Webervations Newsletter )
December 2006 December 15, 2006
In This Issue
  • Web Site Search Box
  • Consolidated Availability
  • Letter from David
  • Dear Innkeeper,

    Most Recent Additions

    You can now select the number of nights that will display to your guests when they access your Webervations availability pages. You can set this inside of your Webervations account under Configuration > Program Operation Settings > Availability Display Options. After selecting and saving this option, it will take approximately one hour for this change to take effect on your site.

    Webervations is designed to seamlessly integrate into any lodging Web site. However, because of the width of the Webervations display, Web masters sometimes have difficulty incorporating our service into their pages. To accommodate our users with narrow Web pages, we now provide the ability to resize the width of our content to fit any design. You can change the width of your display by going to Configuration > Web Page Appearance > Option #3. You can view the changes in width immediately by clicking on the Preview link at the top of the page.


    Web Site Search Box

    Many of our users have requested the ability to include a search box on their own Web sites. This feature would allow you to place a search feature on every page, and also to make the availability search a seamless part of navigating your Web site. Combined with the Custom Header and Footer option outlined in the August edition of our newsletter, this feature will fully integrate the Webervations system into your site.

    Our support staff has not offered assistance with this feature in the past, as it does require the work of a Web master to implement. However, our development team has created a page that will show a Web master how this will work, and our support technicians have been trained in the use of this feature. For more information about this feature, please contact the Webervations technical support team. They will also be available to work with your Web designers to implement this feature on your site.

    Consolidated Availability

    One of the most important and beneficial features of the Webervations system is the ability to display your availability from many different locations. The Webervations user update area provides a way to enter your availability in one location, and then display this information from as many different pages as you wish. To further enhance this feature, we can work with any CVB, chamber, or association to provide a consolidated availability display.

    When building a consolidated availability display, we will work with someone from your group to create a custom designed page that will display the availability of all Webervations members on a single page. Each of these pages is built to the specifications of the contact person from your group, which allows us to build a display that will work best for the guests visiting your group's Web site. Please review the pages below to see how these displays can work for your membership. Our technicians will be ready to answer any questions that you may have about these features.

    Letter from David

    Webervations actually began as a consolidated availability system back in 1996. At the time, the Hocking Hills Region was the distant 3rd tourism destination in Ohio. Today the Hocking Hills Region is the #1 tourism destination in Ohio. Why? It is simple. Consolidated availability searches make it easy for guests to find a place to stay.

    There are nearly 200 accommodation businesses in the Hocking Hills. If a guest had to call each of them, it would take nearly 17 hours (at 5 minutes a phone call). If a guest had to check availability on 200 individual Web sites, it would take nearly 7 hours (at only 2 minutes per Web site). To search a consolidated availability listing, it takes less than one minute. Today's busy guests can't spend 7 hours just to locate a place with availability. Over time, they end up preferring destinations offering consolidated availability displays. Ohio's previous #1 and #2 tourism destinations do not have consolidated availability displays.

    Webervations provides consolidated availability searches for many top tourism destinations (see above link). We have the answers to make it work.

    One more reason to get your group to use Webervations consolidated availability displays if they are not already doing so: Webervations is commission free. Tourism destinations that don't use Webervations often fall prey to commission based systems. The commission based systems share the commission (which comes out of your pocket) with the VCB or chamber. Get your VCB or chamber to use Webervations for consolidated availability searches before you end up paying commissions!

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    phone: (740) 385-4444