BUSINESS TRAVEL
prnewswire | April 12, 2023
Whimstay, Inc., the marketplace leader for last-minute vacation rental bookings, announces today that it has secured $10 million in equity financing. The investment will fund key new hires and the development of new products and features focused on search experience, guest engagement, more integrated dynamic pricing, flexibility for guests, loyalty and rewards programs, ancillary fintech products, and multiple conversion initiatives that will generate more bookings for property managers during periods that typically experience lower occupancy rates and RevPAR. Roughly 50 percent of vacation rental nights stay vacant every year. Whimstay is uniquely positioned to book nights that would have otherwise gone unrented. This lost revenue for property managers and owners represents a $60 billion market opportunity.
Whimstay offers travelers the best deals and significant savings on last-minute vacation rentals across North America. For property managers and owners, the company offers better economics, more control over the customer experience, robust reporting and reconciliation, reduced dependency on larger, less user-friendly, and more expensive channels, and, most importantly, generates incremental bookings, revenue, and profitability above and beyond the property manager's direct bookings and those from other channels.
"Closing our financing amidst a myriad of extremely challenging market conditions is a testament to the caliber of our amazing team, our differentiated product offering, the quality of our partner and customer relationships, the size of our market opportunity, and the confidence our investors have in our ability to strengthen our position as the leading vacation rental marketplace focused on booking last-minute stays," said Whimstay's CEO David Weiss.
"Propelled by our proprietary marketing engine, product features and functionality, and unique go-to-market strategy, we're able to attract incremental guests and generate incremental bookings for property managers and owners. We complement a property manager's overall distribution strategy by providing specific capabilities and conducting specific types of missions, all focused on booking last-minute stays. As a result, bookings on Whimstay are up 7x YTD vs. the same period last year, and March was our highest booking month in the company's history. Guest traffic and bookings are further accelerating due to our recent integration into Google Vacation Rentals, giving us access to millions of potential guests."
About Whimstay
Whimstay is a vacation rental marketplace that offers travelers the best deals on vacation rentals across North America. For property managers and owners, Whimstay books nights last-minute that would have otherwise gone un-rented, and certain property managers are now utilizing the company to fill vacancies during shoulder seasons, off-seasons, and other booking windows throughout the year that typically experience lower occupancy rates and RevPAR. From beautiful beach homes to the world's best ski retreats to cozy mountain cabins and more, Whimstay currently offers vacation rental homes and condos in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and is adding new properties and destinations daily.
Read More
INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
prweb | May 15, 2023
Just in time for spring and the reawakening of Boston’s iconic Public Garden, Four Seasons Hotel Boston has reopened its doors, welcoming guests to a new era of gracious hospitality. The city’s premier address has completed a dramatic design update of its arrival area, lobby and porte cochere, revealing artful and inspired new spaces created in partnership with AD100 designer Ken Fulk. This revitalization sets the stage for a new generation of guest experiences, unforgettable events and cherished memories.
“We are delighted to begin the next chapter of Four Seasons Hotel Boston and introduce an updated vision of luxury that evokes the character and rich history of Back Bay,” said Michael Pedder, General Manager, Four Seasons Hotel Boston. “We look forward to welcoming guests to our reimagined hotel.”
A Grand Hotel Experience on an Intimate Scale
Years in the making, Four Seasons Hotel Boston’s transformation blends the timelessness of the hotel with the grandeur of its verdant Public Garden setting. Drawing inspiration from the elegant homes of neighboring Beacon Hill and Back Bay, where old meets new, Fulk envisioned the hotel as a great residence overlooking stately grounds. He designed a new arrival experience that visually links the hotel to the historic garden on its doorstep. Guests are now greeted in a black-and-white-tiled entry court, enhanced with plantings and lanterns that lead them into the sanctuary of the new lobby.
Four Seasons Hotel Boston’s redesigned interiors welcome guests with a new sense of intimacy. The wide lobby has been masterfully reimagined as a series of smaller spaces that are grand, yet residential in scale. A new front desk crafted in tooled leather stands beneath an expansive original artwork depicting the Public Garden. A mural drawn in Impressionist style with a nod to Maxfield Parrish features the Garden’s flora and fauna, with willows, elm and oak trees surrounding the lagoon, where swan boats glide under the Foot Bridge and one swan holds a key. The key is a clue to a hidden, fanciful mystery closet next to the front desk. Upon their arrival, young guests are handed a large “kids-only” key to the closet and invited to select their own toys for an enchanting beginning to their Four Seasons Hotel Boston stay.
Spaces for Gracious Living, Day into Evening
Hotel guests will discover a collection of lobby-level spaces to enjoy from early morning until late evening. One of the newest is Coterie, a new lounge and restaurant open daily for dinner and bar service, with lunch to follow soon. Conceived as a place for intimate conversation and a retreat from the world outside, Coterie is inspired by Boston’s centuries-old tradition of thinkers and creators gathering to share ideas and socialize. Elevated traditional fare created by Executive Chef Patrice Martineau will be complemented by a selection of classic and signature cocktails, some featuring a custom botanical gin created exclusively for Four Seasons Hotel Boston, and honey from the hotel’s rooftop hives. Here, Fulk’s design evokes a charming estate, richly layered and decorated with a gallery of hand-drawn botanical illustrations and portraits of writers and artists, a soft color palette inspired by garden florals, all accented with vintage lighting and anchored by a zinc-topped bar with leather and brass details.
Opposite Coterie is the Library, a quiet respite offering rich velvet seating accented in silk fringe, where guests can wait for a friend or sit back with a classic cocktail and select from the bookshelves, curated to evoke a collection gathered by a family through the generations. Coffee-lovers and early risers will delight in Sottovento, a glamorous gourmet coffee bar serving made-to-order specialty coffee, tea and beverages – complimentary – every morning, alongside a selection of pastries and light refreshments. Using the hotel’s new Coffee Concierge service, in-house guests of Four Seasons Hotel Boston can place their custom coffee order seamlessly using the Four Seasons mobile app to have it delivered to their room or ready to collect.
Making a return to Four Seasons Hotel Boston this month is Aujourd’hui, the second-floor breakfast and lunch restaurant with its hallmark floor-to-ceiling windows framing panoramic Public Garden views. Sanctuary, a quiet, sixth-floor garden terrace, also makes its debut this month, offering guests a rare private courtyard in the city for quiet reading or enjoying in-room dining al fresco. Also making its return with the hotel’s reopening: The Vaults, refreshment pantries on every guest room floor of the hotel, stocked with snacks, treats and beverages, all complimentary to hotel guests and available 24 hours a day.
About Four Seasons Hotel Boston
Overlooking America's first botanical garden, Boston’s longest-standing Forbes Five-Star hotel enjoys the city's most coveted location, just steps from historic attractions, luxury shopping, and culinary gems. Nestled in the heart of the nation's most walkable city, the sophisticated urban retreat debuted a lobby-level redesign in May 2023. Guests will experience intimate dining and bar service at the new Coterie restaurant and lounge, breakfast at the elegant Aujourd’hui, a complimentary gourmet coffee bar, a pool boasting views of the Public Garden and Beacon Hill, and a 24-hour fitness center. Whether Boston calls for leisure, business, or a celebratory milestone event, Four Seasons Hotel Boston is the choice for travelers of all kinds.
Read More
COMMERCIAL TRAVEL
Travelport | March 13, 2023
Travelport, a global technology company for travel, has recently acquired Deem for further investment in innovation to modernize the retailing and corporate travel sector. This acquisition would improve Deem's speed to market and allow seamless integration of multi-source content.
Deem is a modern technology solutions provider for the corporate travel industry and previously worked under Enterprise Holdings, a mobility solutions provider. It has a suite of online booking and travel technology products designed especially for business travelers, travel managers, travel-management companies and suppliers. It is making the corporate travel experience more efficient for all. It is entitled as one of the 'Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies of 2022'. It aims to continue growth in its share of the corporate travel business, and the Travelport's investment is further increasing that growth at a global level.
Travelport is an established NDC leader and launched the end-to-end solution for American Airlines' NDC content. It plans to enhance its position with the swift technical integration of Deem company. It will avail Deem of the NDC offers, products and services. The NDC content is important for travel agencies, corporations and travelers, particularly those in North America. Currently, North American airlines are shifting some content exclusively to NDC.
CEO of Travelport, Greg Webb said, "The game-changing acquisition of Deem by Travelport will fulfill a growing, post-pandemic need for a tight, fully-integrated corporate tool that will provide access to all multi-source content, including NDC." He added, "We've been laser-focused on investing in technology innovation, and Travelport+ has simplified the agency workflow, upgraded how travel content is curated, and enabled modern travel retailing. Now with the acquisition of Deem, Travelport will provide corporate travel with award-winning, complementary tools that are as revolutionary, modern, and easy-to-use as Travelport+."
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
About Travelport
Headquartered in Langley, Berkshire, Travelport, an information technology and services provider for travel, offers solutions for technology, travel commerce, travel, distribution, payment, airlines, travel agents, online travel agencies, travel management companies, corporate travel, B2B, cloud, search, business intelligence, data, and travel industry. It has been working as a worldwide travel retail platform since 1971. Its huge marketplace, Travelport+, connects buyers to sellers for exceptional travel experience and modern digital retailing. It is an independent platform providing solutions for complex travel ecosystems through innovation. It supports bookings of travel suppliers worldwide.
Read More