Search Party Opens Search Tool to Hotels.com
JUNE 1, 2006. Search Party, the new hotel price search engine launched in April, ( www.searchparty.com) has just added yet another way to help online travelers uncover the best value that also helps hotel direct websites be more competitive against the likes of big online travel agencies.
Search Party Desktop, a proprietary downloadable tool, is now effective on Hotels.com in addition to Expedia and Travelocity. As you know, these sites do not participate in travel search sites so Search Party has designed an easy and secure tool to automatically launch when travelers shop for hotels on these three sites and it's paying off. In regular random tests that compare hotel prices found via Expedia, Travelocity and Hotels.com, Search Party Desktop finds a lower price approximately 50 percent of the time for an average savings of $47. (This is based on regular internal tests for the same two-night stay across 25 random hotels in varying top-tier markets).
Search Party is the only travel site that compares the total cost of a hotel stay, breaking out nightly rates from taxes and booking fees and providing detailed information on cancellation policies and penalties. These additional - and often hidden costs - vary considerably from site to site and can significantly increase the cost of a hotel stay, yet are often excluded from most online price guarantees, such as Expedia's Best Price Guarantee.
Search Party carries its unique consumer-driven transparency through to Search Party Desktop. Unlike other travel "tools," Search Party Desktop does not integrate advertising bias and only provides the consumer a relevant alternative for a specific hotel and room type when a lower total cost is identified through its system of 40,000 U.S.hotels.
This is important for hoteliers looking for additional cost-effective way to ensure the rates offered through their direct websites are seen side-by-side with agency sites that often have greater taxes and fees.
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