Pigeon Forge Hotel & Lodging Association Uses Regional Travel Company, Tripster, For Online Marketing And Travel-Related Booking Engine.

The Pigeon Forge Hotel & Lodging Association (PFHLA) of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, has developed a brand new website that appeals to potential visitors to the area and allows travelers online access to the hotels, motels, cabins, condos and resorts in the organization. The website, www.PigeonForgeLodging.com, features a variety of membership-based services and is accompanied by a system offering vacation reservation solutions for the many visitors to the Pigeon Forge, Tennessee market.

The PFHLA commissioned Tripster, an Internet-based reservation company focused on “drive-to” tourism destinations, to build their new information and fulfillment website. “ReserveDirect gave us the opportunity to enhance our web presence as well as offer additional benefits to our members through the development of our new website and associated booking engine,” said Eric Havlin, President of the PFHLA.

“Until now, the Pigeon Forge area didn’t have one real website where customers could research their trip in one place—people had to search out individual lodging websites,” said John Johnson, President of Tripster. “Since travelers are now so used to comparing multiple products on one website, similar to Travelocity and Expedia, they may be turned off to a vacation destination if they don’t feel confident that they’re seeing a full range of professionally-presented products. So the PFHLA’s move to create this website will benefit its members and the community as a whole.”

In 2005, Tripster launched its own destination reservation system for Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The website provides travelers to Pigeon Forge a comprehensive, vacation planning and reservation tool, offering a variety of products such as lodging, entertainment and ticketed attractions.

Tripster also developed similar solutions in other markets, including Branson, Missouri and Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Like with the PFHLA, Tripster’s specialty is in providing lodging associations and destination marketing organizations a variety of web-based services related to membership, marketing and reservations.

Internet-Based Travel Company Now Offering “Guaranteed Lowest Rate” For Lodging On All Its Destination Websites

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 Smoky Mountain Destinations, Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg, Tennessee Now Available Through Comprehensive Internet Booking System

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.