<B>BTS Adds Hotel Mapping</B>
By Bruce Serlen
Sabre BTS, the online booking tool, added a third icon to its mapping feature this month to assist travelers in choosing a hotel compatible with their companies' travel policy. The green "A" with a check mark joined two existing icons, a "little blue traveler" and a handshake. Likewise, GetThere, another booking engine, added European maps to its existing stock of U.S. maps earlier this year to facilitate travelers booking hotels in these locations.
The goal for both Sabre BTS and GetThere is three-fold. Enhanced mapping will make booking hotels enjoyable for travelers. Thereby, it will help improve adoption rates for the hotel portion of the booking tools. And this, ultimately, will help drive compliance with the company travel policy.
For travel buyers, the great advantage of the mapping feature is that it allows them to customize the maps. This way, the maps show only the hotels approved in a location. But rather than the hotel's location in isolation, the map shows it in relation to the points where travelers need to be to conduct their business, whether that be the headquarters building, a manufacturing plant or a customer's offices.
"Initially, companies tended to use the booking engine for booking airline tickets exclusively, though we are starting to see increases in the number booking hotels," said Jay GaBany, director of travel applications for GetThere. This isn't to say travelers weren't visiting the site to gain information on hotels in the hotel program, only that they then were booking through other channels.
GaBany expected the hotel bookings to continue to increase in the remainder of 2000 and 2001, once travelers found the experience useful and enjoyable. "The maps are proving comparable to seat selection functionality, which travelers like because they can see the seat they're getting when booking airline tickets," he said. "Travel managers tell us their travelers appreciate this visual sense of where the hotel is located. Plus the technology is fun and people enjoy using it." The technology works by taking an address and turning it into longitude and latitude coordinates.
The less familiar travelers are with the destination, the more valuable they have found the maps. "Business travelers don't always return to the same destinations, so the enhanced maps are most appreciated when they're in an unfamiliar place and don't know the approved hotels," said Andy Ross, program manager for Sabre BTS. "Once the travel manager has customized a map, travelers only see the hotels in the program, so the process simplifies choices for them considerably."
The first maps icon Sabre BTS introduced indicated the traveler's favorite hotels in a given location from among those on the company's approved list. The second icon identified the remaining hotels on the company's list in that same location. The third icon indicates hotels in destinations where the company has no approved list.
"We introduced this one to assist travelers who visited secondary or tertiary markets, markets where the company didn't bring enough travel to warrant having a list of approved properties," Ross said. In those locations, the icon on the map identifies hotels where the company uses a consortia rate in lieu of a negotiated rate.
"Generally, the icons are meant to be playful, so travelers will enjoy using the system and want to use it again," he said.
At GetThere, providing European maps was a logical extension of its U.S. capabilities. "More business travelers are traveling internationally, so Europe was a natural evolution," GaBany said. Cities in 12 countries are involved including France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
GetThere uses mapping software provided by MapBlast, while Sabre BTS employs MapQuest technology. Both systems stress personalized service. "The technology can provide maps for new trips and store maps for repeat visits," said Michael Nappi, vice president for business solutions for MapQuest. Not all travelers prefer solely visual aids. "Granted a picture is worth a thousand words, but because some travelers express a preference for verbal directions, we included short bits of text along with a detailed map," said David Cherner, vice president and general manager of Vicinity Corp., which owns MapBlast.
With both MapBlast and MapQuest, users can access door-to-door driving directions to any location.
Cherner foresees adding more functionality. "It's the ability to drill deeper and get travelers the more detailed directions we believe they're looking for.