LeisureLink launches new booking engine featuring “Positive Search”

September 25, 2008 | Online Travel

Rather than forcing a consumer to enter specific dates and then saying �no,� LeisureLink's new Positive Search feature displays what is available and then lets the consumer choose.

The engineers at LeisureLink, a distribution platform for the Specialty Lodging Industry, were charged with building a new Booking Engine for the company�s own direct-to-consumer website.

After reviewing the company�s research, it became apparent that the entire industry could benefit by offering consumers a more positive booking experience.

�That was the �aha� moment,� said Erik Hovanec, President and CEO of LeisureLink. �It became obvious that our new Booking Engine needed to be built around a search component that would start and end every consumer search with a positive experience. So we created Positive Search�,� he continued.

Although the consumer still enters the booking process the usual way, Positive Search gives the consumer a wider window of available properties by showing a calendar with a bigger and better view of the real picture. So rather than forcing a consumer to enter specific dates and then saying �no,� Positive Search� displays what is available and then lets the consumer choose.

Another big difference between LeisureLinks� new Booking Engine and most other Specialty Lodging booking engines is its focus on Unit Types Instead of Specific Units.

�Our research shows that consumers, especially first time guests, want to keep it simple. Part of a positive experience is not being overwhelmed by a giant list of available units,� Hovanec added. �So we give them the simple facts, i.e. one bedroom or two, ocean front or not. You get the picture and so do they,� he concluded.

After successfully introducing their new Booking Engine on its own Abetterstay.com site, the company decided to offer the new engine to clients, who are able to private label the engine for their own use.

�If you want conversion rates to go up, it help to power your website with an engine that gives consumers a positive booking experience from beginning to end,� added Steve Reich, LeisureLink�s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. �That�s why we�re now making it available to all LeisureLink clients.�

Travel companies interested in learning more about this consumer friendly Booking Engine featuring Positive Search� are encouraged to contact LeisureLink for further details.