Archive for the ‘ResortsandLodges Products’ Category
ResortsandLodges.com Ready to Challenge Market for Social Travel Supremacy
Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
Online travel pioneers set to release major social update to highly utilized travel research and planning site.
Minneapolis, MN., July 10, 2012 ResortsandLodges.com, a leading world Resort and Lodge destination travel website, today announced it will release its first major update of 2012. Since 2003, more than 50 Million people have utilized the site to plan and book more than an estimated $1 Billion in room nights direct at Resorts, Hotels, Inns, Bed & Breakfasts and Vacation Rentals listed on ResortsandLodges.com, throughout North America, Mexico and the Caribbean.
There are over 200 individual updates being released by ResortsandLodges.com to the 14 year old leading leisure transient and leisure group travel site. The development started in late November 2011 and has become the largest, most ambitious release in the company’s history. Most notably, the next generation travel site will offer its millions of travelers new and easy social layers to connect, share, and enhance their shopping experience like never before.
“Being in the travel space for over 10 years we have seen online travelers demand for information grow leaps and bounds. There are very few sites that offer the consumer the full experience from initial inspiration, to consumption to sharing. As a leader in our space, we wanted to offer our loyal audience the perfect travel site,” said Charles Bailey, CEO of TravelNet Solutions, owners of ResortsandLodges.com.
Facebook created an ecosystem around the concept of the “like button”. ResortsandLodges.com is creating an ecosystem around two primary buttons that span all content across the site.
“We feel “Been Here” and “Wanna Go” are going to be key drivers in our travel planning ecosystem; discover, research, plan, view sharing, book, and finally sharing their own memorable experiences. When someone shares their past travel experiences or future travel plans with their friends and family via the “been here” and “want to go” buttons, coupled with reviews and photos, it will help provide a cleaner, more streamlined, and relatable experience for today’s demanding online traveler,” said Ryan Bailey, President of TravelNet Solutions and ResortsandLodges.com.
Some of the more visible updates include:
Site wide search capability
Customized Location Based Navigation
Dynamic, Filterable Map View
‘Been Here’ and ‘Want To Go’ Button Integration
15 Listings per Accommodation Page (Up from 10 Previously)
Social Recommendations
MySpot Profiles
Badge and Traveler Ranking system
Top 10 Editorial Re-design
Personalized Travel Guides
Re-engineered Travel Inquiry Forms
New property Landing Pages
Social News Feeds in Property Pages
More Visible Direct Website Buttons
Retooled Destination Guides
11 Million New Restaurant Listings
5 Million New Attraction Listings
Dedicated Meeting Lodging Directory
Dedicated Wedding Lodging Directory
Dedicated Family Reunion Lodging Directory
Travel QA
Travel Forums
New Photo Property Photo Galleries
New Filterable Search Options
Trip Planner
Social Recommendation Engine
New Review Engine
Group, Wedding and Meeting Spec Guides
New Landing Page Mapping
Full Site Re-design
“We have an A+ leadership team. Our vision has always been to build the perfect travel site and the people in our company continue to strive and reach for this goal. We’ve really transformed our company over the last 12 months and are genuinely excited about the new technology. It’s a remarkable time to be at ResortsandLodges.com,” continued Charles Bailey.
About ResortsandLodges.com
ResortsandLodges.com® is the most comprehensive online resource for resort and lodge vacations worldwide, serving more than ten million leisure, group and corporate travelers each year. The site provides travelers direct access to original content, colorful photography and high-quality video for resorts, lodges, hotels, motels, inns, bed and breakfasts, ranches, vacation rentals and more. Our easy to use visual maps and filters allow Users to quickly find the information they are looking for when researching, planning and booking their resort and lodge vacations. Founded in 1998, we were one of the first major leisure travel directories established on the Internet. Over the years we have received many awards and accolades for our Web design, outstanding usability, fast page loading speeds, and skillful information display.
Most recently, ResortsandLodges.com® won the WebAward for excellence in Web site design and development from the Web Marketing Association (WMA). We were chosen from among 2,400 entries from more than 40 countries during the WMA’s annual WebAward competition.
TravelNet Solutions Adds Vacation Rental Directory to ResortsandLodges.com
Friday, June 24th, 2011TravelNet Solutions, Inc. Adds Vacation Rentals Directory to ResortsandLodges.com
TravelNet Solutions, Inc. parent company of ResortsandLodges.com and a leader in providing complete marketing solutions for the hospitality industry, is pleased to announce a new vacation rentals directory on ResortsandLodges.com.
Cottage Grove, MN – June 22, 2011 – In response to requests from several clients, as well as millions of travelers, TravelNet Solutions has added a vacation rentals directory to ResortsandLodges.com. Now, in addition to overall resort and lodge listings, companies and private rental homeowners will have the opportunity to showcase their rental properties individually and inexpensively to ResortsandLodges.com’s global audience.
“ResortsandLodges.com strives to be the best tool for travelers to plan their vacations, as well as the best platform for vacation property owners to connect with those travelers. This new vacation rentals directory will give homeowners and travelers alike the chance to find thousands of destinations across the globe on one familiar, trusted source,” President and Co-Founder Ryan Bailey said.
The vacation rental industry has seen a considerable boom in recent years, both for property owners and travelers. According to a recent survey by HomeAway.com, more than 6 million vacation properties were being rented out to travelers in the U.S. and Europe, generating over $85 billion in income in 2010. HomeAway also reports that 81 percent of people traveling this summer are traveling for pleasure, and of that 81 percent, 68 percent are choosing vacation rentals.
“I am thrilled to see that ResortsandLodges are expanding to vacation rentals. They are an important part of the tourism sector, and I’m excited to be a part of it from the beginning,” Shari Goldstein, President at Carolina Mornings Realty, said. “We get a lot of traffic from ResortsandLodges.com, and I think the new directory and their powerful SEO will drive us even more traffic and prove to be very financially productive.”
Property owners interested in learning more about listing their vacation rentals on ResortsandLodges.com can contact http://www.resortsandlodges.com/con-cms/contact-us/sales/.
About TravelNet Solutions, Inc:
TravelNet Solutions’ strong success has been more than a decade in the making. A first generation travel vertical site originally founded in 1998 was ResortsandLodges.com which would be the vehicle for tremendous growth in the following years.
Built with a grant from NASA, Michigan State University, & Polyphasic – ResortsandLodges.com was a early test vehicle to a global content management system and a new friend to the world wide web. The site quickly gained popularity with millions of consumers and thousands of advertisers.
With exciting data at it’s fingertips we would begin a tremendous transition in 2004 – from a single travel vertical site to a diversified, platform company that would scale much larger. Looking ahead, TravelNet Solutions plans to pursue top talent and infrastructure that offers a significant growth strategy for it’s audience, advertisers, investors and revenues.
Updates to ResortsandLodges’ Weekly Top Travel Deals Newsletter!
Wednesday, May 25th, 2011Every week, we pick out our favorite incrediDEALS (a.k.a. incredible travel deals!) from different regions of the U.S. and the world and deliver them straight to our subscribers’ inboxes. This week, we decided to try something new with our deals newsletter, adding some photography and a new layout! The new version is pictured first, and the old version is below.
Since this newsletter is for YOU, we want to know: which version do you like better and why? Let us know in the comments, or tell us on our wall at www.facebook.com/ResortsandLodges!
New Version:
Old Version:
Call Tracking Case Study: A 370 Unit Property in Galena, IL
Monday, May 23rd, 2011After many years helping to validate advertising for online travel websites, we’re blown away by the impressive results as seen in the screenshot below. (Click to view larger)
Call tracking shows a quantifiable increase in room night sales.
This example is one of many case studies we’ve done that shows the difference between before a resort activates their tracking number across their web marketing channels, and after they make this simple change.
Call tracking is needed because thousands of properties are still reserving millions of dollars of revenue over the phone. Yes, most people research, plan, discover, and share their travel experiences online. However, because of the complexity and cost of planning a vacation, travelers still feel more comfortable making the final transaction to book their vacation over the telephone.
Receive call tracking for as little as $59.95 per month - We use Phonalytics.com
Call Tracking Case Study: A 200 Unit Property in the Catskills, NY
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
Call Tracking Case Study: A 259 Unit Property in Brainerd, MN
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
Call Tracking Case Study: A 193 Unit Property in the Poconos
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
