Hotel Online Special Report 
Etravnet.com’s Patent-pending Real-time Hotel Confirmation System Uses “net-to-phone-to-net” Technology ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. – Feb. 3, 2000 – Etravnet.com, Inc. (OTCBB: ETVT), a leading franchiser of independently owned travel agencies with a strong Internet presence, today announced partnerships with GoCancun.com and VisitCabo.com to operate its Internet real-time international reservation system, RezConnect, on both travel sites. These sites are official Web sites for the respective government-supported tourist boards of the Cancun and Los Cabos tourism regions of Mexico. The sites will debut in February.
The addition of RezConnect to these sites will enable consumers and travel agents to make a hotel reservation at any of over 150 hotels in these two locations. Cancun is the world’s most popular beach resort destination, with some 25,000 plus hotel rooms, pristine white-sand Caribbean beaches, and access to the Yucatan’s wealth of Mayan ruins such as Chichen-Itza. Los Cabos is a much smaller destination, but compromises the Pacific coast cities of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, popular for their exclusive resorts, sports fishing, golf, and whale watching.
These two destinations will serve as prototypes for Etravnet.com’s patent-pending real-time hotel confirmation system that uses “net-to-phone-to-net” technology.
Each site enables the user to input reservation requests which immediately prompt a telephone call to the desired hotel. The receiving hotelier then responds to the voice prompts given in the local language, confirming or refusing the reservation based on availability. At this point, users will receive a response immediately on their computer screens, prompting them to accept the confirmation or reenter a new request if their first choice is denied.
The company stated that other reservation systems available through the Internet rely either on a global distribution system (such as the airlines use) or a delayed e-mail response system. In both cases, the actual property cannot necessarily provide an instant response. With RezConnect, the user can input reservation requests, which immediately prompt a telephone call to the desired hotel. The receiving hotelier then responds to the reservation request using the telephone keypad confirming or refusing the reservation based on availability.
RezConnect provides a special benefit to smaller, independent hotels that may not subscribe to the global distribution systems because of cost and complexity. With RezConnect, potential customers are in effect “talking” directly to the hotel of their choice through the net-to-phone-to-net technology without paying long-distance phone charges or having to speak the local language.
Travelers planning to visit Cancun or Los Cabos can search for a hotel from RezConnect’s extensive database of lodging options which includes accommodations information, location maps, descriptions and numerous other value-added features. Etravnet recently launched RezConnect and is receiving considerable interest from travel operators and other prominent destination Websites to add the innovative, interactive reservation engine to consumers and travel agents’ websites.
Commenting on the partnership, Michael Brent, President and Chief Executive Officer of Etravnet.com said, “RezConnect is a major service Etravnet.com is providing hotels, consumers and travel agents. We’re making it possible for easy, advance arrangement of travel plans while simultaneously enabling e-commerce for our hotel partners. We believe that our ability to provide real-time confirmations gives us a unique competitive edge in the industry and we expect continued acceptance of our technology by businesses who wish to participate in travel transactions on-line.”
Etravnet’s new patent-pending Internet reservation engine automatically phones the desired hotel with a computer-generated voice message. “RezConnect does not require the hotel to change the way it does business,” according to Stephanie Abrams, Executive Vice President of Etravnet.com. “The format permits the hotel to respond by telephone to incoming reservations by using the telephone keypad to accept or reject reservations thus allowing consumers to know immediately if the reservation is confirmed so that they may select another date, time, or location convenient for their needs. The telephone keypad response appears on the customer’s computer screen giving immediate confirmation to the traveler. The hotelier has the ability to control inventory and adjust rates according to last-minute supply and demand and sudden surprises like occupancy created from group cancellations,” Abrams adds.
Webmaster Ron Greenspan, who manages GoCancun.com on behalf of the Destination’s Visitor and Convention Bureau, points out that RezConnect “levels the playing field between the small niche hotels and the larger chains, which is something all destination visitors bureaus love, since every hotel is a constituent. These official sites receive large amounts of Web traffic, and with RezConnect every single property has the same potential of reaching new customers and conducting business Online.”
Etravnet.com plans to expand its RezConnect presence. “We want to include small, charming, quaint and ‘off-the-beaten-track’ hotels in various destinations globally to our program to give travelers access to those hard-to-book, little-known properties that enhance the traveler’s experience. We are seeking other destination organizations as well as hotel groups and individual hotels to join our RezConnect program,” Abrams concludes.
About Etravnet.com Etravnet.com, under the “Global Travel network” trade name, is a leading franchiser of travel agencies based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. The Company, rated first among all of the franchisers in North America by Income Opportunities Magazine (April 1999), has provided franchises with a competitive edge and with award-winning marketing and customer loyalty programs worldwide since its inception in 1982. Its marketing presence was expanded with its web site development providing interactive travel booking capabilities and special savings resulting from its enormous buying power. The Company has differentiated its Internet presence by providing the opportunity for the web consumer to click into one of its retail travel agency locations for personal attention from a travel consultant. The concept of “Log on, walk in, phone in,” offers travel clients the opportunity to purchase travel packages through the most convenient means to the client.
Contact: 
Etravnet.com, Englewood Cliffs Stephanie Abrams, 201/567-8500 ext. 23 http://www.Etravnet.com Also See: Topaz Hotel Services Powers Joie de Vivre, Kimpton Group, and Personality Hotels Web Sites With Online Booking Engine / Oct 1999 Virtual Marketing Reality / The TaylorGroup /