Visual Technology for Tourism Gets Social Proof with 6 times more Engagement in Bookings

Its always been a big problem with online booking agents and central reservation systsems (CRS). On Average 95% of shoppers do not book. They lack engagement with booking and reservation systems which are the shopping cart in travel. Obviously there is room for improvement and VisualBookingsTechnology, the new boy on the block, is proving without any doubt that there is a better way.

In live installation VBT demonstrates that travelers engage more with the new visual interface to travel shopping. The travellers gets immediate response to clicks on options, with suitable properties displayed in a dynamic image matrix that echos sentiment is a stunning visual way. The shopping process is far more intuitive and personal.

Not only do travels stay on the site 600% longer, they also do more and click off to hotel website as 3 times the rate.

Check out the details as they unfold with this exciting new system for tourism destinations, hotel association, chain hotel and Central Booking Services: Click Here >>>

arcRes V5 new Features for Hotel Bookings & Travel Marketing

arcRes publishes rates special and packages to
mobile phone, social media and travel shopping sites

The new arcRes V5 combines the arcRes real-time booking with a host of unique travel services and marketing options. 

arcRes V5 brings new Web 2.0 properties to the booking engine streamlining the booking process, making it more intuitive to use and manage. It is more effective in marketing the brand and closing direct bookings.  




arcRes V5 new look and customized design for brands provides improved marketing, more selling options and higher conversion.

 The design is a simple, compact page that is clear, concise and flexible, allowing hotels and tourism partners to offer many rate plans, specials, packages, affiliate promotions and affinity discounts. 

arcRes direct marketing mail systems allow hotels and tourism suppliers to prospect and follow up with interested travelers. Contact-management is geared to tracking bookings. Sales message may be broadcast to travelers, targeting specific interest, regions, and by booking status and dates etc. The mailing database can be imported into iContact for more advanced tracking and marketing.


An availability calendar is built into the reservation process and will appear to show available dates for units that are fully booked for the selected dates. Travelers often have some flexibility in dates, and the calendar allows them to adjust the stay to fit.

V5 builds on the arcRes Tourism marketing Platform that encompasses mobile marketing and bookings, social media marketing, distribution, direct sales, advertising, content management and publishing. 

Brand content, rates, specials, packages and photo galleries are published to over 1000 travel sites and subscribers that include the AXSES travel network, mobile websites, Smartphone applications, social media, independent shopping sites, travel affiliates, syndicate travel sites and subscribers.

The new customized and brand-focused design option allows AXES to offer personal marketing service to individual hotels and travel brands. These can include SEO optimization, directory submission, video blogging, article writing, bookmarking, publishing and distribution. All marketing works in concert with arcRes publishing, specials marketing and distribution, which spreads the brand URL (e.g. http://yourhotel.com) across the Internet. This creates a wide footprint of the brand on the internet, increasing hotel ranking on the search engines, making it easier for travelers to find the brand and book direct.

The default payment option is Credit Card Guarantee (CCG) , similar to that used by the Global Distributions Systems like Sabre, and by OnLine Travel Agents like Booking.com. CCG is the preferred option for direct booking at hotels and tourism operations, where the operators have generally excellent merchant rates with their local banks and traditionally accept a credit card to secure a booking. The card is processed in the event the guest cancels. Other payment systems and payment gateways can be integrated.

All hotel rules, rates, terms and conditions, even down to family plans, are accommodated. 

arcRes was designed for tourism properties as their own booking engine. There are no fixed rules: Child ages are set by the hotel and tourism supplier according to their own preferences.  A child rate can be free for the first child with charges for the second, or it may be charges for the first and free for the second, or any combination. Similarly, deposit requirements, cancellation policies, check-in times and terms are customized to the brand.

Hotels, car rentals, tours, activities and all tourism suppliers may use a custom-designed booking widget on their website or select from any standard widget available on http://bookingswidgets.com. The widgets are recommended for each page of the site, as this has been shown to increase bookings. The widgets are available for all major hosting platform, including Wordpress, Facebook, Java, Flash and html.

All inventory models are available: request to sell, block a request, freesell and full allocation.

The request to sell system is most popular with small hotels who do not want to manage inventory. All reservations requests are accepted by the system and are subject to confirmation by the supplier.

Block request is similar, except that the supplier can block any unit for a specific period. If it is blocked, it cannot be booked. If available, it is still treated as a reservation request and must be confirmed by the hotel or tourism supplier.

The advantage of the request system is that it is easy to maintain (no allocation, no inventory management). Its disadvantage is that it requires more follow-up and does not offer a real-time confirmation which many travelers expect.

The Confirmed booking system requires Inventory Management or Freesell

With full inventory management units may be allocated to channels and to website bookings. 5 units for the website, 4 for OTA, 5 to xyz, etc. This can get tedious if their are many channels.

In Freesell all units are considered available unless they are blocked. arcRes allows units to be blocked by day for any period.

AXSES offers a channel management service, using technology that allows our consultants to manage rates and allocation across multiple distribution points.

All of these features have been available in arcRes for several years. V5 is a streamlined and more effective system for the brand and the traveler. It sells more units, provides more immediate data to travelers, allows better rate management, upgrades and up-sells and converts more bookings.

AXSES offers a channel management service, using technology that allows our consultants to manage rates and allocation across multiple distribution points.

All of these features have been available in arcRes for several years. V5 is a streamlined and more effective system for the brand and the traveler. It sells more units, provides more immediate data to travelers, allows better rate management, upgrades and up-sells and converts more bookings.


For more see our video at hhttp://arcres.com/upgrade

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10 reasons to book Adventure Holiday Specials Direct from Destinations Suppliers

Our new Adventure Travel Destinations site is tracking on the search engine for searches like "adventure holiday specials and deals". The focus of the site is marketing adventure travel for direct bookings at hotels and tourism companies. Making adventure travel more affordable by buying direct from hotel owners and tourism operators just makes sense.

Hotels and Local Tour companies are the Adventure Suppliers. Adventure travelers often do not understand that it is the Hotel and not the Online Travel Agent (OTA), like Expedia, that provides the product. 

Many travelers feel that the OTA is the travel supplier and have come to think that OTAs offer the best prices for all holidays and travel adventures. We have seen travelers check out rates on a hotel website and book with an OTA, because the price was better at the OTA.

The AXSES   VacationSpecialDeals.com initiative is an attempt to change this. We have also added options for hotels to mange rates and offer Best Available rates to all travelers who book holidays direct.

There is no reason why travelers should think the best deals are via OTAs. Here are the reasons to book adventure holidays direct. It's not all about best holiday specials and deals, but best rates and specials has become a necessity.

1. Best rates are often guaranteed for booking direct with the hotel owner or tourism operator
2. You are dealing with local a Hotel and tourism owner who has special knowledge of the adventure holiday package and all of its holiday options
3. You get real, expert, local advice on the package and the destination
4. It's generally easy to ungrade and, often, owners may upgrade you when dealing direct.
5. It's easier to change dates and option, or even cancel.
6. Local hotel owners often has special arrangements for local activities and offer holiday discounts on local tours and adventure activities
7. Local owners want you to be completely satisfied with your adventure holiday experience. We know of local hotel managers who have paid for a couple who were getting married to go somewhere else, as the OTA had not understood exactly what they wanted. They were sent to a jungle hut, when they wanted a Caribbean beach.
8. You get special attention and special privileges when booking your adventure holiday direct with the hotel & tourism operator. 
9. Local owners often have insights and connections that can make  your holiday. For example, a trip with a local  fisherman is seldom arranged by an OTA, but can be organised with a Local Hotel Manager. A night on beach with Leo, the stargazer in  Barbados, sipping wine and eating beach-fired roasted breadfruit, is a romantic adventure and learning experience that is never organised by an OTA. 

Local knowledge can make an ordinary holiday a real adventure and learning holiday.

Add your Specials to AXSES arcRes for Global advertising and distribution on sites like Craigslist, Google Shopping, BarbadosVacationSpecials.com,  Adventure Travel Destinations, and Romantic Holiday Destinations.

See more at Adventure Travel Destinations Marketing affiilates

Example: Family Adventure Holidays Specials and Deals -  Advertising