Best Western International Inc. and Datalex, announced today an agreement in which Datalex will supply its new hospitality booking-engine solution to the worldå‘s largest hotel brand.
Caption: Datalex CEO Neil Beck (left) and
Best Western`s Rick Leutwyler,
vice president for e-Commerce

The technology will extend a range of online searching and booking capabilities to customers and travel professionals via Best Western’s global Web sites, connecting travel buyers directly to Best Western’s central reservations system (CRS). 

Through a license agreement, Best Western

will take ownership of the Datalex

Internet booking-engine platform, which will provide a broad range of functionalities that allow the company to replace its current per-transaction cost base for outsourced Internet reservations services. Best Western will operate the booking engine from its center in Arizona.

The new system will provide travel buyers with powerful destination search and recommendation capabilities, dynamic links to property information content, and bookings made against real-time room availability. The system also will be linked to Best Western’s loyalty program and will enable the packaging of additional components, such as products and packages, in conjunction with hotel accommodations.

Best Western’s Web-based portals will provide functionalities required by different types of purchasers including travel agents, corporate travel planners, meetings planners and tour operators, as well as unmanaged corporate travelers and leisure guests. Bookings access will be made through browser-based technologies and mobile devices. 

Ric Leutwyler, vice president e-Commerce for Best Western said, “The solution will enable Best Western to extend across all client markets a customer-oriented, feature-rich booking system that will not only deliver powerful search, information and booking capabilities, but will also enable us to distribute our inventories at a lower total cost.”

Datalex will supply its latest Web Services-based booking engine technology, designed to provide the capabilities of dynamic multi-component packaging, content management, search and recommendation, inventory system connectivity and distribution. Datalex CEO Neil Beck

said, “This agreement confirms that our new hospitality technology solutions have a growing market among online leisure, destination resort, hotel and travel distribution organizations, for which the benefits include improved service and distribution efficiency.”

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