At a time when travelers have been seeing higher prices and increased add-on fees for both business and pleasure trips, an innovative website is bucking the trend.

Using the slogan, “The only travel agency that pays you back,” the just-launched Paymetravel.com actually credits back 3% of the cost of any hotel room, car rental, cruise, or other vacation expense booked directly through the website.

In order to attract and retain new customers, Paymetravel.com

also pays new customers $5 for their first reservation and an additional $5 for each new friend or acquaintance they refer who books on the site. Paymetravel.com`s referral program is similar to the programs that both PayPal and eBay`s Half.com have used so effectively to gain customer loyalty.

The final piece of the Paymetravel.com plan to gain a piece of the competitive online travel booking business includes a low rate guarantee. The website pledges to beat any other price on all air, car, hotel, and cruise reservations when customers see a “lowest price” icon on their screen. Paymetravel.com will either beat the price or refund the cost of the travel.

“Paymetravel.com knew it had to make some bold moves to establish this truly unique online travel agency,” said David Goodis, president and CEO of the company. “The combination of travel rebates, credits for bringing in new customers, and low prices will go a long way towards both attracting new customers and then retaining them.”

The only bookings exempted from its rebate program are airlines that pay no commissions. By clicking on a link, users of the site can learn exactly which airlines do and do not pay commissions. The site lists more than 700 airlines, 50,000 hotels, 50 car rental companies, and 3,500 vacation packages and cruises. It also highlights various vacation packages to places all over the world.

 

——-