Tripster News

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is regarded as a premier coastal travel destination. As a result of the launch of a new Myrtle Beach travel website, customers now have single point-of-purchase access to beachfront hotels and resorts, as well tickets to area attractions like Freestyle Music Park, and shows such as Dixie Stampede. Launched by Internet travel technology company, Tripster, customers can access a variety of popular hotels, shows, and attractions in the Myrtle Beach area.

Tripster utilizes direct product availability from the management companies of area travel products, which means 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 own printer. Once they arrive, customers take those E-tickets to the box offices, attraction main gates, or hotel front desks.

“Even though Myrtle Beach is visited by 14.6 million visitors a year, there are proportionately few points of sale where the traveler can make a complete vacation package that includes lodging and tickets,” said John Johnson, President of Tripster. “We utilize a 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 Myrtle Beach as well.”

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; 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, the Cocoa Beach Chamber of Commerce in Florida & Table Rock Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, Silver Dollar City and Dollywood.

Tripster, a travel reservation company, announced today that they have served their one millionth customer at the close of 2008, a year that captured two hundred and thirty thousand customer bookings. This milestone coincides with the celebration of their seventh year in the online travel industry after launching their first destination in 2001.

“We are excited about our progress, but mostly we enjoy hearing from our customers who had a great vacation experience that started by using one of our destination websites,” said John Johnson, President and founder of Reserve America LLC, the parent company of Tripster.

The original model for Tripster’s online system centered on building an administrative tool that allowed travel suppliers of lodging, theater shows, attractions, recreation activities and other ticketed events to place their product inventory into a reliable and consumer-friendly travel website. The end results provide vacation-bound consumers with real time availability, competitive pricing, one-stop shopping and instant reservations.

According to the PhoCusWright Consumer Travel Trends Survey, 60% of U.S. travel will be booked on-line versus off-line in 2009 as the Internet continues to provide consumers with easy access to the necessary resources for planning their vacations. Tripster, with its direct relationship with travel suppliers and its comprehensive travel websites, helps to turn “travel shoppers” into “travel buyers” by offering improved service and experience gathered from servicing over one million customers.

“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 in-depth knowledge of the local products,” Johnson added.

Since its founding in 2001, Tripster has launched five destination sites including Branson, Missouri; Eureka Springs, Arkansas; Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg, Tennessee; & Orlando, Florida. Tripster’s destination websites offer a range of travel services, including up-to-date travel information, destination blogs, city guides and product reviews to aid in consumers’ travel decisions.

The Vacation Channel has made it their business to aid Branson visitors in their vacation needs for 20 years through their cable-based television programming. With a concentration on giving visitors interesting facts, tips, directions & suggestions regarding the Branson area, The Vacation Channel has become a leader in Branson vacation information.

In an effort to expand the reach of their various Branson-related travel information, The Vacation Channel has launched ViewBranson.com, a web-based portal into all things Branson. As a major component of this new web venture, The Vacation Channel is utilizing Tripster, an online travel fulfillment service, to be the backbone of the ViewBranson.com’s Branson-related travel reservations.

This new website will allow The Vacation Channel to offer Branson visitors the ability to purchase travel products while maintaining The Vacation Channel brand, building their overall value to their customers. The ViewBranson.com website will help visitors plan their next Branson vacation, reserve hotel rooms, make ticket purchases and schedule events online, all made possible by Tripster’s travel technology, which allows for seamless and secure reservations for travelers.

“ViewBranson.com’s booking engine is based on Tripster’s technology, which has been a proven tool in making vacation planning more fun and less stressful for almost 10 years,” said John Johnson, president of Tripster. “And that experience will make the difference for users of ViewBranson.com.”

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, the Cocoa Beach Chamber of Commerce in Florida, Table Rock Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, and Springfield, Missouri Convention and Visitors Bureau.

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.