Rotana Rates to appear on Google Maps
Rotana has signed the Google agreement of Trust International to become one of the first hotel management companies in the Middle East and Africa to engage the Google program that drives bookings to the hotel’s own website.
The contract will allow Rotana to display their real time rates and availability in relevant search listings on Google Maps and on related Google Place pages as a pay-per-click advertising module connected with the Rotana booking engine, which is powered by Trust International.
“The response by hoteliers to the program that we jointly developed with Google has been outstanding,” said Richard Wiegmann, Trust International Managing Director. “Since announcing the beta in February, every single hotelier we’ve presented it to has jumped at the unprecedented opportunity this provides to them. Marketing-savvy hoteliers such as Rotana recognize how the Google program can provide a new channel for added exposure and give them a competitive advantage as they vie for bookings.”
The new service allows users to simply enter their desired arrival and departure dates in Google Maps to find the best prices and check availability in real time. It enables hotels to display the pricing information of their own website next to the prices of advertisers, such as online travel agencies, and drive potential bookers directly to the hotel’s own booking engine. The service is available now on Google Maps and Google Place pages on many of Google’s domains in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
“We are glad to be the first hotel group in our region and one of the first in the world to offer this great new functionality to our hotels together with Trust International,” said Omer Kaddouri, Chief Operating Officer for Rotana. “This valuable tool makes the perfect addition to our solution that we have in place with Trust and will drive more revenue via the website of our hotel group.”
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Rotana became a Trust International CRS distribution customer in October 2010. Since then, the Rotana properties are using the yourVoyager CRS as their hub for all reservation and distribution activities, including internet booking engine.