Leonardo Strengthens Technology Partnership with Preferred Hotel Group, Historic Hotels Worldwide, and Historic Hotels of America
Toronto, Canada and Chicago, IL (PRWEB) July 16, 2014 -- Leonardo Worldwide Corporation has been providing three leading hotel brands – Preferred Hotel Group, Historic Hotels Worldwide and Historic Hotels of America – with the technology to manage visual content for 1000+ member hotels on its consumer facing websites and the world’s largest travel website network for a number of years. The three brands recently expanded their agreements with Leonardo to take advantage of additional technology solutions to further streamline media management and enhance the visual presentations for their collective member hotels online.
Under the agreement, the brands will continue to utilize Leonardo’s VScape Digital Asset Management System to store and manage all digital assets and implement over the course of the agreement the following Leonardo technology solutions:
Multi-Media Display Galleries for Impactful and Optimized Visual Experiences
Effective immediately, the media display technology used within the hotel details pages on the consumer-facing websites for Preferred Hotel Group, Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide, as well as the Preferred Golf, Preferred Family, and iPrefer programs, will be updated. Due to increased smartphone and tablet usage during the hotel shopping journey, the three brands have also selected Leonardo’s smartphone optimized and tablet friendly media galleries to ensure seamless media viewing experiences across all screens and devices.
Endorsement of VBrochure for Member Hotels
As part of the agreement, Leonardo is a member of the Preferred Hotel Group Alliance Partnership Program, which endorses Leonardo’s VBrochure Online Merchandising System as a valuable product for Preferred Hotel Group member properties to adopt. VBrochure is a digital marketing solution that helps hotel properties drive more bookings by publishing visual stories to digital brochures across the VNetwork, website media galleries, smartphone and tablet optimized websites and Facebook Apps. Member hotels that subscribe benefit from having the visual stories they create using their VBrochure licenses presented to travel shoppers who visit the brand sites, resulting in:
- Increased engagement with travel shoppers curated stories with images, rich media and descriptive text displayed in topic-based categories.
- Improved relevance and resonance with hotel shoppers through targeted stories.
- Significant influence on booking decisions with visual content that makes the hotel stand out and communicates its true value.
Rooms Type Module to Display Images and Details for Specific Room Types
Preferred Hotel Group, Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide offer distinct collections of hotels and resorts, each with unique features and room types. The three brands will implement Leonardo’s Rooms Type Module, which is integrated with VScape to associate and display images, videos, 360 tours and floor plans as well as written details for specific room types in the booking paths of their consumer websites.
Private Digital Library for Secure and Controlled Access to Hotel Visual Content
Leonardo’s Private Digital Library (PDL) solution has been selected to control and monitor access to hotel digital assets by internal departments, agencies, and the media for Preferred Hotel Group, Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide. The PDL connects directly with the brands’ centralized VScape, eliminating the need to upload hotel media assets to multiple systems.
Seamless Link Between Brands’ VScape and Web Content Management System (CMS)
Through XML connectivity the brands will be able to consume VScape content image data directly on their consumer websites thereby eliminating duplicate processing and managing of digital assets.
“Leonardo’s media display technology is one of the world’s top tools to showcase hotels and their different room types online. Its integration with our VScape made adopting Leonardo’s display technology an easy decision. We look forward to further streamlining our processes and improving the visual content across the three brand websites,” said Michelle Woodley, Senior Vice President, Distribution & Revenue Management at Preferred Hotel Group.
“Great images help bring the history alive in our historic hotels. Our customers spend more time on our sites, book longer stays, and higher category rooms because the imagery provides a glimpse of the many amazing details, architecture, and grandeur found in historic hotels,” said Larry Horwitz, Executive Director, Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide.
“The expansion of this agreement with such large and prestigious hospitality groups is a testament to the immense value our technology has at the enterprise level. We are pleased to be providing Preferred Hotel Group, Historic Hotels Worldwide, and Historic Hotels of America with a central system to easily manage every aspect of the way their member hotels are presented visually to online travel shoppers,” said Leonardo’s President, John McAuliffe.
About Leonardo
Leonardo Worldwide Corporation is the travel industry’s trusted provider of technology solutions that help hotel chains, hotel properties and travel websites manage, syndicate and display visual content. Leonardo has been the leader in hotel media management and distribution for more than a decade with the largest multi-channel marketing network in the industry. Adoption of the company’s new and improved cloud-hosted media display solution continues to grow among top hotel chains and travel websites. Leonardo continues to grow its offering of hotel digital marketing tools that enable individual properties to enhance their visual presentations on their websites, social media and mobile devices. Learn more about Leonardo at http://www.leonardo.com
About Preferred Hotel Group
Preferred Hotel Group represents 650 of the finest hotels, resorts, and serviced residences in the world. Preferred Hotel Group’s brands include Preferred Hotels® & Resorts, Summit Hotels & Resorts™, Sterling Hotels™, Summit Serviced Residences™, Sterling Design, and Preferred Boutique™. Travelers gain valuable benefits through branded programs iPrefer™; Preferred Family, Preferred Pride, Preferred Golf™, and Preferred Residences™. For more information, visit http://www.PreferredHotelGroup.com.
About Historic Hotels Worldwide
Historic Hotels Worldwide promotes heritage and cultural travel by featuring a prestigious collection of historic treasures, including historic hotels, castles, chateaus, palaces, academies, haciendas, villas, monasteries, and other historical lodging properties spanning twelve centuries. As a definitive resource for historic hotels and their inspired architecture, cultural traditions, and authentic cuisine, travelers may search and book hotels by destination, experiences, and special offers on http://www.HistoricHotelsWorldwide.com.
About Historic Hotels of America
Historic Hotels of America is the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation® for recognizing and celebrating the finest Historic Hotels. Historic Hotels of America was founded in 1989 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation with 32 charter members. Today, Historic Hotels of America has more than 250 historic hotels. These historic hotels have all faithfully maintained their authenticity, sense of place, and architectural integrity in the United States of America, including 46 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Historic Hotels of America is comprised of mostly independently owned and operated properties. More than 30 of the world’s finest hospitality brands, chains, and collections are represented in Historic Hotels of America. To be nominated and selected for membership into this prestigious program, a hotel must be at least 50 years old; has been designated by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark or listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places; and recognized as having historic significance. For more information, please visit http://www.HistoricHotels.org.
Vicky Tobianah, Leonardo, http://www.leonardo.com, +1 (416) 263-5632, [email protected]
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