LAS VEGAS -- Signature Travel Network is introducing a
consumer hotel booking tool that agents can place on their websites.
During Signature's annual sales meeting at the Mandalay Bay
Resort and Casino, Signature executive vice president of information
technologies Karen Yeates said the tool will go live before the end of 2017.
The tool will feature Signature's collection of 1,033
preferred hotels. Members can opt in for $1,500 per year (once an agency has
paid the fee, the tool can be used by all of its agents).
"A lot of our research indicated that people love to
see promotional offers, but in the case of hotels in particular, they want to
look at availability and dates," Signature's president and CEO Alex Sharpe
said. "To send someone a static email that says, hey, this is a great
property or this is a great destination without the ability to do those things
before they call is problematic."
Yeates said the booking tool could be used as a customer-acquisition
tool for agents. They could, for instance, link to it via social media to
attract new clients.
"Whether we get a ton of bookings through it or people
just use it to shop and get pricing and availability and then call their
consultants, either way it's fine with us," Sharpe said.
Executive vice president Ignacio Maza said that Signature's
2018 hotel collection has 100 new hotels for a total of 1,033 preferred
properties in 450 locations.
The hotels offer a number of benefits to Signature clients,
including daily breakfast for two, free Wi-Fi and a special benefit, like a
resort credit or lunch or dinner for two once during the stay.
Signature's 2017 sales meeting drew about 1,400 members and
850 suppliers.