Rotana signs Google deal with Trust International
Rotana can now display the real time rates and availability of its hotels on Google Maps and Google Places thanks to an agreement with Trust International.
The chain is the first hotel management company in the Middle East to sign up to Trust International’s Google programme, which helps drive bookings to the hotel’s own website.
The contract, signed at ITB in Berlin, will allow Rotana to display 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 Trust International managing director Richard Wiegmann.
“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.”
Google's new service allows users to enter their desired arrival and departure dates in Google Maps and find the best prices and check availability in real time.
The yourVoyager system from Trust International enables the 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.
Rotana chief operating officer Omer Kaddouri commented: “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. 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.”
Rotana became a Trust International CRS distribution customer in October 2010 and uses yourVoyagerCRS as its hub for all reservation and distribution activities, including the nternet booking engine (IBE