A web-based tool rolled out by Parsippany, NJ-based Lodging Interactive allows lodging suppliers and meeting planners to convert long, unruly URLs of group-specific hotel web pages into shorter ones for publication in meetings marketing materials. These simplified URLs redirect viewers to the actual hotel landing pages created for group room bookings, for example.
The domain names given by the tool, at
www.link2brand.com, are:
• hotelgrouprooms.com
• hotelassociationrooms.com
• myhotelpromotions.com
• preferredhotelrate.com
A meeting planner or a hotel salesperson can customize the rest of the URL that follows the domain name, such as www.hotelassociationrooms.com/ASBE2009AnnualMeeting. In the tool, users create their link, enter the actual hotel landing URL, and, optionally, set a meeting description and an expiration date for the link.
For example, those who click on www.hotelassociationrooms.com/ASBE2009AnnualMeeting are taken back to the original site with the unsightly URL www.hilton.com/com/en/hi/groups/personalized/ORDILHF-CAW-20090520/index.jhtml.
While attendees often can easily copy and paste such alphabet-soup URLs from electronic marketing messages into their web browsers, it is cumbersome to manually lift the link from a printed page, such as from a direct-mail brochure. The shorter links are easier for delegates to remember, as well.
Although in-house IT teams at hotels can create custom URLs for groups, this is a simplified and supposedly less expensive method.
According to DJ Vallauri, founder and president of Lodging Interactive, over 100 properties are using the converter, including those from Hilton Hotels & Resorts and Marriott International. Vallauri expects more domain names will be added to the tool, though he told
MeetingNews they can't be as specific as to include individual hotel names.
Lodging Interactive is offering the tool on a free tryout basis until June 30. Afterward, an annual account is $700 per organization.
Originally published Feb. 16, 2009