Author: John Johnson

Sight and Sound Theater, producers of the popular “Noah – The Musical” in Branson, Missouri, expanded its reach to new customers with internet reservation company, Tripster. Developing a new reservation solution specifically for Sight and Sound Theater, Tripster enabled a smoother means of communication for the ticket ordering process while producing a greater customer base for Sight and Sound and an enhanced relationship with the Branson, Missouri market.

Due to the high volume of sales of Noah The Musical tickets, Sight and Sound needed a third-party inventory system that could be managed automatically. Tripster, a consistent market leader in internet reservation technologies, developed a seamless reservation process, allowing Sight and Sound’s inventory system to communicate directly with Tripster’s regional order fulfillment website.

John Johnson, President of Tripster, stated, “Theater show vendors traditionally sell tickets on our system by logging into their account to enter inventory and prices. That inventory then shows up on the customer website, allowing consumers to purchase tickets. But the tool we developed for Sight and Sound eliminates that step and communicates directly with their reservation system, allowing Sight and Sound to maintain their inventory in our system without manually updating the information.”

“By accessing Sight and Sound’s inventory directly,” said Johnson, “Tripster has added an extra layer of trust to customers’ reservations.” The enhanced reservation interface creates a better level of business-to-business transaction by sharing order confirmations and other customer data.

Tripster is the first and only third party ticket reseller to offer this method of ticket fulfillment for Sight and Sound Theater, and has also created similar reservation interfaces for other major tourist attractions, including Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort, Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, and Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Tripster has been working to establish a new standard in travel reservations since 2001 with the launch of their first destination website for Branson Missouri vacations. Since then, Tripster has been combining its reservation technology with Internet marketing abilities to grow each destination.

Silver Dollar City now offers families a complete vacation package, featuring all of Silver Dollar City’s properties and a variety of approved area lodging, thanks to reservation technology developed by Tripster. The money-saving packages include Silver Dollar City, White Water, Celebration City, Showboat Branson Belle, Ride the Ducks and Dixie Stampede. The combination of Silver Dollar City’s theme parks and shows along with lodging allow customers to book Branson vacation packages at a discount of up to twenty percent over purchasing the products individually.

While the all-inclusive design of the Silver Dollar City vacation packages allows customers to reserve park tickets, show tickets, and lodging while saving money, the Tripster’s reservation system permits them to get more for their money by choosing “add-ons” at discounted rates. These include the Dixie Stampede Dinner Show and a cruise on the Showboat Branson Belle.

Greg Craig, Internet Marketing Manager for Herschend Family Entertainment, owners and operators of Silver Dollar City attractions, said online conversion continues to improve as a result of providing user friendly packaging services to our customers. “Considering the record rainfall and current state of the economy, I’m very pleased with our results.”

John Johnson, President of Tripster, added, “And with the stress of these shaky economic times and high gas prices, it’s good to know people can still afford to take a vacation while saving some money. It’s expensive to hop on a plane and go to Florida. But with our tool, you can spend a lot less to get here and have just as much fun.”

A St. Louis based company, Tripster has provided similar solutions for lodging associations and destination marketing organizations in markets like Branson, Missouri; Eureka Springs, Arkansas; Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; and Orlando, Florida. Tripster also operates its own consumer booking engines in each of these destinations, as well as services for Polk County, Florida, Table Rock Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, and Springfield, Missouri Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing (PCTSM) now offer travelers a comprehensive online reservation service through their destination website, www.VisitCentralFlorida.org. Travelers can use this new booking engine to plan and book a variety of central Florida products such as lodging, entertainment and ticketed attractions. “As vacation planning moves more and more towards an exclusively online experience, Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing has followed the trend by offering online booking on their website,” explains Fay Downing, Marketing Manager of Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing.

The booking engine is a solution developed and operated by travel technology company, Tripster. “Polk County represented a great opportunity for Tripster to further its relationship with the Florida tourism market,” states John Johnson, President of Tripster. “Since the successful launch of our own booking engine in Orlando, we have been eager to expand our services to neighboring markets where our system can provide a much needed solution for marketing organizations such as the Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing organization,” added Johnson.

Polk County is centrally located near many major central Florida attractions such as Walt Disney World, SeaWorld and Universal Studios in Orlando, as well as Busch Gardens in Tampa, making it an efficient place to base a Central Florida vacation. Polk County also has many of its own attractions including Cypress Gardens amusement park, Fantasy of Flight, and the Polk Museum of Art, as well as a variety of hotels and vacation homes.

PCTSM will also utilize the booking engine through the County’s interactive visitor information center, called Polk Outpost 27, where an onsite agent will assist visitors with online lodging and attraction reservations. In addition, the sister website, www.CentralFloridaSports.com, will also provide a similar booking engine to accommodate reservation needs for visitors involved in sports and outdoor events within the County.

Tripster, a St Louis-based company, has provided similar solutions for lodging associations and marketing organizations in the Branson, Missouri; Eureka Springs, Arkansas; Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; and Orlando, Florida markets. It also operates its own consumer booking engines in each of those markets.

Vacation Days Magazine, published by regional travel and reservation company, Tripster, is designed to reach everyday travel consumers when they are planning their vacations and trips. Like Tripster’s annual travel planner before it, Vacation Days includes listing times and information on hotels, attractions and theme parks, as well as theater and dinner shows for each destination Tripster supports. Currently, the newly enhanced magazine features interesting editorial content related to each destination, including full-length features and photographs, articles and columns on accessible travel areas.

Vacation Days started its initial distribution with its Spring/Summer issue to Tripster’s existing travel customers and travel agent network. And initial feedback from customers, travel suppliers and travel agents is extremely positive for increased distribution for the Fall/Winter issue of Vacation Days. “There has been a great deal of interest,” comments John Johnson, President of Tripster. “In fact, I received direct contact from a customer who called to personally thank me for finally providing a travel-related magazine that was practical enough for the everyday traveler to relate to.”

And considering the demographic of Tripster’s destinations, practical is important. “We are not servicing ‘fantasy’ vacationers dreaming of whisking away to South France or a private beach in the Caribbean. We cater to real families taking real vacations, and that is exactly the type of content we intend to always provide in Vacation Days,” Johnson added.

Among the columns and articles sharing unique travel experiences, the article entitled “Out Of the Ordinary,” which focuses on adventure-related activities, is a representative example of Vacation Days new direction to bring in-depth travel-related content to its customer base.

“Vacation Days is a continuation of our overall goal to become more than a vital planning tool– it also can be a fun source of entertainment for the travel customers as well as a marketing partner to the destinations we serve,” said Johnson.

Although Tripster offers services in the destinations featured in Vacation Days, it’s clear from reading the magazine that the publication’s focus is on promoting travel to the destination itself and not just a promotional piece for Tripster. “The content is intended to motivate the customer to simply travel while providing some fun insight into what they can do when they’re there,” said Johnson. “I think that’s what’s missing in the industry.”

Tripster has been producing free travel planners for customers since 2002, and has been providing online reservation services since 2001. Tripster has processed over $25 million in online travel purchases in that time to over 140,000 customers and 4,000 travel agents including many AAA franchised agencies.

Tripster, an Internet-reservation company focused on “drive-to” destinations, now offers travelers the confidence of “Guaranteed Lowest Rate” on much of the lodging listed on their websites. Travelers will be able to identify these properties by the Guaranteed Lowest Rate icon and know they will not find a cheaper rate anywhere else online. In fact, if a consumer makes a purchase and finds the same property, for the same dates and room type for a lower price, ReserveDirect will either pay the difference or allow the consumer to cancel their reservation without penalty.

Beyond the clear benefit for the traveler, travel suppliers see the advantage of offering room rates at these exclusive prices in order to build new revenue sources within a competitive market. Tripster has developed an innovative vendor management system that enables lodging suppliers to manage and set their own price points as well as indicate what price tiers qualify for the Guaranteed Lowest Rate program.

“We have a commitment to the relationships we have established within our destinations and want to give our customers the confidence that they are buying the best price without wasting time shopping on multiple websites,” says John Johnson, President of Tripster. “With all the questionable travel websites out there, customers will like knowing there’s a company backing up their lowest rate guarantee claims. We’re simply trying to operate a travel company that offers the types of benefits that we would want to find when planning our own vacations,” Johnson added.

Potential travelers can visit all of Tripster’s websites to see the lowest guaranteed rates on lodging for popular Ozark Mountain destinations of Branson, Missouri and Eureka Springs, Arkansas as well as Smoky Mountains-area favorites, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Popular family vacation destinations, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee are now more accessible to online-travel, thanks to Tripster, an Internet-reservation company focused on “drive-to” destinations. Internet-savvy travelers and families alike can now use the Expedia- and Travelocity-like reservation system to book local shows, attractions and lodging, all on one comprehensive website that focuses on the local market.

Tripster brings multiple family activities and lodging to a greater audience, including the most visited national park in the country, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. All products are displayed with real-time availability. This means that managers of the local theater shows, attractions and lodging maintain their own inventory and prices through an advanced inventory management system, allowing Tripster to offer guaranteed reservations and eliminating the uncertainty common amongst other drive-to destination websites.

“By offering complete itineraries with real availability, families can take the guesswork out of planning their vacations. We have the functionality, ease-of-use, and reliability of the national travel websites but with the charm and flair of the local products,” said John Johnson, President of Tripster. “The Expedias and Travelocities out there don’t work with the local market like we do and can’t deliver the variety of products.”

Tripster launched in October 2001, and it has since brought over $10 million in tourist revenue to the Branson, Missouri market. The site was designed to enable a smaller market destination to compete in the national travel marketplace by offering “live” availability to multiple product types within a single booking engine. Since then, the company launched Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and added many new features to its dynamic reservation system.