Orbitz to Launch Hotel Alert Service |
| Orbitz's new hotel alert service is an interesting proposition. The online travel agent announced plans today to launch a service for customers who buy plane tickets and hotel reservations for the same trip through the site. When a flight is delayed long enough to cause a customer's arrival at the destination hotel to be later than midnight, Orbitz will alert the hotel to the customer's flight delay. The idea is to help customers avoid losing rooms due to late arrival - many hotels release rooms if guests haven't arrived by midnight. I could see this being a helpful service. There is one issue with it - customers must provide consent before Orbitz will contact a destination hotel. While requiring customer consent is necessary and good, it will make it difficult for travelers to get the most out of this service. Say you're in the airport waiting for your flight to leave. You'll have to field a call from Orbitz before its representatives will contact your destination hotel. It's probably more efficient just to call the hotel yourself. That way, if there is additional information or a problem with holding your reservation, you'll know right away. The service will probably end up being the most helpful for Orbitz flight + hotel customers whose flight delay causes them to miss an entire night's stay. In that scenario, it really makes sense to enlist Orbitz as the middleman who can work something out with the hotel directly. OrbitzTLC Now Takes the Worry Out of Hotel Late-Arrivals |
| POSTED BY SYSADMIN - WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2006 |
| 
