor to HOTELS magazine out of the USA and also  has her own global market intelligence, Gostelow Report, for the travel and  tourism industry.  She is also contributing editor to Air Canada's inflight  magazine "enRoute" (both hard-copy and online), and to Elite Traveler magazine  in the US.  A regular broadcaster on hotels to over 4.5 million people throughout  South America, she is also a speaker at the International Hotel and Restaurant  Association global convention in Istanbul this month and is on the planning  committees for the hotel investment conferences in Berlin next March, and in  Dubai next April. She is also chairman of the advisory board for the annual  International Luxury Travel Market in Cannes, France.