Web hotel reservations firm sets up shop in LV

Friday, Oct. 1, 1999 | 10:50 a.m.

A global travel Internet company focusing on hotel reservations has established its American headquarters in Las Vegas.

Hotelguide.com is concentrating its reservation and information World Wide Web site on lodging. Most existing Internet travel sites are driven by airline reservation systems and 80 percent of the existing travel sites are dedicated to air fares and airline schedules.

Alisanne Frew, director of marketing services in the United States for Hotelguide.com, said the company's Internet site debuted last week.

The site is one of two major components in the Hotelguide.com strategy. The other will be the mass distribution of a CD-ROM offering information on about 60,000 hotels worldwide. Frew said 5 million CD-ROMs would be distributed free in travel magazines, computer publications and through travel agencies and airlines.

The strategy is similar to that of several Internet information service companies like America Online and Compuserve that distribute CD-ROMs and discs to give customers the software necessary to connect to their companies.

Hotelguide.com is developing its U.S. market after starting strong in Europe. Of the 60,000 hotels in the company's database, 31,084 are in Europe and 14,825 are in the United States.

While the system is strongest in Europe and North America, it has a global reach. For example, the data base has 72 hotels listed in Namibia and two in Cambodia.

Based in Meggen, Switzerland, the company is privately held but plans to go public next year.

Here's how the Hotelguide.com system works: Persons looking to book a reservation at a hotel anywhere in the world can seek information off line with the CD-ROM's searchable data base. When a selection is made, the CD-ROM has software that automatically connects the user to a browser to the Internet to get up-to-date information and current rates off the website.

The website contains the same data base and information as the CD-ROM. Customers can define searches by city, price and by features available at the hotels.

Once a selection is made, users can click on built-in links to the property's own website or reservation system.

Frew said using the CD-ROM for the initial search keeps the user from going online for extended periods -- a big advantage in selling the European market on the product.

Frew said Internet access in Europe is more expensive than it is in the United States, making the CD-ROM particularly advantageous. She said the CD-ROM is being produced in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese.

The advantage of the website version of the system is that it stays current on rates and new features. The site also offers lodging properties the ability to place a free listing. The free listing offers minimal additional information, but it also give mom-and-pop operations the same platform as the corporate giants.

The free listing also gives Hotelguide.com staff fresh leads to sell additional listings to hotel companies that want to enhance their appearance on the site.

The company sells packages that offer photographs of rooms or attractions at the hotel. Packages range from $2,500 to $17,000 a year based on a four-year contract. The contract places special ads and photos on the CD-ROM, on the website and in a printed hotel guide book.

Frew said her company is explaining to clients that researchers say Internet commerce is expected to grow from a $4.8 billion industry in 1998 to a $327 billion industry in 2002.

Companies that spend the most get preferential listings in Hotelguide.com's sites and publications.

Frew said research shows many Internet users will click on the first appealing listing they see in a list. Companies that spend the most will be rotated to the top of the list with lower contracts in descending order. Free listings are presented alphabetically.

From her Las Vegas base, Frew will work on sales to hotel chains. The Nevada market will be handled by a former Las Vegas resort executive. Sylvia Zorsch, formerly director of marketing for Sunset Station hotel-casino in Henderson, was named director of sales and marketing for Hotelguide.com in the state.

Also, an Internet travel services company specializing in reservations in the Las Vegas market has affiliated with Hotelguide.com.

Dan Reichartz, former president of Caesars Palace, and Dan Scott, who held executive financial positions with MGM Grand and Caesars Palace, have formed TravelSwitch, which will specialize in Las Vegas reservations, group sales and convention business.

Reichartz, who was president at Caesars from 1985 to 1996, and Scott, who was vice president of finance at Caesars for 12 years before working as senior vice president and chief financial officer of the MGM Grand from 1995 to 1997, are the company principals.

As an affiliate, TravelSwitch will be a portal to Hotelguide.com's site and will have its name on the home page.

Hotelguide.com won't compete with TravelSwitch for group bookings and convention business.

Hotelguide.com also has established a relationship with the makers of the Palm Pilot so that hotel listings can be downloaded to hand-held computers.

Hotelguide.com competes with Travelocity, TravelNow and Preview Travel. Travelscape.com, another Las Vegas-based Internet travel company, operates as an inventory reseller instead of directing customers directly to the properties via online links.