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NEW YORK�June 25, 2008�Even though business and leisure travelers today increasingly are making their reservations online, many of them still prefer a personalized phone conversation with a reservation agent. Oftentimes, however, boutique properties, independent hotels and resorts, and management companies lack the resources or manpower to provide that service around the clock.
Advantage Reserve�s pay-per-performance model enables hotels and management companies to realize increased revenues without the added cost of salary. Advantage Reserve�s agents are available 24 hours a day/seven days a week. Call handling is also available to those hotels that only need reservation assistance after hours or during peak call volume periods. Once a reservation is booked by an agent, hotels can receive confirmation by e-mail, facsimile, or via a one-way or two-way PMS interface. Real-time availability, rate, arrivals and production reports are available 24 hours a day. Ongoing Staff Training Provided Advantage Reserve provides continuous quality evaluation of the call experience through analysis of talk time, speed of answer, abandon rate and conversion rate. The company provides incentive programs to its agents and ongoing training to keep them up to speed on the features and benefits of its customer�s hotel. �The reservation service is phenomenal,� says Mark Alvarez, general manager at the 180-room Grand Bay Hotel Miami, an Advantage Reserve client that uses the reservation service between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. �Guests believe that they are calling the hotel. The reservation agents are well-educated, well-spoken professionals who can answer any question about the property. Advantage Reserve has helped us increase our reservation and revenue stream. By not having to employ a full-time reservation agent, I have been able to reduce my overhead.� Andrea Coleman, general manager of the Comfort Inn Brooklyn Bridge in New York, says Advantage Reserve�s call center agents are so friendly and helpful that when guests check in, they ask to meet them. The Comfort Inn Brooklyn Bridge utilizes Advantage Reserve�s reservation service between 5 p.m. and 9 a.m., on weekends, and also during weekdays when the property�s own reservation agent is handling other calls. �The conversion rate for the bookings has been fabulous,� Coleman says. �The personalized service is a benefit we could not find anywhere else.� User-Friendly Web Booking Engine In addition to providing private label, toll-free voice reservation service, Advantage Reserve also offers a real-time, easy-to-use custom Web Booking Engine for hotel websites. Because the extranet used for the voice reservation service and Web booking engine are the same, rates and other hotel information need only be updated once. The hotel client has complete access to the extranet. The intuitive and graphical platform allows travelers and travel agents to book directly on an existing website in four simple steps. Hoteliers can access inventory, marketing statements, digital images, availability and rates for individual or multiple room requests. After a hotel client updates a rate, Advantage Reserve makes the change in the GDS. Secure credit card transactions ensure guest privacy, and e-mail confirmations, cancellations and changes are sent immediately to the guest. The Advantage Reserve Web Booking Engine helps increase hotel revenue. Seamless GDS Connectivity For those hotels that do not currently have GDS connectivity, Advantage Reserve can provide a seamless connection to more than 600,000 travel agents worldwide via Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan. Additionally, the company can connect a hotel to Pegasus� Online Distribution Database, making its guestrooms available to hundreds of consumer direct travel websites�Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Priceline, for example. Advantage Reserve�s account managers are available to assist with revenue and channel management decisions. The company provides automated distribution of bookings to a hotel via e-mail or facsimile, and can also provide electronic GDS production reports. Advantage Reserve also offers 24/7 toll-free customer support for hotels, management companies, guests and travel agents. Advantage Reserve�s services are currently available throughout the United States. For additional information, call (212) 989-3684, e-mail [email protected], or go to www.advantagereserve.com. About Advantage Reserve, LLC: Advantage Reserve is a provider of high-quality central reservations services to the hospitality industry. The New York-based company serves independent hotels and management companies and provides exceptional customer support including Voice Reservation Services, Website Booking Services and Global Distribution System connectivity to Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, Worldspan and Pegasus� Online Distribution Database. For more information about Advantage Reserve, go to www.advantagereserve.com or call (212) 989-3684. |
