NextTag launches hotel comparison shopping

October 28, 2004 |

NexTag, Inc., a provider of product comparison shopping sites, has moved into comparison shopping for travel with the launch of its MultiSite Search for hotels.

NexTag’s MultiSite Search provides travelers the ability to compare room rates offered through participating hotels, online travel agencies and hotel merchants, including some of today’s most popular online travel brands. NexTag’s unique display provides real-time room rates for a specific property from multiple distributors in an easy side-by-side comparison in order to help shoppers find the best price for specific hotels, based on their arrival and departure dates.

NexTag’s move into travel is part of its expansion into ServicesShoppingSM to offer consumers the ability to shop and compare prices on more products and services than currently available through any other comparison shopping site. NexTag’s new ServicesShopping capabilities also offer comparison shopping for mortgages, cars, real estate and online education programs.

The services expansion complements NexTag’s popular comparison shopping for products. Over the last year, NexTag.com has grown to become one of the most-visited comparison shopping sites with 10.6 million monthly unique visitors1 – a 138% increase over last year, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.

“We have designed NexTag ServicesShopping to help shoppers save even more time and money,” said Purnendu Ojha, President and CEO of NexTag. “There are comparison shopping sites for products and comparison shopping sites for selected services. NexTag.com is the only comparison shopping site for both products and most of the popular online services.”

NexTag ServicesShopping addresses a growing consumer interest to utilize comparison shopping sites to find the best deals. According to a recent Harris Interactive Poll, 58% of online users said they are likely to visit a comparison site that could help them shop and compare prices on just about everything they buy.

“As the online shopping industry grows year over year, NexTag has continuously been one of the top comparison shopping sites throughout 2004”, said Heather Dougherty, senior Internet analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. “Its strategic move to offer comparison shopping for services is wise as these new verticals continue to drive significant opportunities online.”

At the core of NexTag’s unique comparison shopping platform is its proprietary Search And Match technology (SAM) that quickly scans millions of offerings from thousands of merchants and service providers to match a consumer’s specific shopping criteria. NexTag has developed and customized SAM beyond product shopping to specifically address the needs of shoppers who want to compare products, prices, as well as terms from mortgage lenders, travel providers, auto dealers, real estate agents and online universities. The result is a highly specialized technology platform that helps shoppers to quickly find the best deals available through leading online merchants as well as offline service providers.