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Rosemarie Young, an Orlando resident with over 10 years of hospitality and sales experience, has joined Tripster. Her addition to the company will further efforts in the Orlando vacation market. Young has an extensive background in hotel sales and marketing, revenue management and customer service. With a previous tenure as Director of Sales at a central Florida hotel, her expertise aligns perfectly with her new role as Orlando Market Manager.

As Market Manager, she will foster travel supplier relationships and destination opportunities throughout Orlando. Young will also act as liaison between Orlando travel suppliers and other Tripster employees to best address product and consumer needs.

“Rosemarie’s professional background, as well as her strong relationships with Orlando travel suppliers and hoteliers, make her a welcome presence on the Tripster team,” stated John Johnson, President of Tripster. “Moreover, she understands the market and industry and will enable us to advance our business relationships in that market.”

Tripster is a travel reservation company that focuses on specific travel destinations, offering local expertise and reservations for shows and attractions, as well as lodging and hotel reservations to vacationers, families and businesses. The company also offers fulfillment tools to travel suppliers and other regional travel resources. Tripster provides travel service in a variety of markets like Branson, Missouri; Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; Orlando, Florida; Williamsburg, Virginia; the Hawaiian Islands; and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

As travel company Tripster celebrates 13-years of providing travel reservations for customers and booking solutions for travel suppliers, it is also celebrating another milestone— it’s first 10-year employee. Ashley Dickey, Tripster’s Destination Content Manager, started with the company in 2003 and, besides the owners of the company, has been the longest running employee to be part of the growth of the company over the bulk of its history.

“Ashley started with us as a customer service representative and quickly became a valuable part of the call center team,” said John Johnson, President of Tripster. “So we offered her a full-time position and she flourished from there.”

Ashley was promoted to Destination Specialist, where she began generating content for all of the Tripster destination Travel Guides, focusing on news, events, and travel tips.

After completing a B.A. in English with an emphasis on Literature and Mass Media at Missouri State University, Ashley was promoted to Destination Content Manager, the position she currently holds. This new job gave her greater control over the content generated on all of Tripster’s websites. Ashley has been instrumental in leading content creation for products, blogs as well as social media and product reviews.

“Ashley has taken her in-depth travel experience and turned it into experiential content, giving our customers inside information to make their trips better,” said Kevin Weidemann, Creative Director. “Our customers really get a sense of what to do when they visit, and that’s part of the reason why they choose to book with us.”

“I started with Tripster thinking it was just a job to benefit my college education. I soon found I was part of a small business on the verge— and I was excited to be involved.  Over the years, Tripster has continued to grow, and the evolution of this small business has been inspiring,” said Dickey, upon reflection of her tenure. “It has given me creative and intellectual freedom while also instilling a family and community-like environment in which I thoroughly enjoy to work.”

Tripster congratulates Ashley on 10 years of dedicated service.

About Tripster
Tripster is a travel reservation technology company that focuses on specific travel destinations, offering local expertise and reservations for shows and attractions, as well as hotel reservations to vacationers, families and businesses. The company also offers fulfillment tools to travel suppliers and other regional travel resources. Tripster provides travel service in a variety of markets like Branson, Missouri; Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; Orlando, Florida; Williamsburg, Virginia; the Hawaiian Islands; and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Joan Brock, an eastern Tennessee native with more than 20 years of marketing and sales experience, has joined Tripster. Brock’s addition to the company enables further efforts in the Smoky Mountain vacation market as well as expands development of the Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg destinations.

Brock has assumed the Market Manager role for Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. She acts as a liaison between travel suppliers and Tripster employees, as well as fosters travel supplier relationships and destination opportunities throughout the Smoky Mountain region. Additionally, Brock’s tenures in the hospitality, marketing, sales and public relations fields have provided her extensive expertise in the Smoky Mountain travel market.

“After seven years of establishing a solid foundation in the Smoky Mountains, Tripster needed a fresh perspective and we found that in Joan,” stated John Johnson, President of Tripster. “She understands and relays our products and tools very efficiently and we are excited to have her on our team.”

Tripster is a travel reservation technology company that focuses on specific travel destinations, offering local expertise and reservations for shows and attractions, as well as lodging and hotel reservations to vacationers, families and businesses. The company also offers fulfillment tools to travel suppliers and other regional travel resources. Tripster provides travel service in a variety of markets like Branson, Missouri; Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; Orlando, Florida; Williamsburg, Virginia; the Hawaiian Islands; and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The Titanic Museum Attractions are the world’s largest attractions dedicated to the fateful voyage of the Titanic.  These ship-shaped museums feature massive collections of photographs, memorabilia and personal and private artifacts.  In an effort to bundle their tickets with hotels and other area attractions in both of the Titanic Museum locations, the management team partnered with Tripster, a reservation technology company located in St. Louis which specializes in online vacation packages.

By utilizing Tripster’s affiliate revenue tools, the Titanic Attractions offer customers the ability to reserve Titanic tickets with ease as well as combine them with other area products and lodging, all within a custom-branded, private label website. The Titanic Museum Pigeon Forge has packages with attractions like Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies the Dixie Stampede and Biltmore Estate.  Currently, the Titanic Museum Branson is offering a lodging inclusive vacation package.  Both of these packaging solutions enable Titanic Museum Attractions to build their brand and increase value by providing customers the ability to save money on their vacations.

Tripster is the only official ticket provider to offer packaging and ticket fulfillment for Titanic Attractions.  Similarly, Tripster is also an authorized reseller of Titanic Museum tickets in Branson, Missouri, as well as Titanic in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

“We have developed a successful business relationship with the Titanic Museum Attractions in our regional markets by selling their products on our destination sites,” said John Johnson, President of Tripster.  “By utilizing our affiliate revenue tools, the attractions were able to provide seamless ticket transactions as well as packaging solutions to their customers, adding value to their product and enhancing their overall brand.”

Tripster is a travel reservation and technology company that offers fulfillment tools to travel suppliers and other regional travel resources, making it simple for organizations to earn income with free Affiliate Revenue Tools. Tripster has provided similar solutions for lodging associations and destination marketing organizations in markets like Branson, Missouri; Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; Orlando, Florida; Williamsburg, Virginia; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and the Hawaiian Islands.

Ripley’s Attractions, the worldwide corporation behind Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museums and Ripley’s Aquariums, has 85 attractions in over 11 countries. A few of the cities they currently operate in include Gatlinburg, TN; Branson, MO; Orlando, FL; Williamsburg, VA; Myrtle Beach, SC; and Pigeon Forge, TN. Within these regional markets, Ripley’s now sells tickets and lodging-inclusive vacation packages online with Internet reservation company, Tripster.

The Branson Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Ripley’s Odditorium Orlando and Ripley’s Museum Gatlinburg have all utilized Tripster’s Private Label Reservation Solution. Ripley’s customers can now reserve Ripley’s attraction tickets with ease, as well as package them with other area products and lodging, all within a custom-branded private label website. Tripster is the first and only third party ticket reseller to offer this method of ticket fulfillment for Ripley’s Attractions. Tripster is also an authorized seller of Ripley’s products for all locations on their destination website.

The Advanced Private Label Reservation Solution, which adds another layer of brand exclusivity and packaging services, has aided Ripley’s Aquarium Gatlinburg by creating an extension of the Ripley’s Aquarium website. This packaging technology allows for seamless transactions, enabling customers to reserve hotel and lodging-inclusive packages to Ripley’s Aquarium while also incorporating popular Gatlinburg attractions like the Dixie Stampede, to create money saving, value-based vacation packages.

“We developed a successful business relationship with Ripley’s Attractions by selling their products in our regional destination markets,” said John Johnson, President of Tripster. “So they were a great fit for our solutions that enable seamless ticket transactions as well as product packaging. It adds value for their customers, and enhances their overall brand.”

Tripster is a travel reservation and technology company that offers fulfillment tools to travel suppliers and other regional travel resources, making it simple for organizations to earn income with free Affiliate Revenue Tools. Tripster has provided similar solutions for lodging associations and destination marketing organizations in markets like Branson, Missouri; Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; Orlando, Florida; Williamsburg, Virginia; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and the Hawaiian Islands. Tripster also operates its own consumer booking engines in each of these destinations, as well as services for Silver Dollar City and Dollywood.

Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede Dinner Attraction is one of the most popular shows in the country, boasting a four-course meal and family-friendly atmosphere.  The Stampede is located in three vacation destinations— Branson, MO; Pigeon Forge, TN; and Myrtle Beach, SC. As a result of wanting to provide more savings to their customers, the Stampede introduced the ability to bundle their tickets with hotels and other area attractions in all three of their locations.  The ability to offer these vacation packages is a result of a partnership with Tripster, a reservation technology company located in St. Louis.

Utilizing Tripster’s Affiliate Revenue Tools, the vacation package systems are an extension of the Stampede’s websites and are identified with the show’s own branding. This packaging technology allows for seamless transactions, enabling customers to reserve lodging-inclusive packages to all of the Stampede Dinner Show locations.

Tripster is also an authorized seller of Stampede tickets for all show locations on their destination website.

John Johnson, President of Tripster, stated “Our packaging tools were an easy solution for Dixie Stampede, especially since we already have a presence in their destination markets. We’re helping out Dixie Stampede and travelers by offering convenient, money-saving vacation packages in Branson, Myrtle Beach and Pigeon Forge.”

Tripster has provided booking engine technology since 2001 for a number of U.S. destinations including Branson, Missouri; Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; the Hawaiian Islands; Williamsburg, Virginia; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Orlando, Florida. ReserveDirect also operates its own consumer booking engines in each of these destinations, as well as vacation packaging services for Silver Dollar City and Dollywood theme parks.

Williamsburg, Virginia, the nation’s largest living history museum and Virginia’s leading tourist destination, attracts visitors seeking to experience America’s Revolutionary past as well as enjoy the popular theme park, Busch Gardens. Colonial Williamsburg, along with Historic Jamestown and Yorktown, make up the Historic Triangle. With the launch of a new travel website, customers now have a single point-of-purchase access to Williamsburg.

Williamsburg, another destination-based travel website, launched by Internet travel technology company, Tripster, makes it easy for vacationers to book their lodging and Busch Gardens tickets.

While using direct product availability from the management companies of area travel products, Tripster offers real-time booking for customers. This a la carte packaging functionality allows customers to book individual products to build their own vacation packages, or utilize the many money-saving pre-constructed packages. Customers make all their purchases in one place, then simply print their E-tickets straight from their printer. Once they arrive, customers take those E-tickets to the box offices, attraction main gates, or hotel front desks.

“Colonial Williamsburg is a great addition to the Tripster family,” said John Johnson, President of Tripster. “Tripster utilizes our proprietary booking engine that has been a proven tool in other markets, making people’s vacation planning more fun and less stressful since 2001. We anticipate our model will have an impact here in Williamsburg as well.” Johnson reports, out of all the products available on the website, the Busch Gardens Vacation Packages are the best seller so far.

Tripster, based on the strategies and more than eight-year internet-travel experience, will place equal emphasis on the activities and entertainment that lure consumers to a destination, unlike the nationally-branded travel websites that focus more on simply the transportation to the destination via air and rental cars. “Other travel websites aren’t equipped to offer travelers the ability to book ticketed attractions in conjunction with their lodging. We provide the whole gamut— hotels, show tickets, local news and information, all specific to Myrtle Beach.”

Tripster has provided similar solutions for lodging associations and destination marketing organizations in markets like Branson, Missouri; Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; Hawaii and Orlando, Florida.

SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, operators of multiple theme parks throughout the country, including SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Aquatica, Adventure Island and Discovery Cove, has recently enlisted Tripster to sell tickets to Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Water Country USA in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Tripster specializes in travel reservations to individual destinations, acting as a “local expert” while providing hotel and lodging reservations, theme park, attraction and show tickets specific to a particular region. In this case, Tripster will provide additional channels of sales for the Williamsburg-based Busch Entertainment theme parks.

SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment currently utilizes Tripster to sell park admissions in its Central Florida theme parks, including SeaWorld, Busch Gardens Tampa, Aquatica and Adventure Island through their destination website. As a result of the success in the Orlando area, SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment wants to bring the same model to the Williamsburg, Virginia travel market.

“Its nice to work with a company with dedicated focus on a particular travel destination. Customers clearly respond to Tripster’s model, so we look forward to working with them in multiple regions,” said Thomas Valley, Senior Manager of Travel Industry Sales for the Florida Parks.

Utilizing the latest in internet-based technology, Tripster interfaces their reservation system with SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment’s ticketing system, allowing customers to purchase SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment theme park tickets. Then, customers simply print their E-ticket straight from their computer. Since the barcode on the E-ticket is generated directly from SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment’s systems, customers can then simply scan their E-ticket at the main gates of the theme parks for hassle-free admission.

“We are excited about the partnership with Busch Gardens in the Williamsburg area,” said John Johnson, President of Tripster. “We certainly appreciate the trust they are putting into our company, and we will work to make Williamsburg as successful as the Orlando market.”

In addition to selling SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment theme park tickets, Tripster works with other area travel suppliers so that customers can bundle their SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment tickets with area attractions and lodging, allowing families to book their entire Williamsburg vacation in one place.

Tripster has provided booking engine technology since 2001 for a number of U.S. destinations including Branson, Missouri; Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; the Hawaiian Islands and Orlando, Florida. Tripster also operates its own consumer booking engines in each of these destinations, as well as services for Silver Dollar City and Dollywood.

ChannelRUSH is a service that allows hotel and lodging supplier management to update their room inventory and rates in a single platform that in turn communicates with multiple consumer websites like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and now Tripster, an online travel and reservation company that focuses on individual destinations.

Since each of these consumer websites have its own inventory management system, managing these distribution channels can be time consuming for hotel staff. Many lodging companies utilize ChannelRUSH to help them save time with inventory management by interfacing with these multiple management systems, allowing hotel management to update their inventory in a variety of channels through a single platform, saving an immense amount of time.

Since Tripster is now one of the available channels within the ChannelRUSH interface, lodging suppliers can maximize their sales by utilizing Tripster’s unique, “local expert” reservation service in a variety of expanding markets.

“With the number of our clients currently working with Tripster, in addition to the number of markets that Tripster is now in and adding, we felt this was an important channel to add to our system,” said Adam Peppler, Director of ChannelRUSH. “Plus, Tripster’s interface and web service system was easy to integrate and provides some of the fastest response times in the industry,” he continued.

“ChannelRUSH has been a great partner to work with for the initial launch of our channel management features,” said Tripster’s President, John Johnson. “By expanding their distribution channels to a variety of quality travel reservation services, they’ve certainly got their clients’ best interests in mind.”

With this working relationship in place, Tripster and ChannelRUSH can collectively provide more online sales for lodging suppliers, which is beneficial in the weakened travel economy.

Tripster has provided booking engine technology since 2001 for a number of U.S. destinations including Branson, Missouri; 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 Silver Dollar City and Dollywood.

Universal Orlando Resort, one of the many popular attractions in the Orlando, Florida tourism market, released their February 2010 Newsletter and awarded Tripster’s own Rodney Levy as “Universal Orlando Star Performer.”

Here’s the write-up:

Rodney Levy from Tripster is Guest Services January 2010 Universal Orlando® Star Performer.

Rodney works as the Director of Destination Relations and has been employed with the company for over 3 years.

His favorite thing about his job is creative freedom. His favorite attraction at Universal Orlando is The Incredible Hulk Coaster! When he is not at work he enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter. His real passion is playing, coaching and watching soccer, especially his childhood team Tottenham Hotspur!

Rodney has been working with Tripster since 2006, and is the Destination Representative for both Orlando and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.