Tvtrip.com is launching a web site that allows users to search for European accommodations utilizing professionally-filmed online videos.The site currently features videos of 200 hotels in 15 key European cities, and will feature over 1500 videos of hotels in the top 50 European destinations by the end of 2007. The site was founded and developed by four former managers of Expedia Europe, in response to customers’ need for the ability to search for and evaluate European accommodations more quickly, accurately and efficiently.

“We want to help customers, that’s really the idea behind Tvtrip,” said Marc Ruff, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tvtrip.com. “We want to reassure them that when they are booking their European hotel, that they have chosen the right one.”

Tvtrip.com is a free web site that currently features videos profiling over 200 hotels in 15 key European cities that represent destinations for 80% of European travel. The site features, for each city on its menu which currently includes Rome, Paris, London, Madrid, Brussels, an approximately 45-second overview video which gives a general view of the hotel, its inside and its surrounding environment. Once users have narrowed their choices to a handful of sites they are interested in, they can drill down to each hotel’s specific page where they can view a series of videos about hotel features such as the lobby, neighborhood and amenities, as well as views of all of the room types available.

“Tvtrip speaks to everyone, because everyone has had the experience of jumping out of a cab when you reach your destination and seeing that the front of the hotel may look like what you saw in photos, but the neighborhood is really not what you had in mind,” said Ruff.

The web site also makes sense for American travelers coming to Europe, who may have different perceptions about hotel room quality and size. “Viewing the professional-quality videos on our website will help Americans understand that a 4-star hotel in Paris or London is very nice, but it is also probably quite small by American standards.”

The site is also unique in that in addition to the videos of the hotels, information such as maps and nearby sites of interest is also included. This helps expedite the user’s search for accommodations by putting all of the key information they need to make a decision - as well as the quick, informative videos—on one website.

The overview videos on the site all follow a similar format. The format is dictated by the three key interests of travelers when looking for information about accommodations: the environment the hotel is in and its surrounding area; general information about the hotel including lobby, restaurant, fitness center and other amenities; and the differences between room categories represented by different price points.

Once users have narrowed down their search, they can navigate to each hotel’s description page to get more in-depth information, as well as a set of videos which give more specific information about different aspects of the property. When the user is ready to book, they can do that through partnerships and links Tvtrip.com has with Expedia, Booking and Venere, or they can do it directly through the hotel’s web site.

All videos on TVtrip.com are shot by professional cameramen and are edited by professional editors.
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