LastMinuteTravel.Com Speeds up Web Site
Adds Six New Cruise Lines to Its Travel-Supplier Portfolio
ORLANDO, FL, February 16, 2006. LastMinuteTravel.com announced today the launch of speed-enhancing, user-friendly performance upgrades to its Web site, along with the addition of six cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean International, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Holland America, Costa & WindStar to its growing portfolio of travel suppliers.
The high-performance software multiplies the speed of the LastMinuteTravel.com Web site by ten-fold, reducing search times from eight to 10 seconds to less than one second. Other upgrades make the site more user-friendly. For example, visitors now have the option of viewing hotel locations via an illustrated map or a satellite image of the area. Using the "Hotel Map View," visitors can scroll up and down or shift left and right to widen their search of properties in a given geographical area. In what amounts to a technological first, visitors can now check room availability and book accommodations directly from the map or satellite image. No other travel Web site offers this advanced map feature.
"With the introduction of these powerful software enhancements, we are one of the fastest web sites in the travel," said Nathan Van Prooyen, LastMinuteTravel.com's director of e-commerce. "When you are marketing to last-minute travelers, they don't want to use precious time waiting for a travel search. By making it much easier and faster for visitors to shop for and book their travel, we are giving them more time to pack for their vacation."
Along with the system upgrades, Last MinuteTravel.com recently added six new cruise lines to its portfolio of travel suppliers. Besides its existing relationship with Carnival Cruise Lines, the company now has agreements with Royal Caribbean International, Costa, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise and itineraries are available at www.lastminutecruises.com.
The upgrades to LastMinuteTravel.com have been more than a year in themaking. Designed by Travel Global Systems (TGS), the technology subsidiaryof Travel Holdings, the web site currently has a patent pending for therevolutionary inventory management system.
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