Ubid4rooms Now Live with Siteminder

The expansion of the last-minute accommodation website, Ubid4rooms.com, has continued with the online bidding system now live with the Siteminder distribution network.

And to mark the move, Ubid4rooms.com will pay Siteminder fees for two months for the first 20 new properties who list with Ubid4rooms and Siteminder.

Siteminder is a time-saving channel distribution system that allows properties to perform room availability and price updates on a single website, with Siteminder automatically sending inventory updates for a hotel to all the many online booking engines like Ubid4rooms.com that a hotel lists with.

“Many hotels struggle with having to deal with all the different booking sites they list with but by using just one tool – Siteminder – a hotel can quickly and easily access our Ubid4rooms site as well as all the other players in the online market,” said Ubid4rooms.com managing director and hotel industry veteran Gary Berman.

“Going live with Siteminder is an important step in our expansion. We have already doubled the number of properties on our site since our launch in November 2007 and this latest development gives Siteminder’s 1500 properties in Australia and New Zealand access to a new and unique distribution tool,” Mr Berman said.

“A vacant room is revenue lost forever which is why we have devised an innovative way for properties to stimulate demand and maximise occupancy and yield.”

Ubid4rooms.com offers a one-stop facility with the ability for a traveller to use the “buy now” function to secure a room immediately, and offers a unique bidding system that allows travellers to make their own offers for rooms up to 14 days in advance at levels often better than the already discounted advertised rates.

Bidders make an offer directly to a hotel and don’t compete against other people and confirmation is provided within three hours. Bidders can also send offers to up to three properties at once, with hotels then competing against each other for business. Hotels can list their rooms on Ubid4rooms.com for free.

“Our unique system allows hoteliers to sell rooms at rates that meet aggressive market demands and expectations,” explains Mr Berman. “And all bids are one-off, non-published and confidential offers that protect a property’s official rate integrity and their existing best rate guarantees. A hotel can accept confidential bids at rates and times that suit the property.

“Offering a room at a controlled and private discount is much more attractive than leaving the room empty. Our listing with Siteminder now makes it even easier and quicker for hoteliers to take advantage of our increasingly popular bidding system.”

Mr Berman has worked in the hotel industry since 1984. He has managed resorts and hotels in Sydney, Perth, Gold Coast, Port Stephens, NSW North Coast and Canberra and has also worked as a management consultant in the hospitality sector.

Visit www.ubid4rooms.com for further info.

A Report By the Mole