In an effort to provide easy booking experience for groups, the Hilton Family of Hotels has…
In an effort to provide easy booking experience for groups, the Hilton Family of Hotels has announced new and enhanced services, including the launch of e-Events Small Group Product and Guest List
Manager.
The e-Events Small Group Product enables meeting planners to go online and book anywhere from five to 25 guest rooms with real-time, instant confirmation on a booking. No RFP (request for proposal) is required for meetings of 25 rooms or less – the entire transaction is on-line.
Separately, the new Guest List Manager tool allows group meeting planners (depending on their level of access) to book multiple reservations online at a time, view and manage guest lists as well as view room count summaries for an established group block at any of the Hilton Family of Hotels.
These types of online innovations for our customers contribute to the Hilton Family websites being among the most popular and commercially successful in the travel industry, said Tom Keltner, president – brand performance and development group. Just this past month, our brand websites topped 15 percent of all hotel bookings for the first time – a new record.
Demand has been high for group booking functionality that puts more ease and control in the hands of the small functions organizer and attendee, and we are highly pleased to launch these tools to make it easier for people to book room blocks, for guests to book within their appropriate group and for administrators and organizers to manage bookings for their functions, said Bob Dirks, senior vice president – sales strategy & development for Hilton Hotels Corporation.
e-Events
Through the e-Events tool, customers can book blocks of up to 25 sleeping rooms, and by early 2006 will be able to configure and reserve a meeting room, order their food and beverage needs for meals and breaks, and order the basic audio visual equipment they may require.
Our research has shown that some 60% of all group leads across the Hilton Family of brands are for 25 rooms or less, many of which are for small, routine and easy-to-manage events; as such, the ability to book these groups on line with immediate confirmation is a huge benefit for busy planners, said Dirks.
The following groups will benefit from e-Events: Social planners, including customers who book sleeping rooms and/or meeting room space for social reasons such as family reunions, amateur traveling sports teams, wedding parties etc.; corporate meeting planners as a secondary or occasional function of their job who make numerous small group and meeting arrangements for their respective company employees and teams; and professional meeting planners who presently can save time by using this tool when booking sleeping rooms, and eventually meeting rooms and food and beverage for smaller groups and meetings. e-Events can help them save time by giving them the ability to book online.
Benefits to online users of e-Events include:
- The ability to quickly and easily book a block of sleeping rooms for small events with an instant confirmation of the booking to both the customer and hotel
- Time savings – no RFP is necessary and bookings can be made conveniently and in real time
- Easy and convenient self service tool for online research, comparison and booking
- Control over their respective rooming lists via the Guest List Manager
- Multiple reservations may be booked at one time
- Guest lists may be viewed and managed
- Count summaries are provided for established group blocks
- No price negotiating – the sleeping room rate offered on e-Events is non-negotiable and controlled by each hotel
Guest List Manager
Two major types of online users benefit from the Guest List Manager tool: The administrative user who has worked directly with the hotel(s) to arrange and confirm all group details, and the non-administrative user who makes room reservations within a group block for themselves and/or multiple attendees.
The Guest List Manager is accessed from multiple areas of the brand websites including: HHonors and Fast Reservations Profiles, the brand website reservations areas, Groups & Meetings, Personalized Online Groups and targeted portals such as Weddings and Travel Agents.
Enhanced booking tools are available at hiltonfamily.com or any brand specific Web site and offer the flexibility and functionality for travelers to search all hotels and all brands within the Hilton Family of Hotels and view actual rates and availability for special offerings.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
