Nov 8, 2003
* ResAvenue Launch Puts Internet Hotel Reservations
on the fast track to growth.
 |
At
the launch of Res Avenue at the FHRAI convention
at the ITC Sonar Bangla, Kolkata
|
| From
L to R: Mr. Vishwas Patel, CEO Avenues, Mr. Thomas
Higgins CEO, Best Western International Inc.,
Mr. Anand Gupta- President & CEO, Best Western
India, Mr. Nayan Patel Director-Best Western International
Inc. and Mr. Vivek Nair Vice Chairman and MD,
The Leela. |
One of the sparkling highlights of
the FHRAI Convention recently was the launch of ResAvenue,
India's first multi-lingual Internet Reservation System
with an in-built Multi-currency, Multi-payment Options
Payment Gateway Solution. Launched in the presence
of Mr. Thomas Higgins, President and CEO of Best Western
International, Inc. the world's largest hotel chain,
ResAvenue is expected to revolutionize the way hotel
reservations are done in the future. Says Mr. Vishwas
Patel, CEO, Avenues, the company that has launched
ResAvenue, "ResAvenue is the next generation
technology which allows customers to book a hotel
room in 10 international languages. It also has a
built-in multi-currency, multi-payment options payment
gateway solution. This offers the hospitality industry
unique features which are not available with any other
booking engine. It enables hotels to accept reservation
from anyone, anywhere, anytime, across multiple currencies
thereby maximizing their revenue from the Internet."
Internationally, the share of room reservations made
over the Internet has been on the rise and are expect
to reach 20% in just four years. The rapid inroads
made by the Internet into corporate India will greatly
benefit the Indian hospitality industry. In such a
situation, ResAvenue's entry is timed perfectly. With
ResAvenue, a hotel can not only reach a customer and
make a sales pitch to him on his desktop, he can also
close the sale right there and collect payment instantly.
All this at a fraction of what it would cost to do
this by traditional methods.
By putting up a part of the hotel's inventory on
the Internet and empowering it with the right tools,
the hotel will have acquired the power of a new distribution
channel that is not limited by geography, political
boundaries or cultural and language barriers. It is
like having a front desk operating 24 X 7 with the
ability to close a reservation and get paid by any
customer, anytime, anywhere in the world. In fact,
even the hotel's offsite Branch offices and Agents
can login to the centralized Reservation system and
confirm to customers in their region instantly. A
special feature is the facility where corporate customers
can login and make room reservations at predetermined
rates. Other benefits for the hotel are direct interaction
with the customer, unbiased brand communication, opportunity
to put in a robust CRM program, the ability to put
up for immediate online sale any room, in any property,
at any rate of its choosing virtually overnight. Only
the Internet can allow the hotel to do this in a cost
effective manner. With ResAvenue driving its Internet
reservations, any small or medium sized hotel can
compete with the larger hotel chains on par and do
so in a cost effective manner. And that's good news
for Indian hotels looking at competing globally.
At the launch of ResAvenue in Kolkatta at ITC Sonar
Bangla. From L to R: Vishwas Patel, CEO - Avenues,
Thomas Higgins, CEO - Best Western Intl. Inc., Mr.
Anand Gupta - President & CEO, Best Western India,
Mr. Nayan Patel, Director, Best Western Intl. Inc.,
Mr. Vivek Nair, Vice Chairman & MD, The Leela.
2003